Declining state support. The states essentially subsidized public higher education because people recognized the value of having a well-educated workforce and population. State support for universities goes down, tuition goes up. One study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston showed tuition went up $0.17 for $1.00 cut in state appropriations.

This proves it for every dollar of state support they spend $0.87 on golf courses and sabbaticals for tenured professors.

Interesting. Why has state subsidizing gone down? Can you link to the study you mentioned?

In all of the articles I�ve read on this topic, from a wide range of sources, that reason was never mentioned, but many of the other reasons people have mentioned in this thread are constantly cited.

And Federal support (via grants and loans) probably has gone up significantly more than state support has gone down.

When I was in school, tuition was $169/semester for up to 16 semester hours. There were lab fees etc added in.

A better question is why large companies require a degree that has absolutely nothing to do with the work being performed by the applicants. My son goes to UT and my daughter goes to Lamar and both complain about the professors not helping or wanting to actually teach. The professors are making TAs do all their work for them and they are the ones getting paid. I don't know the answer but like the price of boats....there has got to be a ceiling some where!

Universities are not unlike a lot of businesses. They entice unsuspecting students and parents with flashy facilities and rediculous promises in order to get them to commit to a four or more year program. Once they have you on the hook, it is hard to quit. By the time you realize you have been scammed, you feel you can�t quit because 2 or 3 years of college with no degree is useless and you are on the hook for $100K or more in loans. So you borrow some more, finally graduate with a useless degree, hundreds of thousands in debt, and a job market that values your degree at $50K a year. Welcome to the state of higher education. The administration and tenured professors are laughing at you.

Were one to track increases in tuition against increases in government tuition assistance, the relationship is virtually 1:1.

Because the guy doing the hiring has a master's degree and thinks everyone without it is undeserving.

Do you not feel your college degree contributed to your success working for a Fortune 500 company?

Good. They need to get the professional students out of Academia.

One of the best decisions I ever made was to go to an affordable university. Got a degree in mechanical engineering in 4 years with 0 debt. I worked as a "student-work" employee in school for 20 hours a week making $7.50 an hour and used that money to pay rent, books, tuition, etc. I did have about $5k per year in scholarships, but now I work alongside guys who went to bigger name public schools or private school, and we all do the same job and make the same money, but they're all still paying off student loans. I could have gone to UT Arlington (about twice the cost of UT Tyler) or UT Austin (4x the cost of UT Tyler), but I didn't see the added value. And now that I'm 11 years removed from graduation, I'm 100% sure I made the right choice.

The problem with today's youth is that they're raised without considering finances at all. They get loans and don't think anything about the cost until it's all done. It's incredibly stupid.

Bottom line - You can't choose a school in high demand and then complain about the prices. Most folks should be going to community college for 2 years.

same here
in San Marcos
we hooked the Sirloin Stockade steer on my buddies truck
i rode on the back of it thru C-Canyon (the row of girls dorms)
police just waited at the end of the street & made us take it back

yep
all