My experience is similar to Martin's, and I inquired about the high cost at my last college reunion. I was told that the reason the price tag is so high is because many students who have the academic credentials to qualify for acceptance come from lower-income backgrounds than in earlier times. The college wants to admit those students to maintain diversity within the student body, so they give them financial aid and subsidize it by raising the price for students who can afford to pay full freight.
When you're calculating the cost of a college education, you have to consider how many students at that college are receiving financial aid, and how much they receive on average. At my alma mater, few students are paying the full price. If they come from a middle-class or low-income family, they typically receive financial-aid packages that can include grants, loans, and on-campus jobs. One thing that has changed is that many liberal arts colleges no longer can afford to admit 100 percent of their students on a "need-blind" basis (i.e. based on their academic credentials alone). Now many private, liberal arts colleges admit a small (but growing) percentage of students who are slightly less qualified than needier applicants but have the ability to pay the full price. Dawn Stover On Dec 28, 2011, at 10:05 AM, Martin Meiss wrote: > Hi, Rick, > I don't think the answer is that simple. I went to a small, private, > liberal arts college from 1970 through 1974 and it cost my father about > $3,000 per year for room, board, and tuition. Now it would cost about > $42,000, about a 14-fold increase. Inflation, which I'm guessing has been > about three-fold since then, obviously only accounts for a small part of > that, and since it is a private school, declining government subsidies are > not the reason. The professors haven't all become millionaires. The > campus hasn't been plated with gold. The students aren't getting an > education that is ten times better than what I got. This is a general > trend, not just a phenomenon of my alma mater, and I really do want to know > what the hell is going on. My father had a bachelor's degree, and my > annual college costs were about on fifth of his annual income. I have a > PhD and the costs for my kids would be well over half of my annual income. > > Can someone out there tell my why higher education is becoming something > only for the rich? > > Martin M. Meiss > > > 2011/12/28 Rick Lindroth <[email protected]> > >> The answer is simple and (nearly) universal: states' support for higher >> education has declined precipitously over recent decades, especially in >> recent years. In essence, states are transfering the financial burden of >> higher education from the general public to individuals (students and >> parents). >> >> Although tuition increases have been high, they cannot close the gap; >> hence the fiscal peril that public research institutions now find >> themselves in. >> _______________________________________________ >> Richard L. Lindroth, Ph.D. >> Professor of Ecology, Associate Dean for Research, and >> Associate Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station >> University of Wisconsin-Madison >> Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. >> >> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG- >>> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Cherubini >>> Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 6:29 PM >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal >> peril >>> >>>> The University of California at Berkeley subsists now in >>>> perpetual austerity. Star faculty take mandatory furloughs. >>>> Classes grow perceptibly larger each year. Roofs leak; >>>> e-mail crashes. One employee mows the entire campus. >>>> Wastebaskets are emptied once a week. Some >>>> professors lack telephones. >>> >>> If all of the above is true, then can someone please >>> explain why for 20+ years the annual increase in the >>> cost of college tuition has far outpaced the consumer >>> price index, heath care, energy costs, etc. >>> >>> http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doc_id=1450 >>> http://tinyurl.com/6xq6hv >>> >>> Paul Cherubini >>> El Dorado, Calif. >>
