Kerby Anderson

College costs so much more than it did a few decades ago. When baby boomers went to college, they often paid for college with money they earned from summer jobs. Today, the millennial generation graduates with crushing amounts of student loan debt.

So why is college so expensive now? The typical answer you get is that public funding for higher education was slashed and so the universities had to raise tuition year after year. It makes for a good story, but Professor Paul Campos says it is a fairy tale of the worst kind.

In a recent commentary, he points out that public investment in higher education in America is much larger today (in inflation-adjusted dollars) than it was during the golden age of the 1960s. Spending on higher education has increased at a faster rate than government spending in general.

The rise in tuition isn’t due to funding cuts but actually due to huge increases in public subsidies for higher education. He explains that if “car prices had gone up as fast as tuition, the average new car would cost more than $80,000.”

As you might expect, a number of educators have criticized his commentary for being too simplistic. To his credit Professor Campos does concede that some of the increased spending is no doubt due to the sharp rise in the percentage of Americans who go to college. For that reason, state legislative appropriations for higher education have risen faster than inflation.

He also answers the argument that even though public spending has increased, it should be called a “cut” because of that way funds are allocated. Finally, Professor Campos explains where much of the money goes. Administrative positions on universities have grown 10 times faster than the growth of tenured faculty positions.

Why are college costs so high? It isn’t because public funding was cut. The reality is that it was just the opposite.