Congress is becoming concerned about spending…Ivy League spending, anyway. The Senate Finance Committee is asking the wealthiest schools in the country to reveal details about their endowments and financial aid. (Full story can be found here). After holding hearings on endowments in September, the committee wants to make sure that universities are spending enough money on aid.

A reasonable question, given that 76 U.S. universities have over a billion dollars growing moldy in endowments. A fascinating viewpoint against government involvement in university tuition makes the argument that price control will lead to stagnation and eventually irrevelance.

Whether or not price controls and regulation will damage U.S. prestige is hard to tell now, it certainly is true that very few students are paying the sticker price of college. Of the 21,000 full-time degree-seeking undergraduates at Temple, 14,000 were determined to have financial need, according to the Common Data Set, found here. Of that 14,000, all but about 900 were given aid. The average aid package was $13,000.

Hopefully college students won’t have to make the choice between paying massive tuition bills, and becoming obsolete. Then again, maybe the second option has already chosen itself.