Higher (and Higher) Education

With all the rage about rising costs in this country, there's one area that people seem to be under-angry about: college edumacation.

For more than two decades, colleges and universities across the country have been jacking up tuition at a faster rate than costs have risen on any other major product or service - four times faster than the overall inflation rate and faster even than increases in the price of gasoline or health care. The result: After adjusting for financial aid, the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed 439% since 1982.

Unfortunately, college presidents (and rubber-stamp regents) have no interest in cutting costs, or incentive to do so. Their performances are judged by the new buildings they build, new professors they hire, and diversity programs they create, not on how low they keep tuition. And as Money magazine points out in this article, some of the problem is spoiled students:

If colleges were spending most of their money on initiatives that improve the quality of education for students, you might regard price hikes running at two to four times the rate of inflation as a necessary evil. But spending on palatial dorms, state-of-the-art fitness centers and a panoply of gourmet dining options? Maybe not.

Sure, they're also putting funds into cutting class sizes and hiring top professors. But they're spending even more on building Hogwarts-style dorms with mahogany casement windows of leaded glass (Princeton's newest $136 million student residence); installing 35-foot climbing walls and hot tubs big enough for 15 people (Boston University); providing multiple eateries with varied cuisines and massive fitness and recreation centers (too many schools to name).

(On a semi-related note, I puke every time I see ads in the school newspaper for luxury student apartments.)

Tuition will keep rising like this until regents and parents start demanding some cost-cutting. Parents and students are going to have to pay closer attention to tuition rates when they college shop. And kids might have to give up having their own bathroom, or that climbing wall they never use.