I get why the mayor of Pittsburgh wants to do this, but I don’t get why he or the City Council believes this is a good idea.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has given local colleges and universities an ultimatum: Offer a plan to provide $5 million a year in support to the city, or the City Council will vote next week on his proposed 1 percent tuition tax, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The plan for the tuition tax has been opposed by college leaders and students, and is being watched closely by colleges nationwide. There has been some hope that the idea might be shelved if college offered support in other ways. But the mayor’s latest statement does not seem to be going over well in higher ed. Duquesne University President Charles Dougherty, in a statement on behalf of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, said: “Asking universities to fix an underfunded pension fund in return for taking an illegal, counterproductive, and unprecedented tax off the table is unreasonable.”

via Quick Takes: Pittsburgh Mayor Gives Colleges a Deadline – Inside Higher Ed.

Maybe they should review the books of the baseball franchise that just had to have a state of the start stadium on the tax payer dime and yet produces an entertainment product that no one wants to watch. Maybe they should tax gate receipts at college football and basketball games as opposed to making college a more expensive proposition for anyone who is considering going to school in Pittsburgh.