Let me ask all of you a simple question. How many of you are experiencing only 2.4% average cost increase per annum in your overall budget these past few years? Below I have posted a Times article that is one of the very few accurate and balanced accounts of what is happening to college tuition. I have pointed out ad nauseum that virtually all media stories give a false picture of what is really going on with College Tuition. The inflation rate used to arrive at those eye opening tuition hike numbers is the official government rate which is 2- point something. If you use a realistic rate, such as the one computed by Shadowstats.com, you will discover just the opposite. College tuition in constant dollars, adjusted for actual inflation, has come down rather than gone up!!! Furthermore, you will now be able to understand why so many colleges and universities are struggling financially. Below,I have inserted my own comments in brackets and italics. "College Costs: Rising, Yet Often Exaggerated New York Times By DAVID LEONHARDT | New York Times â Thu, Aug 22, 2013 âSoaring college costsâ is one of those phrases for which journalists and speechwriters seem to have a save-get key. Itâs become conventional wisdom that the cost of attending college has risen far more than the cost of just about any other major item in family budgets. Expect to hear more such talk in the commentary about President Obamaâs speech on higher education on Thursday â and perhaps even in the speech itself. But the conventional wisdom is at least partly wrong. The cost of attending college has indeed increased more quickly than inflation in recent years [only if you use the official government inflation rate of 2.4%!], but it has not risen as fast as many people imagine. The main reason for the misunderstanding is the fact that the list price of college â especially the list price of elite private colleges â receives far more attention than the actual price. The list price is the one that colleges highlight in their brochures and that media accounts often mention; the actual price, which takes financial aid into account, reflects what families truly pay and, by any imaginable definition, matters more. Over the last 20 years, the actual price of a year at a private college, including tuition, fees, room and board, has risen at an annual average of 1.6 percent on top of inflation, according to the College Board. In nominal terms â that is, not controlling for inflation â the increase has been about 4 percent a year. [ 4% is at least as far below actual inflation, as it is above the official 2.4% government inflation rate.] At public four-year colleges, the inflation-adjusted average annual increase has been somewhat higher, thanks mostly to state budget cuts: 2.3 percent (which translates into almost 5 percent a year in nominal terms). At public two-year colleges, also known as community colleges, costs have fallen relative to inflation, at an annual rate of 0.3 percent over the last 20 years. These numbers are, of course, averages that hide some variation. For many high-income families, the costs have risen more rapidly than the averages suggest, because those families have not received as much financial aid. For many low-income families, costs have increased less than the averages show. Looking at public colleges, Dylan Matthews of The Washington Post wrote this week that the tuition increases were âconcentrated on students in the upper middle and upper classes, with students from families making under $32,500 a year largely spared.â Again, college has become more expensive in recent years. And prices have increased somewhat faster over the last decade than they did over the previous decade, the College Board data show. These cost increases stem from a combination of factors, some of which are probably unavoidable and some of which different government policies have the potential to change. For years, many university officials have resisted efforts to hold down costs and resisted government efforts to impose more accountability on higher education. But the cost increases in higher education are not as large as they are often made out to be. Higher education, in truth, has similarities with many other service industries where costs have also risen. Health care is the most obvious example. Prices have also increased fairly rapidly, according to the Labor Department, for funeral services, sports tickets, day care, legal advice and tax preparation. Over time, the costs of items that depend on skilled human labor typically go up." [Once again the fine journalism of the NY Times triumphs over mainstream, "gee whiz," media ignorance. (Yes, I know the Times is not perfect, so don't waste your time pointing that out.) And thank you, DAVID LEONHARDT , for a balanced and accurate picture of what is really happening with college tuition!]
Is that true, or are you making that up, Lucrum? I know the government says that, but surely no sane person can really believe it! and with regard to Ricter, we'll just have to let him weigh in on that. I know a qualified my response by using the word "sane".
That article is full of shit. I've been tracking tuition for two decades. I know exactly what I paid for my school and see today's rates. It's beyond astronomical. And colleges struggling? Bwahahahaha. Dude, professors, administrators and staff have never made more money then they are now. Universities now are also running this cute little scam where on top of tuition they now charge for all these extras that don't even get counted in costs. Another scam they are running is they are forcing students to buy newly revised books every year so students can't buy older used books. A nice little racket to earn extra money. If you don't think spending 100k to 150k for a 4 year PUBLIC state university is high, you are out of your fucking mind. And I mean that with all due respect of course. Did you know after WWII when the GI Bill was created for the men coming home from war, that small amount of money they got from the government was enough to completely pay for their 4 year education, and no, not at University of Phoenix. Today, the current GI Bill doesn't even pay for one semester at an avg state university. Keep smoking them if you got em piezoe. Whatever keeps you from facing reality.
And not only that, they also make goddamn sure to charge you 300 dollars for a textbook and only have it available in hardcover so you have to pay 60 dollars more.
I have a friend who is a professor who tells me the latest trend is making students buy electronic books with one time access codes so you can't re-sell them. The university gets a piece of the take as does the professor in many cases. These "e-books" can run $200 a piece. Ten years ago students could expect to pay $150 for a semester's worth of books. Now it's $750 to $1000!!!!
Apparently the New York Times agrees with me: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/opinion/25fri4.html?_r=0
Sorry Piezoe: Since 1982 a typical family income increased by 147%, more than inflation but significantly behind the huge increase in college costs. College costs have been rising roughly at a rate of 7% per year for decades. Since 1985, the overall consumer price index has risen 115% while the college education inflation rate has risen nearly 500%. According to Gordon Wadsworth, author of The College Trap, ââ¦if the cost of college tuition was $10,000 in 1986, it would now cost the same student over $21,500 if education had increased as much as the average inflation rate but instead education is $59,800 or over 2 ½ times the inflation rate.â Blunting these increases is a rise in federal student aid including tax credits and deductions. And nearly two thirds of undergraduates now receive some sort of grant aid and student loan borrowing is on the upswing. But loans must be paid back so the pain of payment is only delayed. http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveodland/2012/03/24/college-costs-are-soaring/ Got anything else in your Che Guevara bag?