This time it's the General Accounting Office bearing the news: competition for higher rankings in U.S. News is identified as one of the two major factors driving the rapid increase in law school tuition over the past dozen years or so. Not surprising, since per capita expenditures is what drives the U.S. News results--not faculty quality, student success, bar passage, but how much cash-per-student is being spent, regardless on what or with what outcomes.
UPDATE: My Dean, Saul Levmore, correctly observes that the GAO Report's attempt to exonerate ABA regulations as a cause of rising costs doesn't work: "On the margin, ABA regulations might raise costs; evidence that something else, like rankings or competition, matters more, is a bit beside the point."
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