College costs keep climbing | | |
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The College Board produced an interesting array of statistics that describe enrollment data, regional variations in costs, pricing patterns among students and net costs of college, after financial aid and tax benefits are taken into account.
But there's scant information as to why college costs
keep going up year after year. A couple of charts show that appropriations
from state and local governments have increased over time, but on
a per-student level they're down over the past decade or so because
of higher enrollments. And then there's this obscure index called
the Higher Education Price Index which measures the costs of goods
and services purchased by colleges and universities. Overall, the
HEPI is up 22 percent between 2000-2001 and 2005-2006 compared with
14 percent for the Consumer Price Index.
But the cost of tuition and fees at public schools has soared
55 percent (35 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis) over the
past five years. What's up with that?
The highest education authority also wants to know
In a recent address to the National Press Club, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings asked essentially the same question.
"Higher education's escalating sticker price
has many parents facing the tough choice -- whether to save for
college or their own retirement. In the past five years alone, tuition
at four-year colleges has skyrocketed by 40 percent," she said,
citing numbers provided last year by the College Board. "I
want to know why ... and I know other parents do, too!"
Spellings calls for revamping the financial aid system
and increasing need-based aid. "But more money isn't going
to make a difference if states and institutions don't do their part
to keep costs in line," she said. "My daughter's college
costs went up this year ... for what? And this is not unique to
me. For most families, this is one of the most expensive investments
we make. Yet there is little to no information on why costs are
so high and what we're getting in return."
To this end, Spellings wants more transparency and accountability from higher education. "You'd never buy a house without an inspection, take a vacation without researching your destination, or these days, buy groceries without reading the nutritional label." To enhance transparency, she recommends matching government funds to schools that "collect and publicly report student learning outcomes."
Measuring performance a bureaucratic hurdle?
Performance-based aid may sound good in theory, but that proposal
has caused some in the academic world to question the federal government's
authority over the university system. Others say measuring student
learning doesn't work well in practice. A common concern is that
teachers focus too much on drilling content so students test well
instead of exploring topics in ways that develop critical thinking
skills.
"How do you put in place a whole federal program that objectively
measures performance? I think it's impossible," says Deborah
Fox, founder of Fox College Funding LLC, a national company that
assists families in reducing their college expenses.
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