COLLEGE COSTS….The New York Times, quoting a new report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, says:
Over all, the report found, published college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation.
Bob Somerby is astounded, as well he should be. The report is here, and the chart on page 8 is clearly labeled “Growth Rate in Current Dollar Price.” In other words, not adjusted for inflation. In real dollars, tuition costs since 1982 have gone up about 150%. That’s a lot, but not quite the quintupling the Times suggests.
For what it’s worth, my guess is that this number is strongly affected by big tuition hikes at state universities. Adjusted for inflation, for example, tuition at Harvard has gone from $15,000 in 1982 to $31,000 last year — a mere doubling. Conversely, the state university I attended charged virtually nothing when I was there in 1981 but today charges in-state students nearly $4,000 per year. The eye popping tuition figures at elite universities get the headlines, but it’s the budget strapped state schools — and the middle class students they serve — who have seen the eye popping increases.
