2008 Woodie Awards
Grits and gesundheit:
Government partly at fault for tuition hikes
Caroline May
Issue date: 4/11/08 Section: Opinion
Americans tend to link a college education to financial success. Sometimes I wonder whether a college education is worth the price we pay, or, to put it in the language of economics majors, if what we pay in time and money is an economically efficient use of resources. While politicians, interest groups and certain segments of society accuse and condemn oil companies and pharmaceutical enterprises of price gouging, it always strikes me as odd that colleges and universities are able to escape such criticism.
The net price of college tuition in the United States has consistently been rising at a rate far faster than inflation. In the last five years, the cost of four-year colleges rose 31 percent above the general inflation rate. A press release published by the House Democrats in 2006 pointed out that since the year 2001, tuition at public universities has increased by $2,000 (or 57 percent) and at private universities by $5,000 (32 percent).
The increase in the price of oil has nothing on the skyrocketing price of higher education. Dan Lips of the Maryland Public Policy Institute compared the cost of college tuition with the price of gasoline from 1986 to 2006. In that time frame, after adjusting for inflation, tuition and fees rose 122 percent at public universities rose and rose 80 percent at private universities. I feel it is safe to say that this is a rather large increase. Lips further calculated that the real cost of a gallon of gasoline increased from $1.58 in 1986 to $2.50 in 2006, and if the price of gasoline had risen at the same rate as college tuition, consumers would have been pumping gasoline at $3.51 a gallon instead.
As college students we all face this reality as we watch thousands of our dollars slip out of our accounts and into the hands of the university cashier. What is causing this drastic increase in price? Despite the numerous conspiracy theories propagated by those hostile to capitalism, the high price of gasoline is primarily due to market forces. The rise in college tuition, on the other hand, has some other factors at work.
The net price of college tuition in the United States has consistently been rising at a rate far faster than inflation. In the last five years, the cost of four-year colleges rose 31 percent above the general inflation rate. A press release published by the House Democrats in 2006 pointed out that since the year 2001, tuition at public universities has increased by $2,000 (or 57 percent) and at private universities by $5,000 (32 percent).
The increase in the price of oil has nothing on the skyrocketing price of higher education. Dan Lips of the Maryland Public Policy Institute compared the cost of college tuition with the price of gasoline from 1986 to 2006. In that time frame, after adjusting for inflation, tuition and fees rose 122 percent at public universities rose and rose 80 percent at private universities. I feel it is safe to say that this is a rather large increase. Lips further calculated that the real cost of a gallon of gasoline increased from $1.58 in 1986 to $2.50 in 2006, and if the price of gasoline had risen at the same rate as college tuition, consumers would have been pumping gasoline at $3.51 a gallon instead.
As college students we all face this reality as we watch thousands of our dollars slip out of our accounts and into the hands of the university cashier. What is causing this drastic increase in price? Despite the numerous conspiracy theories propagated by those hostile to capitalism, the high price of gasoline is primarily due to market forces. The rise in college tuition, on the other hand, has some other factors at work.
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