Senator Grassley Looking Into Training Costs At Harvard

The Boston Globe reports:

Senator Chuck Grassley is investigating the cost of training top federal employees -- at taxpayer expense -- at several institutions, including Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The Iowa Republican, in a letter to the dean of the Kennedy School, noted that a recent graduate from the school’s “senior executive fellows” program reported that the federal government paid $17,500 for a four-week course, in addition to travel expenses. Tuition for the program has since been raised to $18,300.

“Recently, I learned that numerous agencies of the federal government are expending large amounts of taxpayer funds on executive education,” Grassley wrote in the letter, which was sent today to David T. Ellwood, dean of the Kennedy School. “Although I am a strong proponent of maintaining a well-trained, highly competent federal workforce, I am alarmed by what appears to be the excessive costs related to these programs.”

Grassley noted that the costs are much higher, on average, than undergraduates pay to attend the school.

Great moments in rent seeking at Harvard.