The rise in college tuition is no different that the rise in housing ... both cause by governments subsidies creating bubbles. As the housing bubble burst, we saw how bad the devastation was ... it will be interesting to see how bad the damage wreaked by the education bubble bursting will cause.


http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/why-college-aid-makes-college-more-expensive-1330033152060/

ederal aid for students has increased 164% over the past decade, adjusted for inflation, according to the College Board. Yet three-quarters of Americans and even a majority of college presidents see college as unaffordable for most, and that sentiment has been steadily spreading, the Pew Research Center reports.

Two new studies offer clues on why. One measures the degree to which some colleges reduce their own aid in response to increased federal aid. The other suggests federal aid is helping to push college costs higher.

Recipients of federal Pell Grants have, by definition, limited means to pay for college, so they are likely to qualify for grants and price breaks given out by schools, too. But schools view a student's sources of federal aid before deciding how much to give on their own, rather than the other way around. The result is a crowding out effect, where some schools give less as the government gives more.

Lesley Turner, a PhD candidate at Columbia University, looked at data on aid from 1996 to 2008 and calculated that, on average, schools increased Pell Grant recipients' prices by $17 in response to every $100 of Pell Grant aid. More selective nonprofit schools' response was largest and these schools raised prices by $66 for every $100 of Pell Grant aid.

Aid from schools over the past decade has increased about half as fast as federal aid, according to the College Board.

Perhaps worse for students than a crowding out effect is the Bennett Effect, named for William Bennett, who 25 years ago as Secretary of Education wrote for the New York Times, "Increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions."

 

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If you don't think the expense was worth the degree, you either got a totally useless degree, or you suck at the stuff your worthwhile degree claims you are able to do.

Sure, college loans suck, but it sucks much worse to not have a college degree. Welcome to capitalism. Join us in the party, we brought cake and ice cream....cause we can afford it.

You should just make college free for everyone.. Like we do here.

 

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It's an investment we as society make. And it pays off.

 

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Government free means stealing from people to give to other people .... it is a perversion of the true definition of free

 

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I agree, but that won't help with private colleges.

 

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Full college paid for, for every citizen, upon their completion of 4 years of service. Military, civil, or medical aide.

 

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The problem isn't the grants, it's the "no bankruptcy" clause on student loans.

Students can borrow all they want, regardless of credit, so the price keeps going up to meet the "demand".

 

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