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In New York City's East Village, there are a number of hole-in-the-wall spots that advertise sushi at 50 percent off. But I can never bring myself to sample the goods. We're talking about a delicacy flown in from around the world. Marking it down drastically just doesn't sit right. Something — either the price, or the fish — has to be a little off.

The same uneasiness arose recently when the National Association of College and University Business Officers released a survey of tuition discounts at private, nonprofit, four-year colleges and universities. NACUBO looked at 401 schools, and the survey found two things: almost no one pays full price, and the discounts are quite steep.

They estimate 88.9 percent of first-time, full-year freshmen received some kind of discount in 2013-2014. Of those students, the average grant they received is estimated to cover 53.5 percent of tuition and fees. In other words: more than half off. These discount rates are climbing fast. They are the highest recorded since the study began in 2000.

Now, colleges aren't in the habit of calling lowered prices "discounts." They talk instead about institutional grants, or need-blind admission, or merit- and need-based financial aid, or the difference between the "sticker price" and "actual price."

This pricing strategy, in other words, is framed as an important part of the social mission of a nonprofit educational institution. "Bringing promising students to Harvard is our main objective, and we believe your financial circumstances should never stand in the way," as one prominent university says on its website.

But we wondered. What would happen if we viewed this widespread and growing practice through a more traditional economic lens, looking at higher education as though it were airline travel, or soda, or aspirin, or rugs? So we called up a couple of economists and asked them about discounting, marketing, and branding. Why do companies give discounts? What are the pros and cons of discounting? And is it possible to discount your way out of business?

Weighing Anchor And Sending Signals

“ "If you do too high a discount, then perceptions of desperation creep in. Are they going out of business? Is this product a dud?"

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says his travels beyond the capital and his visits with selected letter writers demonstrate the need for Congress to act on his stalled economic agenda.

In his weekly radio and Internet address Obama cited meetings this week with a college student and with owners of a Colorado sandwich shop franchise. Obama went to Colorado and Texas this week, continuing a practice of meeting with chosen pen pals whose letters catch the eye of the White House.

Obama says the economy is better off. But he says Republicans in Congress have blocked measures, such as an increase in the minimum wage, that would improve people's lives.

Republicans argue Obama's proposals would hurt business and have proposed their own measures that have also stalled in a divided Congress.

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Online:

Obama address: http://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse

WASHINGTON (AP) — A second federal judge is ordering the IRS to provide information about lost emails by a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Friday he wants to know whatever became of Lois Lerner's computer hard drive. IRS officials say Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, destroying an untold number of emails.

At the time, Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has told Congress that Lerner's hard drive was recycled and presumably destroyed. If that's the case, Walton said he wants a sworn affidavit saying so.

Walton also wants information about the IRS inspector general's investigation into lost emails.

Walton held a hearing Friday in a lawsuit by a conservative group against the IRS.

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