Why college tuition costs so much…..

[ukalum1988]

….Because universities are using student loan money to finance campus construction projects and bloated bureaucracies, according to the WSJ:

Colleges Spend Like There’s No Tomorrow. ‘These Places Are Just Devouring Money.’

Students foot the bill for flagship state universities that pour money into new buildings and programs with little pushback.

www.wsj.com

Kentucky / UK are prominently mentioned throughout the article.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

That’s the type of stuff that attracts the students. They don’t want to be living and learning in ancient buildings.

The last college I worked at hadn’t built any new living quarters in over 30 years and it was be of the two biggest complaints they would get from prospective students. Even in an environment where college applications and enrollments are down, they are still doing quite well, and much better than peer schools, in applications and enrollment.

My alma mater was in about the same place when they started building new living quarters when I went there and applications and enrollment started increasing when students saw modern facilities to live in. Applications and enrollment were up every year for like nearly 20 years until recently where it’s pretty much down everywhere.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

While I love nice ammenties as much as the next person... maybe that is the problem here? That colleges aren't meant to be luxurious living arrangements and going to classes in these modern frivolous learning centers?

 

[bthaunert]

That article has one side of the story. The other side of the story is that the state allotment given to colleges and universities has decreased drastically. At UK, in FY22, only 5.3% of the university budget came from state funds. At one point, not too long ago, I imagine that number was closer to 40%.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

While I love nice ammenties as much as the next person... maybe that is the problem here? That colleges aren't meant to be luxurious living arrangements and going to classes in these modern frivolous learning centers?

If you don’t have the stuff that gets them beds filled then you’re not going to be in business for long.

 

[JumperJack]

If you don’t have the stuff that gets them beds filled then you’re not going to be in business for long.

Women?

 

[LineSkiCat14]

If you don’t have the stuff that gets them beds filled then you’re not going to be in business for long.

Maybe that's the problem with education today. And if kids truly want the school with the lazy river in their dorm.. as opposed to a perfectly capable community school.. should we then really care if they go into debt?

 

[bthaunert]

Maybe that's the problem with education today. And if kids truly want the school with the lazy river in their dorm.. as opposed to a perfectly capable community school.. should we then really care if they go into debt?

I’m with you on this. Between community college and online college, there are still reasonable options out there

 

[UKBrassowTipIN]

When the fed took over loans that's when tuition skyrocketed bc it took all the risk off the schools and put it on the student. Charge an insane amount and they dont care bc they know they'll get their money upfront bc no one got denied. It's why "free college" aka make more ppl pay for it in taxes, is a dumb idea. It does nothing to lower the real cost, it just encourages them to charge even more bc then they know more wallets are paying for it.

It's just never made sense why progressives will relentlessly attack every thing about paying their fair share or corporations bring greedy, but they'll never turn their attention to higher education. Imagine if any company, like a drug company for instance marked up a drug, what these ppl mark up textbooks...they'd lose their minds and rightfully so. Not to mention all these schools have billion dollar endowments, which is basically a tax free hedge fund. Pay your fair share indeed, make these Mfers spend that money to pay for everyone's sh!t.

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

When the fed took over loans that's when tuition skyrocketed bc it took all the risk off the schools and put it on the student. Charge an insane amount and they dont care bc they know they'll get their money upfront bc no one got denied. It's why "free college" aka make more ppl pay for it in taxes, is a dumb idea. It does nothing to lower the real cost, it just encourages them to charge even more bc then they know more wallets are paying for it.

It's just never made sense why progressives will relentlessly attack every thing about paying their fair share or corporations bring greedy, but they'll never turn their attention to higher education. Imagine if any company, like a drug company for instance marked up a drug, what these ppl mark up textbooks...they'd lose their minds and rightfully so. Not to mention all these schools have billion dollar endowments, which is basically a tax free hedge fund. Pay your fair share indeed, make these Mfers spend that money to pay for everyone's sh!t.

Exactly. When universities realized student loans were backed by the Feds with predatory interest rates, they opened up tons of junk programs. Then they pushed students, many first generation, into colleges through national initiatives with little to no counseling. Universities charged what they wanted, students were stuck in a cycle of fitting the bill, and the fed used their debt as assets to boost their borrowing/spending power.

 

[rick64]

Don’t forget guaranteed student loans. Colleges and universities started licking their chops when this got implemented.

 

[MegaBlue05]

If you don’t have the stuff that gets them beds filled then you’re not going to be in business for long.

This is true. I went to WKU in the late 90s. My freshman year you had to choose: Dorm at the middle of the hill without A/C or dorm at the bottom of the hill with A/C. I chose bottom because I ain’t trying to live like my great-grandparents near the turn of the 21st century.

My junior year, they bulldozed all the old dorms without AC and built new ones in the same place. Enrollment increased.

My freshman year, our computer labs looked like they were straight out of 1987. By my junior, year they built several new instruction buildings with modern (for the times) computer labs. Enrollment increased.

I’ve never been opposed to updating outdated facilities. I’m not saying dorms need marble countertops, but it might be time to ditch the buildings with asbestos and lead-based paint.

 

[BigBlueDave]

Maybe that's the problem with education today. And if kids truly want the school with the lazy river in their dorm.. as opposed to a perfectly capable community school.. should we then really care if they go into debt?

Dorm life used to be minimalistic. You would spend your limited time there in a small space for less money than you could rent an apartment out in the world. After all, the student was on limited funds.

That was beginning to shift even when I was in school. We still had the small space, but that small space cost more than apartment space.

UK's dorms are like small efficiencies with a big price tag. Their cheapest plan(two bed/open space with divider between beds/ share toilet+shower with next door) is $2000/month/unit.

A two locking bedroom(share toilet/shower with one roommate) is $2300/month/unit.

Everyone has their own lavatory sink. Each unit has a kitchen counter, small sink, dorm frig, and microwave.



I listed those rates per month/unit. It helps me apples to apples vs individual kid/semester/year.


Per square foot, uk has to have some of the most expensive rental property in the state.



All of that rent and you still have to pay for parking... off site.


All of the amenities like gym or pool are charged in $1300/yr mandatory fees with tuition.

I’m not saying dorms need marble countertops,

Uk's are granite, but my kid's say "It's the cheapest grade of granite!"

 

[cole854]

Fancy buildings and lipstick doesn't equate to a better education.

 

[DreadLox]

Academic compensation is tied to expansion.

A small, liberal arts college whose focus is solely on education is considered a backwater.

 

[Hank Camacho]

If I ever get elected president (which will require BleachBit for my Cayts Pause), the first thing I'm doing is ending federal student loans.

 

[MegaBlue05]

Fancy buildings and lipstick doesn't equate to a better education.

Somewhat true. But if the technology students are using in school is obsolete in their field of study, their education is behind the rest of field.

That happened to me. I learned to use the technology for my former profession that was close to obsolete at the time. By the time I got into the field, I had to be trained on the current technology because my college was about a decade behind technologically.

Many of these “fancy” buildings also update for technological advances.

 

[College#19]

Colleges and Universities have figured out that most college students can qualify for big student loans and they are ignorant enough to use them to pay for very expensive tuition. It is almost like the Financial Aid departments get a commission based on Student Loans.

 

[JumperJack]

When the fed took over loans that's when tuition skyrocketed bc it took all the risk off the schools and put it on the student. Charge an insane amount and they dont care bc they know they'll get their money upfront bc no one got denied. It's why "free college" aka make more ppl pay for it in taxes, is a dumb idea. It does nothing to lower the real cost, it just encourages them to charge even more bc then they know more wallets are paying for it.

It's just never made sense why progressives will relentlessly attack every thing about paying their fair share or corporations bring greedy, but they'll never turn their attention to higher education. Imagine if any company, like a drug company for instance marked up a drug, what these ppl mark up textbooks...they'd lose their minds and rightfully so. Not to mention all these schools have billion dollar endowments, which is basically a tax free hedge fund. Pay your fair share indeed, make these Mfers spend that money to pay for everyone's sh!t.

I agree with your points with one addition: it makes a whole lot of sense why they don’t want to touch higher Ed. Universities are the incubators for their ideologies. The working classes are increasingly rejecting their policies, so universities are essential in creating and maintaining a base.

 

[jtharr4]

The new style dorms do seem over priced but I don't see how it could be any worse value than 15 years ago. I lived in a double occupancy with no ac and the building was bad enough the ceiling in one of the common areas collapsed after a few days of heavy rain in the spring. It still cost as much as rent on a decent but not great apartment. Meal plan was included but if you broke down the cost per meal "swipe" it was actually more expensive than going to chipotle for every meal.

 

[cats2010]

When the fed took over loans that's when tuition skyrocketed bc it took all the risk off the schools and put it on the student. Charge an insane amount and they dont care bc they know they'll get their money upfront bc no one got denied. It's why "free college" aka make more ppl pay for it in taxes, is a dumb idea. It does nothing to lower the real cost, it just encourages them to charge even more bc then they know more wallets are paying for it.

It's just never made sense why progressives will relentlessly attack every thing about paying their fair share or corporations bring greedy, but they'll never turn their attention to higher education. Imagine if any company, like a drug company for instance marked up a drug, what these ppl mark up textbooks...they'd lose their minds and rightfully so. Not to mention all these schools have billion dollar endowments, which is basically a tax free hedge fund. Pay your fair share indeed, make these Mfers spend that money to pay for everyone's sh!t.

Checkout the clip of Maxine waters (while chair of the house financial services committee ) grilling the large banks on student loans. One by one they each said we don’t do student loans any longer until after maybe 3 or 4 JP Morgan rep reminded her that large banks stopped doing student loans after the government took them over. Just a snapshot of how shitty our country is ran with idiots like her running the show.

 

[vhcat70]

That article has one side of the story. The other side of the story is that the state allotment given to colleges and universities has decreased drastically. At UK, in FY22, only 5.3% of the university budget came from state funds. At one point, not too long ago, I imagine that number was closer to 40%.

It's not one-sided. It shows the change in state funding.

 

[vhcat70]

While I love nice ammenties as much as the next person... maybe that is the problem here? That colleges aren't meant to be luxurious living arrangements and going to classes in these modern frivolous learning centers?

Women like nice things. Most guy could GAS.

 

[bthaunert]

It's not one-sided. It shows the change in state funding.

Valid….I don’t subscribe, so just saw the headline.

 

[Wesley91581]

Dorm life used to be minimalistic. You would spend your limited time there in a small space for less money than you could rent an apartment out in the world. After all, the student was on limited funds.

That was beginning to shift even when I was in school. We still had the small space, but that small space cost more than apartment space.

UK's dorms are like small efficiencies with a big price tag. Their cheapest plan(two bed/open space with divider between beds/ share toilet+shower with next door) is $2000/month/unit.

A two locking bedroom(share toilet/shower with one roommate) is $2300/month/unit.

Everyone has their own lavatory sink. Each unit has a kitchen counter, small sink, dorm frig, and microwave.



I listed those rates per month/unit. It helps me apples to apples vs individual kid/semester/year.


Per square foot, uk has to have some of the most expensive rental property in the state.



All of that rent and you still have to pay for parking... off site.


All of the amenities like gym or pool are charged in $1300/yr mandatory fees with tuition.






Uk's are granite, but my kid's say "It's the cheapest grade of granite!"

Yup the housing thing started about 20 years ago - if you added it up you could live at places like royal Lexington apartments for about 300 a month which was close enough to campus but a tad nicer and not much more expensive.

I feel like the snowball effect happened when that newtown pike complex opened and it was rented out in 2 seconds that’s when the property managers knew they could “build it and they would come”.

I’m betting every college apartment in town was booked and the uk dorms weren’t sought after so to keep up with the joneses they built the modern “dorms” and to pay for those they increased tuition and could increase room/board b/c the fancy complex was charging xyz and the uk “dorms” had similar amenities.

 

[wildcatsboston1984]

Classroom instruction is only a very small part of the college experience. At most schools, a full-time class load is 15-18 hours of classroom instruction per week. The students spend far more time out of the classroom than they do in, if you don't prioritize the out-of-classroom experience, someone else will and they will pass you by.

Before the campus housing boom started, a lot of dorm rooms were basically better maintained poverty-level housing. Barely enough room to have two beds, two desks, two chest of drawers, and two small closets with communal bathroom and kitchen facilities that weren't big enough to meet demand.

I commuted to school, glad I never lived on campus at my alma mater. I started college shortly before the big housing boom took hold on college campuses throughout Virginia. I lived in a decidedly low middle class house my entire time growing up and it was pretty luxurious compared to what living on campus was like until they opened the townhouse style housing after my second year. And even then I still had a better bedroom, but not considerably better. And that was only available to seniors and approved special interest groups. And I would later realize when I moved out on my own after college that my bedroom was quite small even by middle class standards.

Maybe kids shouldn't expect to live in luxury, but with as much as college cost even back then, there should have been something better than poverty level housing.

So you know what happened when colleges around the state started building new dorms with much bigger bedrooms and new housing that was townhouse or apartment style? The schools with the new buildings saw an increase in applications and retention. The ones that lagged behind saw a decrease in applications and retention.

It's not a build it and they will come type thing with housing. IT certainly helps, but the housing needs to be a compliment, not a replacement for academic and job placement outcomes. But if the school is going to have inadequate housing, they sure as hell better be a lot better than the competition in other measures.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Granite countertops in the rooms, Tempurpedic mattresses, amenities, etc. = huge student debt.

Hard to complain about student debt when we let colleges make college into a four-year cruise ship experience.

 

[Glenn's take]

All that money and yet they still have to get the fans to make their payroll in sports for them.

 

[Wesley91581]

Granite countertops in the rooms, Tempurpedic mattresses, amenities, etc. = huge student debt.

Hard to complain about student debt when we let colleges make college into a four-year cruise ship experience.

Haha cruise ships don’t have tempur pedic beds - maybe the Hyatt in downtown Lexington does.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Haha cruise ships don’t have tempur pedic beds - maybe the Hyatt in downtown Lexington does.

It’s a captured scam.

 

[BigBlueDave]

Meal plan was included but if you broke down the cost per meal "swipe" it was actually more expensive than going to chipotle for every meal.

Currently $12/swipe at UK

 

[cricket3]

Currently $12/swipe at UK

That can't be true. I go to Champions Kitchen on occasions as general public and it's less than that per visit.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

The government gave guaranteed loans and the universities used that to rape students while selling them on the idea that college should be an expensive right of passage and the best four years of your life, worthy of incredible debt. School stopped being a training ground to educate the future and became so much more. We let it happen.

 

[BigBlueDave]

That can't be true. I go to Champions Kitchen on occasions as general public and it's less than that per visit.

Base plan is $1920($100 Flex)

$1920- 100 = $1820


$1820/16 week semester = $113.75


$113.75/10 swipes = $11.38


Round down to $11 then.








Edit: There is a commuter plan for about the same amount of meals.

$1,584.00​

• 
  175 Meals Per Semester
• 
  $250 Flex
• 
  Meals Should Be Used During Fall 2023
• 
  Unused Flex Rolls Over to Spring 2024

That works out to $7.62 per.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

Base plan is $1920($100 Flex)

$1920- 100 = $1820


$1820/16 week semester = $113.75


$113.75/10 swipes = $11.38


Round down to $11 then.

I haven't been in college in almost 40 years, so maybe things have changed, but where does the 10 swipes per week come from? When I went to college you could eat 3 meals a day during weekdays and at least two on weekends. So that would be a minimum of 19 swipes per week. Does UK only include two meals per day and only for week days?

 

[ukalumni00]

Left UK with about $15k in student loan debt. Worked the whole time but got no assistance from my parents so had to take out some loans to make ends meet. UK dorms at that time and off campus apartment were nothing to speak of but did the job. Looking back now, was a completely different time and much more affordable before the Universities decided to completely fleece their student body. I really feel for the younger generations dealing with this mess, but at the same time its hard to want to bail out people who make completely irresponsible financial decisions getting useless degrees and accumulating 6 figure debt or worse those like Lawyers, Doctors, etc. that want bailed out.

 

[cricket3]

It's 18 weeks so it's about $10 a meal, which for an unlimited buffet is reasonable.

If you go to the next plan up, which is unlimited swipes it comes out to $6.50 a swipe.

 

[BigBlueDave]

I haven't been in college in almost 40 years, so maybe things have changed, but where does the 10 swipes per week come from? When I went to college you could eat 3 meals a day during weekdays and at least two on weekends. So that would be a minimum of 19 swipes per week. Does UK only include two meals per day and only for week days?

Because even back when we were in school, nobody ate a full meal three times per day, everyday and never left campus.

Both of my kids grab a fruit or something stupid packaged to start the day. A big breakfast is a bowl of cereal.

They add money to their flex account to cover pass the 10.

Even so, north campus is full of off campus restaurants for the same money.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

Because even back when we were in school, nobody ate a full meal three times per day, everyday and never left campus.

Both of my kids grab a fruit or something stupid packaged to start the day. A big breakfast is a bowl of cereal.

They add money to their flex account to cover pass the 10.

Even so, north campus is full of off campus restaurants for the same money.

If you're calculating an average cost per meal though, you have to divide by the number of possible meals. That's how it's being priced. If a student chooses not to eat some of those meals, then he has effectively increased his average price per meal. But that's his own choosing, not the school. When my kids went to college (not UK), they had meal plans that assumed you ate all meals in the cafeteria and they had plans that only fed you maybe 10 times per week. Presumably, if you were eating out except for 10 times a week, you wouldn't purchase a full meal plan.

 

[cricket3]

He was going by the cheapest meal plan which is 10 swipes a week. They still offer multiple unlimited swipe plans.