December 18, 2013 2:03PM 

# “Power 5” Power Play: Just Higher Ed Being What It Is 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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Though the NCAA still [runs ads ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXeDUFTaU1Y)suggesting that college sports is all about students who happen to be athletes, big-time college football and basketball programs have basically given up the pretense of being about anything other than big bucks and big wins. See, for instance, the [latest power play ](http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/10121476/power-conferences-seeking-more-autonomy-ncaa)by the “BCS” football conferences.

That’s fine — better they be open about what drives them. Unfortunately, as I write in [this *SeeThruEdu* post](http://www.seethruedu.com/updates/%E2%80%9Cpower-5%E2%80%9D-power-play-just-higher-ed-being-what-it), the rest of higher ed is similarly self-interested. Problem is, it won’t admit it, and uses the notion that it’s all about the “common good” to get taxpayer money, often without producing any real benefit for the people paying the bills.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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