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It seems counterintuitive that a budget-stressed department would want to turn away potential revenue.

• scott_s 13y ago
  Students don't pay departments, they pay the university itself. The university determines the department's budget. So departments will have budgets which allocate the number of professors, instructors and teaching assistants. From there, they determine the number of courses and sections they can offer. And, from there, they will determine how many students they can handle.
• gwern 13y ago
  Try reading the article: the departments take a loss on each student. (But we'll make it up on volume?) It's the other departments like liberal arts which are cross-subsidizing them. (Which is cheaper to teach, a computer lab or a poetry class?)
  • gertef 13y ago
    Computer labs aren't so expensive. ~$3000 workstation, good for ~6 semesters, and multiple students per semester use one seat.
    • gwern 13y ago
      That's not even the beginning of the costs. Again, the article directly addressed this issue. Read it.