Rising College Tuition Costs

College tuition, fees and costs have risen exponentially over the past couple of decades.

Unfortunately, the cost of attending college is a major deterrent for many individuals. Even with college tuition help and college tuition loans, rising college costs make even the cheapest college tuition seem outrageous. Come to think of it, college tuition prices may actually have you running to go find a rock to hide under!

It’s no wonder that so many people are turning to online degree programs, such as online registered nursing programs, to cut down on the costs of college. Higher education tuition has skyrocketed, forcing students in some situations to work multiple jobs to pay for the annual college costs. The high cost of college can be an extremely stressful factor in pursuing one’s career and educational goals.

Since 1982, the average cost of college tuition and fees has increased by 439 percent, while the typical family’s income increased by only 147 percent, according to a new Aol News article.

According to the article, college tuition increases have sparked a new hotbed of debate over the issue of administrative bloat. A new Goldwater Institute study has found that universities have greatly expanded their administrative bureaucracies, while decreasing the number of professors in some cases. The report focused on the information of 198 leading universities in the United States, including all flagship state public universities and elite private institutions, delivered to the U.S. Department of Education.

The study reveals that administrative costs beat out any other rising cost at universities and colleges between 1993 and 2007, while student enrollment at America’s leading universities rose by 14.5 percent during those years. During that time period, the number of full-time administrators employed per 100 students at America’s leading universities rose more than 39 percent, while the number of employees working in teaching, research or service rose 17.6 percent. Additionally, the study found that inflation-adjusted spending on administration per student increased by nearly 66 percent, while instructional spending per student rose by 39 percent, according to the article.

What does all of this mean?

“Universities are suffering from administrative bloat, expanding their bureaucracies significantly faster than their numbers of instructors and researchers, which should be the core missions of any university,” the article states.

How can they get away with this?

Well, despite the rapid increases in tuition rates, students pay only a fraction of the expense. “These leading public and private universities spent an average of $41,1337 per student in 2007 and collected an average tuition of $10,929 per student,” according to the article. Most of a university’s funding comes and federal and state governments, private donations and fees for non-educational services. The expanding rate of direct and indirect government subsidies for higher education facilitates the  growth of bureaucracy by protecting students from coughing up the cash to pay the full costs of a working university.

What now?

“With dozens of states looking for ways to trim their budgets, now is a good time for policymakers to consider reducing state appropriations to colleges and universities and let students and institutions sort through what they want from a university education and how much its worth,” the article states.

The rising cost of college tuition has many students and parents frustrated as they search to find an affordable college tuition. What are YOUR thoughts on the matter?