Pricing the Flagships: The Politics of Tuition Setting at Public Research Universities* Michael K. McLendon Vanderbilt University James C. Hearn University of Georgia and Robert G. Hammond Vanderbilt University * Michael McLendon is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Higher Education at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. James Hearn is Professor of Higher Education at the Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia. Robert Hammond is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Economics at Vanderbilt University. Please address correspondence to Michael McLendon, Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Peabody 514, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203-5701. Phone: 615.322.2355. Fax: 612.343.7094. E-mail: michael.k.mclendon@vanderbilt.edu . We are indebted to William Berry, Peverill Squire, and Carl Klarner for sharing select data with us. We also thank Will Doyle for his comments on drafts of the manuscript. We bear all responsibility for errors.