 College
costs continue to go up
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The College Board just released its annual report
on Trends
in College Pricing. As expected, tuition costs at four-year
public institutions increased 7 percent for the 2005-2006 school
year; at private schools they went up nearly 6 percent.
Do you think these rate increases
are benign? They may seem so, since they're lower compared to those
of previous years.
But remember that they're calculated
off a higher base. For example, tuition costs at public universities
rose at double-digit rates over the past two academic years -- 10
percent in 2004-2005 and 13 percent in 2003-2004.
Over the past five years, the price
tag for tuition at public universities has risen 57 percent, to
$5,491 on average today. Room and board has increased 44 percent
over five years, to $12,127.
College Board officials are quick to point
out that these are sticker prices, and that the net cost of going to college is
less when you take into account financial aid in the form of grants and tax credits.
However, they concede that the net cost as a percentage of income has increased
significantly for those on the lower end of the income spectrum.
Room and board and tuition are only some of the costs
students face. We're not even taking into account books and school
fees, let alone all the other incidentals of life -- car insurance
and maintenance costs, health insurance and medical fees, cell phone
charges, Internet access, clothing, computers, gas, pizza. ...
Is
it time for students to picket at the campus quad? They can hold signs that say,
"Decrease our tuition, so we can reach fruition!" Or we can just leave
it to the younger folks to come up with more catchy slogans. But
the point is that this annual escalation of college costs is just not sustainable,
and it's resulting in students' having to take on ever-increasing debt loads.
The problem is on a mass scale: Some two-thirds of students attending four-year
colleges today have taken on student loan debt. At graduation, the average debt
load is nearly $20,000. Does academia
care?
In a recent
survey, college presidents were asked, "How concerned are
you about the amount of debt students, in general, are taking on
to pay for their education?" Some 86 percent of them expressed
concern, with 60 percent indicating they were downright "very
concerned."
But not concerned enough
to lower tuition costs, right?
Let's face it, college presidents have to work within
their budgets. And they have really important things to consider.
For instance, they have to hire star academicians who frequently
publish important papers that will bring prestige to their schools,
and they need to pay them big bucks. They have to focus on their
school's image in order to increase market share (meaning, attract
new students). So rather than decreasing tuition costs and advertising
their value relative to the competition, they spend money on lavish
recreational facilities and student union centers, among other very
important things.
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