Its all pretty obvious. Federal government establishes federally funded financial aid to help those in need. State governments cut funding to universities, so universities are forced to raise tuition and get more of their finances from the federal financial aid programs.
Lets say a ficticious state, say State A, funded its university system 50% so that 50% of all costs were paid by tuition (we will ignore donations). Every student who gets a full ride from feds has 50% of costs paid by state and 50% of costs paid by fed financial aid. However, if a state reduces its contribution to the costs of running that university to 25%, the cost of attendance rises as every school raises tuition. Then, more students in that state become eligible for financial aid because of the higher cost of attendance. Now, students on full rides get only 25% of their education costs from state, but 75% from the feds. Essentially, State A has shifted the burden of funding higher education to the feds while not losing any return on the total investment in higher education. Then the state can throw money elsewhere or issue tax breaks for companies to come into the state. I am pretty sure this conspiracy theory would work, and if it does, it is likely why we see escalating tuition. Its not the schools raising tuition, its the state governments lowering investment leading to higher tuition to cover costs which get more and more shifted to federal financial aid programs. Anyone who doesn't get financial aid just fronts the whole bill. As for the condition of buildings, its a long known fact that it is easier as a government entity to build a new building than it is to repair an old one because of the way funding mechanisms work in states. So, if you have a choice between building a new building and refurbishing an old one, as an institution you are more likely to approach building a new one even if the costs are way higher. No building will last forever, no matter how well you take care of it. If politicians really had our interest at heart, none of this would be happening. Instead, they are busy capitalizing on loopholes in insider trading law to make billions for their own pocketbooks. :) On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 6:29 PM, Paul Cherubini <[email protected]> wrote: >> 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. -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry School of Biological Sciences University of Missouri at Kansas City Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
