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ButterflyCatastrophe t1_j8fosu8 wrote

Reply to comment by mushpuppy in College Tuition Has Outpaced Inflation by More Than 3x Over the Last 40 Years by ThePinkHulk

The state component is really important. The schools I've been able to find the data, the actual cost of instruction per student has risen very close to inflation since the 1980s. States have all increased their education budgets every year, because you can't decrease education spending, but not nearly as fast as inflation and increasing enrollment. Schools have to raise tuition to make up the difference.

Somewhere along the way, the political view of college changed from 'a well educated and highly skilled population benefits the whole state' to 'college education is a personal privilege.'

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mushpuppy t1_j8ftf30 wrote

I remember that time. Reagan was surrounded by people who thought that way. They viewed anyone who needed help to become educated as a drain on the system. It was amazingly myopic.

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broshrugged t1_j8hv1ac wrote

I wonder how much upward pressure on price the increase in enrollment causes. I imagine the percentage of women going to college has shot through the roof since 1980.

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ButterflyCatastrophe t1_j8i3d3s wrote

As late as 2000, there was a note posted on the women's room of my uni's chemistry building reminding men that it's a co-ed campus (for 40 years) and men's rooms were 1 floor up or down - they'd swapped alternate floor restrooms rather than add women's rooms. The costs of increased enrollment and diversity don't show up in instruction, but in physical plant, construction, and elsewhere. So does the increasing luxury of campus accommodations. Compared to the 80s, every building now seems to have its own coffee shop; quad dorm rooms are virtually unheard of; exercise facilities; crafting/maker spaces; etc.

Those things definitely go into tuition, fees, and residence costs, which is why (I think) it's important to separate the actual cost of instruction. One might imagine, as powerpoint and smart boards have replaced overheads and chalk, that instructional costs would inflate to accommodate all the new technology, but that doesn't seem to be so. At least in the few places I could find instruction itemized. Faculty salaries (broadly) have just kept pace with inflation.

Growing enrollment has really allowed state governments to mask their slow but steady per capita defunding of higher education.

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DijonDeLaPorte t1_j8i1kw4 wrote

Agreed. I live to see public funding in comparison to tuition increase.

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