US/education/higher/price
About
The cost of tuition at colleges and universities in the United States has been rising at a rate far exceeding that of inflation. There seem to be a number of drivers behind this phenomenon, including jobsolescence (fewer jobs to go around, so people are more desperate for an "edge" to give themselves or their kids) and reduced government funding for public higher education.
Entrepreneur Peter Thiel argues that higher education prices are in a "bubble", which will collapse at some point in the near future.[1]
Others argue that higher education prices are caused by low-interest student loans causing artificially-high demand for college education, leading to higher prices via the law of supply and demand. While this is certainly part of the mechanism, it doesn't explain what caused the political demand for low-interest student loans; it essentially pockets the question of what is causing the change.
Links
Reference
to file
- 1996-03 Findings from The Condition of Education 1995 - #6: The Cost of Higher Education (PDF) by National Center for Educational Statistics, US Department of Education
- 2003 The Rising Price of Higher Education by William Trombley, senior editor at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education "State spending for public colleges and universities dropped sharply last year..."
- 2008-12-03 College May Become Unaffordable for Most in U.S. "...college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income rose 147 percent. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade [...] So far this year, the picture looks even bleaker, with states continuing to cut higher education appropriations and campuses responding by raising tuition even higher, imposing new fees and reducing student financial assistance."
- 2010-03-28 We Can't Afford to Be Quiet About the Rising Cost of College
- 2011-04-10 Peter Thiel: We're in a Bubble and It's Not the Internet. It's Higher Education.
- 2012-02-13 Editorial: The rising price of higher education
- 2012-09-10 Competition and the Rising Cost of Higher Education by Bill Destler, President, Rochester Institute of Technology
- 2013-03-16 The High Cost of Higher Education Explained in One Simple Graphic: infographic
- 2013-05-23 The Rising Costs of Higher Education: interest rates, internships
Notes
- asked questions, got answers: some history and links