Very few expenses have increased more than college tuition in the past few decades. For example, according to an Aug 2019 article by NPR, “The average annual cost of a private college is now almost $40,000.” Freelance writer Victor Restis has been writing on the topic for many years now and has made some startling observations.
Why are Colleges so Expensive?
To determine why any market is expensive or inexpensive, we have to look at demand and supply. For example, there is a lot of demand in the college market because it’s seen as an expensive necessity to get a good job with future opportunities.
The main problem seems to be that colleges are cheaper in some countries but more expensive in others. For instance, students from outside the United States pay double or triple tuition compared with American students. The same is true in most other countries.
More student loans are being taken out to fund the rising cost of college tuition. Unfortunately, this means that most students are already having difficulty paying back their current debt before they even start working after graduation.
College Tuition is Going Up, Not Down
Another observation is that costs have either gone up or stayed stagnant during the past few years, but the quality of education has not necessarily improved. No one knows what it takes to learn things anymore except for learning on your own with “free” resources on the web, which isn’t entirely free because you still need internet access and devices to view information on websites.
Education experts have pondered why this trend would continue unless some drastic change occurs in the market. What is clear is that tuition is always going up while costs are staying stagnant or even decreasing due to changes in technology.
Quality of Education is Declining
The main problem with education is that students are learning less and not getting as good job opportunities when they graduate. Parents are willing to pay more for their child’s education because they expect they will get a high-paying job upon graduation, but this often does not happen.
Some graduates have ended up moving back home with their parents despite being college-educated because they did not succeed after graduating from college. College education may have lost its value based on the quality of education to what was available 20-30 years ago. The rising cost of college tuition is just a symptom of this larger problem that many economists are observing.
Not Worth the Price
The main reason for rising costs is competition among colleges to make their education more appealing by spending money on new technology, sports equipment, gyms, luxurious dorms with pool tables, and big-screen TVs. … Most people who go to college know their experience will probably be good because they signed up for it at some point before enrolling in school.
Final Thoughts
It seems like colleges are using the same playbook that other companies use to boost their sales or boost their profits. When business owners see a small increase in sales, they spend money on new equipment to boost production, which boosts their profits even more. It’s an endless cycle of higher demand, higher costs, and higher prices until something changes somewhere along the line.
