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Why college tuition costs so much…..

He was going by the cheapest meal plan which is 10 swipes a week. They still offer multiple unlimited swipe plans.
That's what I was curious about. Is the 10 meals per week the maximum number of meals or was it an assumed number a student would eat in the cafeteria. That makes more sense now.
 
The main reason is because state governments cut appropriations to public universities because they knew the student loan industry could prop up the tuition increases.
 
Ultimately, the price of all products and services are determined by supply and demand. Easy money created additional demand for college education. That increase in demand has driven prices higher. There are always market reactions to government policy. I think the easy money has made the market less sensitive to the price of the product so colleges compete on amenities, etc. as much or more than education. Without easy loans, cost then becomes a much larger consideration for people. In that environment, colleges would still be competing on price more than they do today. Perhaps we are reaching a tipping point where price is becoming an issue again. But as others have said above, if a college focuses on education and price but has crappy dorms and other amenities, will students choose that option?
 
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Yo Is it obligated to pay per swipe or can you do a la Carte meal allocation? When I was at uk a spicy beef wrap costs more than a piece of pizza - is that still true or are you given a “meal” that includes 10-12 dollars worth of food (entree/side/drink)?
 
Met two parents that just dropped their daughter off and they said for what we pay it better be nice.

Man in Rome they went to college without AC and still made it. These touch’s will be fine.
 
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Met two parents that just dropped their daughter off and they said for what we pay it better be nice.

Man in Rome they went to college without AC and still made it. These touch’s will be fine.
The difference is when I was a kid growing up my house didn’t have a/c so it was a luxury so to me ya no big deal but most these kids hibernate inside with a/c so they don’t know what to do without it.
 
The professional school I went to hired a new dean the year I graduated and the first thing he did, with absolutely no changes whatsoever, was raise tuition 30%. There was no difference in number of applicants the following year. Kids will pay whatever you tell them without question.
 
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The main reason is because state governments cut appropriations to public universities because they knew the student loan industry could prop up the tuition increases.
No offense, but this makes ZERO sense and is easy to prove.

Suppose you were an adult and your parents had a trust fund for you that paid you $75,000 a year on top of the job that you have that paid you $100,000 per year. You'd be living pretty good, right? Now suppose that your parents' trust fund cut payments down to $25,000 for you. Wouldn't you try to cut down on expenses if this happened? If you acted like a university you'd go out and get 10 more credit cards and INCREASE your spending.

To prove this out let's look at Kentucky.
  • In state tuition at UK was around $2,600 in 1997. Out of state was $7,300.
  • In state tuition is now over $12,000 and for out of state it's $31,000
Out of state tuition is not supported by the state government. And in 26 years that tuition has gone up 4X. That's basically the same rate that in-state went up.

It's 100% the spending; not the lack of funding.
 
No offense, but this makes ZERO sense and is easy to prove.

Suppose you were an adult and your parents had a trust fund for you that paid you $75,000 a year on top of the job that you have that paid you $100,000 per year. You'd be living pretty good, right? Now suppose that your parents' trust fund cut payments down to $25,000 for you. Wouldn't you try to cut down on expenses if this happened? If you acted like a university you'd go out and get 10 more credit cards and INCREASE your spending.

To prove this out let's look at Kentucky.
  • In state tuition at UK was around $2,600 in 1997. Out of state was $7,300.
  • In state tuition is now over $12,000 and for out of state it's $31,000
Out of state tuition is not supported by the state government. And in 26 years that tuition has gone up 4X. That's basically the same rate that in-state went up.

It's 100% the spending; not the lack of funding.

LOL.

You completely forget that any organization that doesn't HAVE to make a cut won't make a cut. A public university is the perfect example of this. If the state had said that we are cutting you but you can't raise tuition they 100% would have made real cuts. The problem is, and the reason why they were cut so much is because state government KNEW that it was the one place where the agency/organization they were cutting could go get the revenue somewhere else. With tuition increases.

In 07/08 the state put 1.08 billion per year into public universities. In 2021 it had been cut to 846...
 
LOL.

You completely forget that any organization that doesn't HAVE to make a cut won't make a cut. A public university is the perfect example of this. If the state had said that we are cutting you but you can't raise tuition they 100% would have made real cuts. The problem is, and the reason why they were cut so much is because state government KNEW that it was the one place where the agency/organization they were cutting could go get the revenue somewhere else. With tuition increases.

In 07/08 the state put 1.08 billion per year into public universities. In 2021 it had been cut to 846...
True, but you said the main reason costs were up was because the states cut funding. That is patently false. They are up because colleges raised prices and are spending more.
 

Tuition, Fees, and Living Expenses Trends at U of Kentucky​

The total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, books & supplies costs, and living costs, increased by 50.75% from 2013 ($34,814), where U of Kentucky's current cost is $52,482. In 2023, the COA is increased by 3.54% from last year.

The undergraduate tuition & fees has increased from $21,192 (2013) to $32,276 (2023), and the rate of tuition increase is 60.63% over the past 10 years. The graduate school tuition & fees has raised from $22,838 (year 2013) to $34,259 (year 2023).

U of Kentucky's tuition increase rate is higher than the Kentucky's average increase rate of 12.92%. Compare to all colleges in United States, it's increase rate is higher than the average increase rate of 31.52%.

https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/trends/university-of-kentucky/cost-of-attendance/
 
My mother told me when she was at UK in the 70s it was $250 a semester. When I pulled the whole "well that was a lot more money back then" she just went "no, that was dirt cheap then too". I saw Paul Begala say when he was in undergrad it was $6 a credit hour.
 
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My mother told me when she was at UK in the 70s it was $250 a semester. When I pulled the whole "well that was a lot more money back then" she just went "no, that was dirt cheap then too". I saw Paul Begala say when he was in undergrad it was $6 a credit hour.

Colleges are the biggest scam going and the worst part is that people somehow love the schools that ripped them off.
 
Yeah, but tuition went up like 2.5X during that time.

So let's say it was $100 to go to school in 2008 and the state funded all of it.

- Now the state would pay $73
- You would pay $27
- Tuition would be $250

So yeah, students are getting a little less from the state, but the big issue is that the costs have gone up.

It's not the lack of funding. It's the amount of spending.
 

Tuition, Fees, and Living Expenses Trends at U of Kentucky​

The total cost of attendance, including tuition, fees, books & supplies costs, and living costs, increased by 50.75% from 2013 ($34,814), where U of Kentucky's current cost is $52,482. In 2023, the COA is increased by 3.54% from last year.

The undergraduate tuition & fees has increased from $21,192 (2013) to $32,276 (2023), and the rate of tuition increase is 60.63% over the past 10 years. The graduate school tuition & fees has raised from $22,838 (year 2013) to $34,259 (year 2023).

U of Kentucky's tuition increase rate is higher than the Kentucky's average increase rate of 12.92%. Compare to all colleges in United States, it's increase rate is higher than the average increase rate of 31.52%.

https://www.collegetuitioncompare.com/trends/university-of-kentucky/cost-of-attendance/
Isn’t this UK’s biggest freshman class?
 
Yeah, but tuition went up like 2.5X during that time.

So let's say it was $100 to go to school in 2008 and the state funded all of it.

- Now the state would pay $73
- You would pay $27
- Tuition would be $250

So yeah, students are getting a little less from the state, but the big issue is that the costs have gone up.

It's not the lack of funding. It's the amount of spending.
Have you ever heard of inflation?
 
Name one college where the increase in tuition mirrors increases in inflation. Just one.
I’m not saying that all. Just a high level observation that a component is inflation. Was related to an earlier post that someone made that frequently people *in general* compare prices of xyz over historical periods and don’t factor in inflation.
 
I’m not saying that all. Just a high level observation that a component is inflation. Was related to an earlier post that someone made that frequently people *in general* compare prices of xyz over historical periods and don’t factor in inflation.
The problem with college ed costs has nothing to do with inflation. Had the cost rosé consistent with inflation, no one would have any pause.
 
I just read the article in the WSJ, I understand why schools have to build newer better dorms, better labs, etc. But several other things the article showed resonated with me.

First, there is no real accounting at a number of these schools, they just spend more every year, well, because they can, there is no real budgeting effort like at a real company.

Second, the administrative bloat is unbelievable. The Herald Leader every once in a while prints what the salaries are at UK, it is mostly a public record. I could not believe what some of these positions paid. Years ago the dean of fraternities, and dean of sororities were making over $100K a year, and I mean in the 1990s. I used to deal with those deans on some issues, and it seemed like their job mainly consisted of hanging out at fraternity parties and making sure no one was burning down the house. Nice gig 25 years ago for $120K per year.

Third, and UK is not in this situation, the article mentioned how much the universities have to subsidize athletics, UConn for one was like $35M one year. And that is true at most (not all) schools, most of the athletics departments lose money, and usually a LOT of money.
 
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