
Fancy Dorms Aren’t the Main Reason Tuition Is Skyrocketing - jseliger
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fancy-dorms-arent-the-main-reason-tuition-is-skyrocketing/
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jdminhbg
The trick here is calling state appropriations "cuts" per student. Quick
googling gives me a Temple enrollment of ~28k in 2000[0], and ~38k now.

[0]: Calculated out of
[http://articles.philly.com/2004-03-17/news/25385870_1_latino...](http://articles.philly.com/2004-03-17/news/25385870_1_latino-
students-minority-students-minority-numbers)

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curtis
My impression was that states were essentially holding overall funding flat at
the same time a higher proportion of the population is trying to get a college
degree. I haven't been able to find a really good source to back that up, but
it's certainly true that the percent of the population with college degrees
has been rising over time. (See the chart at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Educational_Attainment_in_the_United_States_2009.png)
for example.)

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milesvp
> but by far the single biggest driver of rising tuitions for public colleges
> has been declining state funding for higher education

Nonsense. The single biggest factor in rising tuition is that student debt
cannot be discharged. Which means there's lots more money chasing student debt
than would be otherwise. Which means schools can charge more. These effects
can also be seen in rising tradeschool tuitions and the rise of other for
profit education like University of Phoenix.

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pixl97
Ok, so are the states spending more on other things? Or is it states are
getting less tax dollars? Are states taxing less? Or are fewer people making
significant amounts of money and those that are, are better at
hiding/investing it in low tax shelters?

