Politics & Power Quote by Patricia Schroeder

A line like this lands because it’s built as a consumer indictment, not an ivory-tower lament. “Paying more and getting less” borrows the language of shrinkflation and bad deals, translating a sprawling policy failure into a kitchen-table verdict. Patricia Schroeder, a longtime Colorado congresswoman with a gift for plain-spoken confrontation, isn’t just criticizing universities; she’s putting the burden where families feel it most: monthly bills, debt statements, and the creeping suspicion that the bargain has been quietly rewritten.

The intent is political pressure. By framing higher education as an eroding return on investment, Schroeder invites scrutiny of the entire price stack: tuition hikes, reduced state funding, administrative bloat, loan interest, and the way institutions shift costs onto students while marketing “experience” as if it were a product upgrade. The subtext is sharper: the American promise of mobility is being securitized. Families are asked to prepay for opportunity with borrowed money, then blamed if the credential doesn’t pay off.

Context matters: Schroeder’s era in Congress coincided with the long pivot from public subsidy to private debt, as campuses expanded services and amenities while wages for many graduates flattened against rising costs. “Getting less” also nods to what’s harder to quantify: larger classes, contingent faculty, fewer advising resources, and an education increasingly shaped by credential anxiety rather than curiosity. The line works because it turns a complex system into a moral imbalance: more sacrifice, less payoff, and someone is cashing the check.