Bills Partnership Information

[PAPoke]

Never suggested it wasn't a good use of money.

Just pointing out that there may be things available to university student's now that were not offered in the 70's and 80's that help explain at least some of the reason the cost of a college education has increased faster than inflation.

As universities add more/expanded services, they also must add administrators to handle providing and maintaining those services. As Brew Poke mentioned, those services and the salaries/benefits of those that provide them are covered in part by an increase in tuition cost.

Current university administrator here, haha.

Universities are adding these services because students were doing them anyway. The history of college athletics, student services, and student activities all boils down to... students wanted it, they started doing it on their own, and someone else started regulating it.

 

[laxwyo]

That makes sense.

Based on my prior research on the issue, if I were to rate the reasons for tuition/cost increases for college students over the last several decades:

1) State/Federal Funding - This has fallen off a cliff. In the 1960's, state/federal dollars pretty much covered 100% of the costs. The trend to replacing state/federal dollars with tuition dollars began to accelerate in the late 1980s early 1990s. This trend continues. (i.e. shift the cost from taxpayers to individuals utilizing the service). Wyoming is unique because we have a Constitutional provision providing:

"The university shall be equally open to students of both sexes, irrespective of race or color; and, in order that the instruction furnished may be as nearly free as possible, any amount in addition to the income from its grants of lands and other sources above mentioned, necessary to its support and maintenance in a condition of full efficiency shall be raised by taxation or otherwise, under provisions of the legislature."

I don't believe we are following the plain language of this provision.

2) Increase in Services - As you point out, in the 1960s college was basically a classroom and a library. The biggest increase in cost of the increase in services actually appears to come from RESEARCH costs. A massive amount of dollars flow to research now.

3) Regulatory Costs - We have absolutely overregulated colleges, etc...shifting a bunch of money to regulatory compliance and causing a need to hire so many more people for positions that weren't necessary in the past (Title IX compliance, Research compliance, Financial aid administration, Cybersecurity, Data reporting, Accreditation requirements, , Clery Act and campus safety obligations, etc...). This really needs to be addressed IMO. It is absurd how much of the pie goes to regulatory compliance now.

so it went up after the Department of Ed started?