The College Fix

With tuition at $93,000, Brown University is ‘a luxury good’ that few ‘qualified low-income students’ can attain, student journalist says

Ivy League universities have pulled up the ladder on the American Dream for many brilliant students, employing a “bloated” administration and charging tuition costs that few can afford, a Brown University student journalist told Congress on Wednesday.

“The Ivy League is supposed to be a ladder to the American dream, but we’re pulling up the ladder so only rich kids can access it and I think that’s wrong,” junior Alex Shieh (pictured) said.

During the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing, Republican lawmakers called for a 21-percent tax on Ivy League universities’ endowments and accountability for their high tuition costs and administrative bloat.

They also brought up “anticompetitive collusion” among the elite institutions, noting that despite the population increase, enrollment remains stagnant while tuition costs and the number of administrators rise.

However, Democrats on the committee criticized the hearing as out-of-touch with the general public, most of whom will never attend an Ivy League school. They told Republicans that they should instead focus on opposing budget cuts to Pell Grants and student loans, which provide college access to most Americans.

Shieh admitted to be one of the privileged few who can afford an Ivy League tuition; his parents are both doctors, and his father attended Brown.

But for most students, the Ivy League is “now a luxury good,” one that few “qualified low-income students” can attain, he said.

Knowing that prompted him to launch an investigation into Brown University’s administration earlier this year through the Brown Spectator, an independent student newspaper.

He said he found that the university employs approximately one administrator for every two students. At the same time, the university charges more than $93,000 per year for tuition (including room and board, and fees), and has a deficit of about $46 million.

Shieh said he wondered why, despite those numbers and leaky dorm roofs, the institution seemed hesitant to cut administrative staff.

“This isn’t education. This is bloat, paid for on the backs of students and their families who are mortgaging their futures for a shot at a better life,” he told lawmakers.

“We didn’t used to have this many administrators. Across the nation the number of university administrators has risen by 160% in recent decades,” he said.

Shieh’s investigation resulted in Brown leaders launching an investigation of both himself and the Brown Spectator board, alleging, among other things, that the email inquiries he sent to administrative staff caused emotional harm, he said.

“When you investigate the administration, it turns out they investigate you back,” Shieh said in response to a question from U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan.

Jordan, an Ohio Republican, expressed incredulity, telling Shieh, “Asking someone how they spend your money is emotional harm, that’s what they alleged?”

In May, the university dropped all charges against Shieh and the other student journalists, The College Fix reported. A university spokesperson said at the time that Brown’s concerns about Shieh were mischaracterized, and the university fully supports free speech.

However, Jordan said he believes Brown’s leaders tried to discipline Shieh because they did not want more journalists to dig into its spending problems.

“That’s always the way it works. The left comes after people, they want to chill speech so it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

When Shieh noted that the university’s actions “backfired terribly,” Jordan responded, “It sure did, because you’re brave enough to keep talking, … so God bless you for that.”

Since the matter erupted this spring, Shieh has expanded his investigation, partnering with “students at Columbia, Cornell and Penn to expand the project into Trialhouse, a database housing detailed information about administrators from multiple universities,” The Brown Herald reports.

A House spokesperson told the student newspaper that Republicans invited Shieh to testify about how Ivy League schools are deprioritizing “students and their quality of education” while expanding their “bloated bureaucracies.”

Past College Fix investigations also have uncovered administrative bloat in the Ivy League and other prestigious institutions.

For example, a 2024 Fix analysis found Columbia has more full-time employees than undergraduate students, including a “diversity, equity, and inclusion” director for its Earth Observatory.

MORE: Yale University employs nearly one administrator per undergrad

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Brown University student journalist Alex Shieh testifies before Congress; U.S. House Judiciary Committee/YouTube

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