The average inflation-adjusted cost of undergraduate tuition for Oregon residents at the state’s seven public universities next year will be nearly 30% higher than it was a decade ago, following increases being considered or adopted by every university board for the next school year.
When the federal government writes blank checks to colleges and universities in the form of student grants and loans, there is no limiting factor to the increase in tuition. Why should schools maintain (or, God forbid, lower) the cost of higher education? The federal government, which is to say taxpayers, are backstopping everything. Students take on extraordinarily high loans, get some scholarships, and are on the hook for the total (with no possibility of bankruptcy clearing the debt). This is why we continue to see higher education costs outstrip inflation by double digit margins.
Students could decide to forgo college, but seeing as how higher education can be a solid path to greater income potential (not to mention greater self-actualization) many smarter kids are still opting for it. Only now it costs dramatically more than it ever used to.
Another solution: The government could get out of the business of making student loans. Regulate it, and turn it over the banks. If this means the end of the Federal Department of Education, an unconstitutional endeavor to begin with, so much the better.