This question has puzzled me for a while: Why Does University Cost So Much?

Why is higher education so costly? There are a number of factors contributing to this, including rising demand, higher levels of financial aid, decreased state support, rising salaries for faculty and staff, and excessively large packages of student amenities. Tuition alone at the nation's most prestigious universities like Columbia, Vassar, and Duke will easily exceed $50,000 per year. That doesn't even account for shelter costs. College tuition has gotten completely out of hand. And so the question becomes, how can you possibly correct it? Nothing in particular, but if you're resourceful you can find a way around it, especially now with the expanding online higher education market. We'll investigate the causes of this astronomical cost and provide advice on how to reduce your own share of it.

The astronomical cost of a college education Heed our advice We specialize in this field and are continually shocked by the astronomical cost of some degrees.

Do you know that between 1980 and 2015, the cost of a public university education more than quadrupled?

CNBC claims that college was much more affordable for previous generations. CNBC reports, based on data from the College Board, that the cost of private schools has increased by 129% since the 1980s. Public school tuition and fees increased by a whopping 213 percent.

When compared to that, wage growth since the 1970s has been a meager 67%. Although having a college degree still has its benefits, Business Insider notes that they are not as great as they were even a decade ago.

Meanwhile, CNBC reports that graduates can expect an average salary of $37,172. In total, this is worth $1. 5 trillion in total student loan debt, held by 44 million people in the United States

Since our shared goal is education, I have a purely academic question to pose. When did tuition become so ridiculously high? And if the value is dropping, why does the price keep going up?

Since I'm no expert on economics, I won't boldly declare that the current education bubble is about to burst. Graduation is still a good investment because graduates earn more than non-graduates over the course of a lifetime, despite the fact that the gap is narrowing.

But what factors contribute to this price increase, and what can you do as a buyer to counteract it?

Check out The Most Affordable Online Colleges for Bachelor's Degrees if you'd rather just know which schools are the least expensive.

Instead, here are some of the more systemic and interconnected causes of college expense:

According to research, the United States is somewhat alone in having a problem with the prohibitively high cost of higher education. According to a recent article in The Atlantic, annual tuition and fees average about $30,000 per student thanks to individual, family, and government contributions. As reported by The Atlantic, this is roughly twice as much as is spent on each student in the rest of the developed world. This price tag has not been substantiated by any evidence of improved educational outcomes or career prospects.

Nonetheless, there is supporting evidence that our collective yearning for a glitzy college experience plays a role. In contrast to universities in other countries, American colleges and universities provide (and charge for) a wide variety of residential amenities. Costs do accrue for "ancillary services," such as rock-climbing walls, ultra-modern "mega-student centers," and opulent "pimped-out" dorm rooms.

The Atlantic reports that the average cost of providing these supplementary services to a U.S. student is over $3,000. That's three times the norm for developed countries. The Atlantic does note, however, that dormitory-style college life is more common in the United States. S ...that many students in Europe and Canada may not opt for a traditional dorm room setup. So, to put it another way: University life in this country is different. College is meant to be more than just a place to gain academic knowledge. There are inevitable costs associated with widespread on-campus residency that are part and parcel of this experience.

It's true that online learning has altered the scene somewhat, making it possible to earn a degree from a reputable institution without having to relocate away from home. There are cheaper alternatives if you can do without the climbing wall and the campus center.

However, as The Atlantic points out, conveniences aren't the only thing driving up prices in this country. Still, even ignoring those expenditures, the United States spends more than its counterparts in other countries.

Where exactly is everyone's hard-earned cash disappearing to, then? The Atlantic describes it as "normal school business, like paying teachers and administrators." ”

About $23,000 per year is spent on these expenses for each student. This is twice as much as countries like Finland, Sweden, and Germany, which all have highly regarded educational systems, invest in these same necessities.

However, keep in mind that professor salaries have changed very little since 1970 before storming into office hours to express your righteous indignation.

Full-time faculty members' salaries are "barely higher than they were in 1970," the New York Times reports. Half of today's postsecondary faculty members are part-time, lower-paid workers; 45 years ago, 78% of professors were full-time. meaning that salaries for professors in American universities are significantly lower than they were forty years ago. ”

In contrast, Bloomberg reported that the growth of administrative positions at colleges and universities accelerated by 60% between 1993 and 2009, which was 10 times the growth rate of tenured faculty positions. As an example, the New York Times cites the massive California State University system, noting that the number of faculty members increased from 11,614 in 1975 to 12,019 in 2008. As a stark contrast, the number of administrators increased from 3,800 to 12,183. There was a rise of 221%

Most people's anger at rising tuition rates should be directed at the school's administrative staff.

Therefore, why do we need so many managers, and what are they doing? One thing is that there is undeniably a rise in student enrollment at schools. In spite of slowing annual trends, the public's demand for higher education shows no sign of slowing down.

According to Business Insider, "the Department of Education reports that U.S. colleges anticipate accepting 20 5 million new students will enroll this fall, up from 4. There are now 1,000,000 more Americans than there were in the fall of 2000. "

True, the benefits of a college education are dwindling. The return on investment has decreased, and 40% of students do not graduate within six years," reports Business Insider. "

Despite this diminishing ROI, the forces pushing students to enroll in college are robust. According to CNBC, a college degree is now commonly accepted as a bare minimum requirement for any meaningful role in today's economy. According to the findings of a Georgetown University study, by 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will call for education beyond the high school level.

So, the pressure to enroll in college is increasing, despite the fact that doing so is prohibitively expensive. The result is increased rivalry between those seeking admission and those offering spots in higher education. Colleges and universities now act more and more like businesses, competing for students by offering better services and perks and striving to rise in rankings like the ones we publish.

One consequence of this shift in focus is the growth of schools that function primarily as for-profit enterprises. The for-profit sector has taken advantage of shifting attitudes and rising public demand to flood the market with high-priced degrees of dubious value. Consequently, yearly tuition rates have increased across the board.

The Affordable Colleges Source: Online, Public, Private, Best ROI can help you find the best possible educational value for your dollar.

Despite the obvious trend of rising educational costs, state and federal governments have been slow to increase public funding for higher education.

The Atlantic reports that the public has less of an interest in supporting even the best public universities due to factors such as the rising cost of healthcare and the rising popularity of "small government" ideologies among certain voting demographics. In 2008, the Great Recession hit, and institutions of higher education that relied on government funding took a significant hit.

The budgets of states have been slashed. Furthermore, universities have, and continue to, shift some of the burden of rising costs onto their students. To be fair, opinions vary on whether or not the decline in public funding has had a noticeable effect on tuition costs. However, a New York Times article argues that the opposite is true, noting that public funding for higher education increased by a whopping 390% between 1960 and 1980 and that the recent cuts reflect more of a correction than an abandonment of principles.

It goes without saying that the size, cost, and bloat of today's educational infrastructure has increased dramatically. And without government support, universities have refocused their efforts. Once more, we can observe a domino effect in the field of higher education, this time in the form of a growing emphasis on commercial concerns as a matter of basic survival. Effective marketing, world-class faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, and other features can set colleges and universities apart in the increasingly competitive higher education market.

Business Insider claims that public appropriations from government sources were 11% lower per student in the 2015-2016 school year compared to the same time ten years prior, contradicting the findings of the aforementioned New York Times article. It's not an exaggeration to say that state budgetary decisions are the single most important factor in determining the cost of higher education for the 80% of American students who attend public universities, as reported by Business Insider. "

While the precise causal relationship between these budget cuts and the ongoing increase in student tuition costs is debatable, there can be little doubt that they exist. As a result, it's up to you, the student, to figure out how to minimize your financial outlay. Take advantage of our scholarship and financial aid guides to help you pay for college.

Now that we've faced the hard facts about how much a college education actually costs, you might feel hopeless. So, these are huge, systemic issues that you simply cannot address, correct? We are interested in hearing your ideas about how to reduce wasteful administration, increase public support, and eliminate corrupt business practices that profit from the public trust.

Affording higher education is ultimately your responsibility if no other resources are available. What this means is that while college costs can be extremely high, this is not necessarily the case for you.

Many students, especially those motivated primarily by financial considerations, are finding success in distance learning programs. To find worthy scholarship recipients last year, we polled over a thousand students on why they chose to pursue higher education through an online format. The responses we got were very informative, especially about how online learning can reduce expenses.

For example, Huntington University student Katelyn, who is majoring in social work, explains, "I choose to take an online degree program because I am my only financial supporter and I understand the value of a college education but also understood I could not do it without working full-time." Thus, I started working and going to school full-time. "

Katelyn didn't merely attend classes online so that she could juggle work and school. She did this so she wouldn't have to graduate with the mountain of debt that plagues so many college grads today. Katelyn made a prudent observation when she said she "wanted to stay as far away from debt as possible." Putting in extra effort was the only way I could repay my $40,000 in student loans. By the time I graduate, I hope to have incurred no more than $10,000 in debt. "

For some students, attending college online could pave the way to less expensive off-campus study options. Bethany, who has a degree in social work from Brescia University, says, "There were no affordable accredited schools with my program near my location, and I worked two jobs while I was in school." "

As a result of attending an online university, Bethany says, "I have been able to learn how to use technology for class meetings and projects and I have been able to meet people from all over the country." "

Elizabeth, a senior majoring in business administration at Charter Oak State College, agrees that the reduced costs associated with attending college online make it a better deal. "There are so many benefits of taking online courses that will definitely benefit me in achieving my degree," Elizabeth said. "

As an example, she mentioned that she was able to "save on commuting, especially where there is bad weather," and that "online courses are affordable." "

The Best Online Colleges for 2019 is a good place to start if you're looking for creative ways to save money and stay home when the weather is bad.

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Read on for more info about how to save money on college, which schools offer the best value, and how to compare prices.