College Tuition Increase is Getting Out of Control

The cost to attend college is greatly increasing every year in public college and universities. There is no fixed cost for colleges and universities on how much they can charge for their physical and human capital.  With the increase of tuition a lot of people are not going or can’t afford to go to college. The opportunity cost is too great for first time students or returning students. With each increase that’s more student loans students have to take out and payback with interest.  If the price continues to increase each year students won’t be able to afford to attend college and many might take the years they have already invested in college as a sunk cost. The opportunity cost to go to college may not be worth it in the long run if they have high amounts of student loans to pay back.

Federal college aid is doing a good job in trying to keep up with the increase of tuition, But the colleges are always one step ahead of the feds. Until the federal government steps in and sees that the colleges are running a monopoly on how much they charge the price will just keep going up, And why wouldn’t it? If the federal college aid is willing to shell out the money to help students go to college every time the colleges decide to raise the price on tuition. The more money colleges can get the better in their eyes. 

Every year the colleges increase tuition the harder it is for federal college aid to keep up with the inflation caused by the tuition increase. That’s one cause of the tuition increase each year. Inflation can be good for colleges but the colleges have to let their price increase take effect before they can start to see a change. For an example the inflation can benefit the city or town that the college is in by providing jobs for the community and the students that attend the college. It would keep the normal wages constant and lower the real wage. If the colleges allowed a little bit of inflation to take place then jobs will find equilibrium in wages.