College Tuition Rises 6.6 Percent This Year
State university tuition has leaped 40% in the past five years, hitting the three out of four American college students who attend public universities. Tuition has risen 126%(after inflation) since 1984. In 1984, the tuition and fees at a public, four-year college was just 4.8% of the median family income; today it’s 9.5%. The heart of the problem is that states must juggle the cost of funding their education system alongside two other major funding obligations: state-funded Medicaid and the state criminal justice system. When states are forced to make cuts in education, they typically spare K-12 education programs because they’re politically sensitive. State universities, however, have a mechanism for making up their shortfalls - tuition hikes. There you go, send those kids to community college first.
Universities are disadvantaged by the fact that students and teachers must both be present in full numbers in order for education to take place. The quickest way to reduce costs is to put more students in the classroom. Today college costs are increasing and federal student aid hasn’t kept pace. At the same time, grant aid has consistently fallen back as a form of aid. No matter what the cost of college, the impact of the price on students, graduates and their families has grown deeper.
What does this ultimately do the students? Outstripping increases in financial aid and pushes students into more borrowing. While borrowing from the government is still far bigger, students are footing more and more of the bill with private loans from banks and student loan companies. Undergraduate private borrowing grew 12% to $14.5 billion in 2006-2007. Borrowing has increased tenfold over the last decade.
