Put your money where your mouth is by Bex Finch.
How much is too much to pay for a year of college?
When I first applied to college as a meddling senior in high school circa 2001, there were roughly four prices:
$36,000+: Private schools.
$20,000+: Public universities (at out-of-state tuition cost)
$12,000+: Public universities (in-state tuition cost)
$cheap: Community colleges
The New York Times reports that 58 private colleges charged more than $50,000 this year for tuition, fees, room and board, compared with only five last year [Source].
Granted, elite institutions also tend to offer some of the most comprehensive financial aid packages due to their wealthy (and generous) alumni and internal financing diversification. However, even the best financial aid offerings often don't approach the $50,000 mark in grants or scholarships. The difference is generally always made up in loans.
How long can these costs continue to rise?
(And is it total poppycock to imagine a world where private colleges charge $75,000 a year? $100,000 per year?)The bloated price tag gives way to bloated expectations from students and their financial backers (often times including their families, scholarship foundations, student loan lenders, and communities at large).
Although an over-simplification, classic supply and demand theory suggests that so long as students continue to pay exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege of attending these schools, the institutions will continue to raise tuition.
And provided the high hopes and expectations of their student body-- these schools are, in some ways, bound to continually provide outstanding service, resources, and access.
Question: in an increasingly global higher education market, where are the limits?
