If the schools are conspiring to keep elite education expensive, they’re not doing a very good job, seeing as the Weasleys managed to send all their numerous children to the most prestigious (and maybe only, it seemed like Rowling never really made up her mind) school in Britain, despite being poor.
The Weasleys aren’t a good example if that’s what you’re trying to show: they’re shown rendered poor and unable to replace Ron’s wand despite this being a known near-lethal danger and badly injurious to his studies; it’d be like breaking your glasses and your family being too poor to buy you replacements because school tuition has to be paid—anyone who told you that obviously your education can’t be expensive because you’re actually there...
the students don’t want to lose the prestige of studying at an ancient university founded by some of the greatest wizards ever, where some of the best wizards in history have taught, and the professors don’t want to lose the prestige of being able to teach at said university.
Yes, hence my original conspiracy theory comment: the incentives are there to preserve the status quo.
The Weasleys aren’t a good example if that’s what you’re trying to show: they’re shown rendered poor and unable to replace Ron’s wand despite this being a known near-lethal danger and badly injurious to his studies; it’d be like breaking your glasses and your family being too poor to buy you replacements because school tuition has to be paid—anyone who told you that obviously your education can’t be expensive because you’re actually there...
I don’t recall any mention in canon of Hogwarts even having tuition.
A family with only a single low pay government job for income generally can’t afford to put seven children through seven years of boarding school each. If Hogwarts had the tuition and board costs of top boarding schools in Britain, the Weasleys would be spending more than a hundred thousand pounds a year on the four children they’re putting through school simultaneously.
Considering they have a pretty captive market, if Hogwarts wanted to maximize revenues, they would probably have to be well outside the means of a low pay government employee to put seven kids through before they reached a point where they started losing more money due to lost students than they were making in increased revenue per student.
And following incentives to preserve a status quo doesn’t require a conspiracy. If the students and the faculty both don’t want something, nobody has to conspire to keep it from them.
In Canon, Dumbledore gives Tom Riddle a few galleons to pay for his books and school supplies first year, saying there’s a fund for that sort of thing. Basically implying the fund is only for books and school supplies, so tuition+room/board is free.
The Weasleys aren’t a good example if that’s what you’re trying to show: they’re shown rendered poor and unable to replace Ron’s wand despite this being a known near-lethal danger and badly injurious to his studies; it’d be like breaking your glasses and your family being too poor to buy you replacements because school tuition has to be paid—anyone who told you that obviously your education can’t be expensive because you’re actually there...
Yes, hence my original conspiracy theory comment: the incentives are there to preserve the status quo.
I don’t recall any mention in canon of Hogwarts even having tuition.
A family with only a single low pay government job for income generally can’t afford to put seven children through seven years of boarding school each. If Hogwarts had the tuition and board costs of top boarding schools in Britain, the Weasleys would be spending more than a hundred thousand pounds a year on the four children they’re putting through school simultaneously.
Considering they have a pretty captive market, if Hogwarts wanted to maximize revenues, they would probably have to be well outside the means of a low pay government employee to put seven kids through before they reached a point where they started losing more money due to lost students than they were making in increased revenue per student.
And following incentives to preserve a status quo doesn’t require a conspiracy. If the students and the faculty both don’t want something, nobody has to conspire to keep it from them.
In Canon, Dumbledore gives Tom Riddle a few galleons to pay for his books and school supplies first year, saying there’s a fund for that sort of thing. Basically implying the fund is only for books and school supplies, so tuition+room/board is free.