The Rise of Tuition

Greg Jones

For as long as most people can remember, tuition prices have risen. These price tags seem to continue to rise regardless of how the market is doing or how annual salaries are growing throughout the nation. Why College Costs Rise, Even in a Recession by Ron Lieber offers an in depth look into why the costs continue to rise even when in a recession. For anyone who has lived through even a minor corporate revamping the actions being taken by colleges to cut costs are miniscule at best. When a corporation realizes it is spending too much it immediately puts all it's resources on the table to determine what they should cut and doesn't overlook any option unless it is determined it will cost too much. Even drastic measures like shutting down entire facilities, closing production on certain items, and laying off workers are considered without a second thought. The cost cutting measures of colleges, however, are much more restricted than those of a corporation. Tenure makes the laying off of professors a huge task that usually results in more money being expended than money being saved. The other problem is that with any cut in facilities the school still needs to be able to attract new students to its school. The school cannot simply cut it's security force and then expect to attract students whose parents are concerned about the safety of their children.

There are some steps, however, that many universities could start taking to save money that many simply are not doing. For starters the universities or colleges could start becoming more selective when it comes to certain majors and less selective when it comes to others. For instance, english majors are a cash cow due to their low overhead and same tuition, where as students in archetecture and studio arts are extremely expensive. Many schools offer one on one piano lessons as a music major, which is something that, if only offered to a few select students who are admitted to the school of music, could save money in the long run. The other thing that colleges could do is allow students to take more classes and graduate in three or four years instead of four to five. This would be effective as well because students become much more expensive in their upperclassmen years without seeing an increase in their tuitions, plus this could attract more students who wish to get a college degree in three years.

The video below is a short clip on the rising costs of colleges across the nation and what some students are doing to combat these rising costs.