Patterico's Pontifications

6/19/2010

Colleges Post Tuition Increases

Filed under: Education — DRJ @ 6:01 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

College tuition is on the rise.

Florida’s state universities increased 2010-2011 tuition 15% for the second straight year, and the College of Charleston imposed a similar increase. Several Texas colleges saw tuition go up by 3-5%, with like changes at the Universities of Wisconsin and Louisville.

And according to this LA Times story, Cal State students will see their tuition go up 5%. Graduate and out-of-state students may see their fees go up even more.

With state funding down and college enrollments hitting record levels in 2008 and again in 2009, this isn’t a surprise. We may see similar increases at many colleges across the nation.

— DRJ

13 Responses to “Colleges Post Tuition Increases”

  1. What’s really interesting, DRJ, is to plot a graph: year versus administrator/student. The faculty/student number doesn’t change much.

    There is your answer.

    Eric Blair (02a138) — 6/19/2010 @ 6:44 pm

  2. Is that because faculty-student ratio is a component in how colleges are ranked, or do you think it’s something else?

    DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/19/2010 @ 6:47 pm

  3. DRJ, I am a “small governing works best” guy. Think about academia’s view of Big Government. And administrators make the hiring plans. I can tell you some depressing stories off site about this.

    It’s Pournelle’s Iron law of Bureaucracy.

    Eric Blair (02a138) — 6/19/2010 @ 6:52 pm

  4. That may be true but educators from pre-K to college put a lot of emphasis on faculty-student ratios. It obviously increases jobs for teachers but in lower grades, most parents don’t want their kids taught in classrooms with 1 teacher for every 40 kids. Also, colleges and graduate schools have incentives to keep low faculty-student ratios because of the U.S. News rankings.

    Further, is it clear these tuition increases are mainly due to adding teachers? The colleges I’m familiar with add facilities and programs more than teachers, and pay more to existing administrators and some teachers.

    DRJ (d43dcd) — 6/19/2010 @ 6:59 pm

  5. Colleges are stealing from us.

    That’s just all there is to it. Colleges have been increasing fees many times the rate of inflation and have no good reason for it. Colleges are sucking up the money of students and taxpayers because with the increased willingness of students to borrow money that they can never pay back, there is no incentive for colleges to hold down their costs.

    And their degrees have not increased in value to match the cost increases.

    SPQR (26be8b) — 6/19/2010 @ 7:09 pm

  6. DRJ, I have no issues at all hiring more classroom teachers. I object to the growth of high salary administrators at rates well above increases in teaching staff. More teachers. Fewer administrators.

    Eric Blair (02a138) — 6/19/2010 @ 8:04 pm

  7. Eric – Unfortunately the administrators make those decisions.

    Have Blue (854a6e) — 6/19/2010 @ 8:12 pm

  8. And they didn’t consider spending cuts? Even for a moment?

    Steven Den Beste (99cfa1) — 6/19/2010 @ 8:42 pm

  9. From Jerry Pournelle’s website:

    “…in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”</i

    >

    Eric Blair (02a138) — 6/19/2010 @ 9:09 pm

  10. SDB: sure they consider cuts. In the teaching staff. Again, who makes the decisions?

    Eric Blair (02a138) — 6/19/2010 @ 9:11 pm

  11. The whole “free” higher ed bubble is bursting, as Insty says. CA cannot afford to educate everyone, especially when so many are not qualified. Even now, only 15% finish in four years, 46% in six! Kids are not taking out loans. But change means lots of teachers and administrators will lose their jobs.

    The VIP administrators at CA schools took a 5% cut last year. Note that from the dean level up, they make over $90K. Is this reasonable? I don’t know.

    This budget proposal is a fairy tale. They are kicking the ball to the legislature and its $20B deficit. All the adjuncts are laid off already. What’s next? It’s going to get ugly.

    Patricia (160852) — 6/19/2010 @ 9:17 pm

  12. Here in Alabama, tuition at state schools is going up 9 to 14%.

    This is particularly bad for those who participated in the pre-paid tuition program. I contributed over $15,000 so two of my grandsons could attend in state schools tuition free. Last year, the fund admitted they were insolvent and the state stepped in to fund the shortfall. This latest fee hike will put the program back in the red.

    Apparently, this was just another government Ponzi scheme like Social security.

    arch (24f4f2) — 6/20/2010 @ 2:02 am

  13. Arch,
    Guess the fabled “lock box” had faulty locks?

    (I’m a U of A grad BTW)

    Patricia (160852) — 6/20/2010 @ 7:53 am


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