Why College Tuition Should Be Regulated - Steven Goodman, Time

Tuition at Stanford University in 1980-81 was $6,285. Thirty years later, Stanford’s tuition had risen to $38,700. Tuition in 2011-12 is $40,050. If the cost of milk had grown at the same rate, a gallon of milk would now cost approximately $15. I haven’t yet purchased $15 gallons of milk, but as a college advisor I have counseled many students who are charged $50,000 per year for tuition, fees and campus housing. According to just released figures from the Commonfund Institute, the inflation rate for colleges and universities was 2.3% for fiscal year 2011, more than double the rate for 2010 and reversing a decelerating trend that began in 2008. Stanford, which estimates that 75% of its undergraduates receive financial aid, is not out of the norm. Drexel University, Carleton College and the Stevens Institute of Technology were among the 72 other schools that were more expensive than Stanford last year.