College Has Gotten 12 Times More Expensive in One Generation

[Axulus]

As bright-eyed college freshmen arrive on campus, they can look forward to accruing knowledge, independence, lifelong friendships—and serious bills. In the 2012-13 school year, first-year, on-campus tuition averaged $43,000 at four-year, private schools and $21,700 at in-state public schools.

It wasn't always like this: The cost of undergraduate education is 12 times higher than it was 35 years ago, far outpacing inflation. While the indexed price of college tuition and fees skyrocketed by more than 1,122 percent since 1978, the cost of medical care rose less than 600 percent, and the cost of housing and food went up less than 300.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/college-tuition-increased-1100-percent-since-1978

It must be that never ending pursuit of profit that is driving up these costs to such absurd levels...

 

[untermensche]

And this is at the same time some nations are moving to make college free.

This clearly shows a nations priorities.

Some nations would seek to educate as many as possible to the greatest extent as possible.

Some would try to saddle their youth with great debt and deny many the opportunity for advanced education. The diseased societies working on destructive principles would do this.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

But look at those rec centers!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Since 1990, college enrollment increased from 11.8 million to 17.5 million. That is an increase of about 50%.

I'm certain that statistic isn't relevant because it wasn't raised, only a strawman.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

But one thing we can agree on is that it is not the fault of the high-paid top administrators.

 

[SimpleDon]

Blame Reagan and movement conservatism according to this guy.

Today’s student aid crisis has its roots in the 1980s. In 1981, the Reagan administration, with a coalition of congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats, pushed through Congress a combination of tax- and budget-cutting measures.

No federal program suffered deeper cuts than student aid. Spending on higher education was slashed by some 25 percent between 1980 and 1985.

... These various perspectives coalesced around a shared view: students were “tax eaters … [and] a drain and drag on the American economy.” Student aid “isn’t a proper obligation of the taxpayer,” Reagan’s OMB Director David Stockman told Congress.

Reagan administration Education Secretary Terrel Bell would later write in his memoir that students needing aid were part of the problem, not very different from other “undeserving” Americans, no different than the “welfare queen,” the out-of-work father drawing unemployment insurance, the poor families on Medicaid, the elderly in need of Medicare or even farmers relying on subsidies.

Sounds like undeserved conservative bashing to me.

 

[Valjean]

Since the Reagan Revolution, public funding for just about everything non military has diminished. Education and other public services are increasingly commodified and managed to maximize profits, often at the expense of the public good.
For education this is a case of penny wise and pound foolish. Quarterly profits may be up but the huge profits that were realised by the free education provided by the G-I Bill twenty years after the fact are not likely to be seen again.

 

[dismal]

Since 1990, college enrollment increased from 11.8 million to 17.5 million. That is an increase of about 50%.

I'm certain that statistic isn't relevant because it wasn't raised, only a strawman.

Why is that relevant to the cost per student?

Or is this just some reflexive need to defend this?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Blame Reagan and movement conservatism according to this guy.

Today’s student aid crisis has its roots in the 1980s. In 1981, the Reagan administration, with a coalition of congressional Republicans and conservative Democrats, pushed through Congress a combination of tax- and budget-cutting measures.

No federal program suffered deeper cuts than student aid. Spending on higher education was slashed by some 25 percent between 1980 and 1985.

... These various perspectives coalesced around a shared view: students were “tax eaters … [and] a drain and drag on the American economy.” Student aid “isn’t a proper obligation of the taxpayer,” Reagan’s OMB Director David Stockman told Congress.

Reagan administration Education Secretary Terrel Bell would later write in his memoir that students needing aid were part of the problem, not very different from other “undeserving” Americans, no different than the “welfare queen,” the out-of-work father drawing unemployment insurance, the poor families on Medicaid, the elderly in need of Medicare or even farmers relying on subsidies.

Sounds like undeserved conservative bashing to me.

It sucked for me because I couldn't get any aid during those times, but it was a boon for Bill Clinton who ran on restoring student aid. Once aid became uberavailable that's when tuition began its march to the top.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Since the Reagan Revolution, public funding for just about everything non military has diminished. Education and other public services are increasingly commodified and managed to maximize profits, often at the expense of the public good.
For education this is a case of penny wise and pound foolish. Quarterly profits may be up but the huge profits that were realised by the free education provided by the G-I Bill twenty years after the fact are not likely to be seen again.

The Department of Education spending under W exploded. I have not the faintest idea where that money went.

 

[ksen]

As bright-eyed college freshmen arrive on campus, they can look forward to accruing knowledge, independence, lifelong friendships—and serious bills. In the 2012-13 school year, first-year, on-campus tuition averaged $43,000 at four-year, private schools and $21,700 at in-state public schools.

It wasn't always like this: The cost of undergraduate education is 12 times higher than it was 35 years ago, far outpacing inflation. While the indexed price of college tuition and fees skyrocketed by more than 1,122 percent since 1978, the cost of medical care rose less than 600 percent, and the cost of housing and food went up less than 300.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/college-tuition-increased-1100-percent-since-1978

It must be that never ending pursuit of profit that is driving up these costs to such absurd levels...

No, not necessarily the never ending pursuit of profit obviously since many colleges are public institutions.

However the current trend of privatization is a factor along with decreased public spending on higher education in soaring costs to students.

 

[Valjean]

Since the Reagan Revolution, public funding for just about everything non military has diminished. Education and other public services are increasingly commodified and managed to maximize profits, often at the expense of the public good.
For education this is a case of penny wise and pound foolish. Quarterly profits may be up but the huge profits that were realised by the free education provided by the G-I Bill twenty years after the fact are not likely to be seen again.

The Department of Education spending under W exploded. I have not the faintest idea where that money went.

What's "W?"

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Department of Education spending under W exploded. I have not the faintest idea where that money went.

What's "W?"

George W Bush.

 

[laughing dog]

The OP graph shows the increase in the tuition and fees at colleges which is the result of a number of factors. As a number of posters have pointed out, some of the increase is due to cost-shifting from public aid to tuition. For example, when I started at my state university, the state covered 2/3 of the average instructional cost. Now, it is less than 1/3. Another part of the increase is the increase in the number of administrators and employees who do not have anything to do with actual instruction. It would be instructive to see those factors taken into account.

 

[dismal]

However the current trend of privatization is a factor along with decreased public spending on higher education in soaring costs to students.

So, the reason college costs are going up so fast is the government isn't spending enough on college?

You realize the exact opposite statement would make a lot more sense?

The government spending or enabling spending on college is a big part of why people are not sensitive to the price of college.

 

[barbos]

Yeah, spending more on something do tend to cause spending more on it.

 

[ksen]

However the current trend of privatization is a factor along with decreased public spending on higher education in soaring costs to students.

So, the reason college costs are going up so fast is the government isn't spending enough on college?

Yes.

You realize the exact opposite statement would make a lot more sense?

Not when we're talking about costs to students, like the OP article and I were doing.

 

[dismal]

So, the reason college costs are going up so fast is the government isn't spending enough on college?

Yes.

You realize the exact opposite statement would make a lot more sense?

Not when we're talking about costs to students, like the OP article and I were doing.

The graph in the OP is not cost to students. It is just cost.

 

[ksen]

Yes.

You realize the exact opposite statement would make a lot more sense?

Not when we're talking about costs to students, like the OP article and I were doing.

The graph in the OP is not cost to students. It is just cost.

Prove it.

 

[ronburgundy]

Yes.

You realize the exact opposite statement would make a lot more sense?

Not when we're talking about costs to students, like the OP article and I were doing.

The graph in the OP is not cost to students. It is just cost.

Wrong. It is the cost to students, and that cost in inversely proportional to the costs covered by government spending.

Also, The massive increase in students does impact the per student costs. The original University grounds were often land granted costing the University little, thus not passed onto students. In addition, large donations often covered the costs of the original buildings, and the cost of construction was much lower a century ago when so many of these schools were built. The massive increase in additional students during the last decades has required Universities to purchase more land and build new buildings. That land is usually already owned and developed for other uses by private interests, and worth 1000 times what it was a century ago. The costs of construction has also skyrocketed. Far less of these new costs are paid for by donations compared to the original costs of creating the University. As an example, the University of Illinois at Chicago has had to expand their real estate by about 50% in the last decade in addition to repairing and renovating old buildings, which are costs they didn't have to pay in the prior 45 years of its existence. All of this has been in the midst of 30% budget cuts over the last 15 years, in which there has been a raise freeze and massive reductions on new hirings among professors.