WSJ: College Tuition Costs Increase At Twice the Rate of Inflation

[question everything]

College Tuition Costs Increase At Twice the Rate of Inflation

Many Students Are Relying More Heavily on Loans; A Quarter Use Credit Cards
By JOHN HECHINGER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 19, 2005; Page D3

(snip)

In the latest sign of spiraling higher education costs, the College Board reported yesterday that college tuition and fees rose from a year ago at twice the rate of inflation. In its annual survey on college pricing and financial aid, the nonprofit education group also found that students are relying more heavily on student loans rather than outright grants. This marks a worrisome trend since rising interest rates have made borrowing more expensive. As a result, a college degree will cost thousands of dollars more in interest expenses after graduation.

According to the survey, tuition and fees at four-year public universities are up 7.1% from a year ago, with the average bill at $5,491. A year at a private nonprofit school costs an average of $21,235, up 5.9%. Add in room and board, and a year at a public university will set a student back an average of $12,127, while a private school's bill comes in at an average of $29,026. Though more moderate than in recent years, the increases show that education remains one of the few parts of the U.S. economy where hefty price increases are the rule.

The growing financial burden is likely to fuel concerns about affordability of college educations for middle-class and working-class families -- and spur proposed legislation to limit higher education costs. Rep Howard P. McKeon (R., Calif.) has sponsored a bill requiring colleges that consistently raise their tuition and other costs by more than twice the inflation rate to publicly disclose their expenses and what they are doing to keep them down. The proposal is part of broader higher-education legislation, expected to pass early next year.

(snip)

And federal money often isn't enough to pay the bills. The average recipient of a Pell grant receives about $2,500 annually, while the average Stafford loan borrower gets about $3,000. Although the combined total of $5,500 might cover tuition at a state school, it would hardly cover books, room and board, and transportation, let alone the fees at a pricey private college.

(snip)


Write to John Hechinger at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112964999099372010.html (subscription)

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. How about this instead, inflation is increasing at a rate at least twice

the rate that is reported by the government. There is no mystery or surprises here we are all living the real numbers.

[phusion]

2. Since I started college (public) in 1999

my tuition has risen ~80%.

Fortunately I am graduating this semester!

[ugarte]

3. And Bush cuts Pell Grants for the poor and middle-class

More Republican class warfare.

[bluedawg12]

4. Another nail in the coffin of the American dream and

the hope of the middle class to rise above the previous generation through education.

So much for the no child left behind BS - the repigs don't give a dang about education, access to high quality education>

The neoconnies want to keep us dumb and docile hence, the attack on science and the elevation of organized religion(s) to a political party.

What wonder kind of palace Jeery fatwell and Patsy Robbers-son live in? I bet they forgot about living a spiritual life of poverty.

[question everything]

7. You mean, be like their voters

This is what was so nice about the Clinton Gore ticket - two high scholastic achievers who were proud of it. This was after the mediocrity of Reagan and Quayle and after papa Bush tried hard to hide any education that he had.

Even the Conservative who objects to Miers, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x165837 has this comment

"If the liberal jurisprudential establishment emerged from elite schools and journals and spoke in large words and grand theory, the thinking might go, it can only be tamed by reaching outside the Washington-New York intelligentsia to let some Texas common sense cut them down to size.

But law, unlike politics, is inescapably an intellectual exercise, and reason is the bedrock of the rule of law. "

[bluedawg12]

9. Speakimg of egg-heads the neocommies are the brains

of the conservapig movement. True to form, they work in the shadows and pull the strings and put up a guy for the top job who bragged about never reading a book or a newspaper.

Guess what? It shows.

Dumbo is being played for a sucker - they the WHIGS talked circles around him , we ended up in Iwrck, and now his legacy will be poopy...or is it poppy?

[Erika]

5. Bush's plan for a third world country

Make education so expensive that only the elite can afford it. Keep the $ with the haves. That's where he got his money from and he likes it that way. The elitist brat.

[1932]

15. What's really going on is that they're doing whatever makes a few people

a lot of money fast no matter what the long-term consequences are to society.

They're lowering taxes and increasing profits for lenders and they don't care that it's killing the middle class because that will mean more low paying jobs to pad the profits of companies with a lot of employees.

[Extend a Hand]

6. when I graduated in 1986, the maximum pell grant

was $4050/year

maximum pell grant in 2005 -- $4050/year
pretty sad huh.

my tuition went from $33/semester credit hour
$93/credit hour from 1980-1986

[ugarte]

8. The Republicans just want everyone to go to Bible college

That way you only have to buy one book.

[bluedawg12]

10. In my day- State University tuition was free.

Every mechanics kid had a shot at a college degree.

A lot of guys came back from WWII with the GI bill- and many went to college. Perhaps, that's why the conservapigs think of the 50's and 60's as idyllic- maybe they were, because we were winners, prosperous, upwardly mobile and well educated.

Anyoner know the cost of State Univ. tuition these days?

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. We are moving to a Bible economy

In the 80s and 90s they said we should give up those awful manufacturing jobs and move to a service economy.

When the service jobs started leaving, they said we were moving to a technology economy.

When the technology jobs left the country, the new buzzword was the information economy. Those jobs are leaving.

Now, everyone can become a Bible expert during the day, and if they want to eat, sell their personal stuff on eBay at night. Those that fail at that can join the military, and they will then create jobs at funeral homes.

Don't forget, the new Bible economy will create many jobs for prison guards. Also, security guards for the wealthy elites and politicians will be in big demand.

There will also be a huge demand for propaganda experts, book burners, internet policemen, news editors, and clerks to process "evil doers" into the new prison economy, which will follow the Bible economy.

[WindRavenX]

12. i have no idea how im at college

it's a true nightmare.

only the rich will be allowed to learn.

im so sorry for my children, i do not know how i will be able to pay for their education.

[sleipnir]

13. My Masters could cost me up to $90,000.

That's at a private school and with living costs, but it's a degree in the arts.

I can't believe I'm paying that much, and I sure hope it's worth it. I think it will be, but damn it's a ton of money.

[1932]

14. More students are turning to private lenders for loans (rather than Fed

and state loan programs).

That was no accident. That was the plan.