Page 343 - Crisis in Higher Education

Framing and Implementing a Practical Solution • 313

15.1 SUMMARY OF THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS
The discussion begins by reviewing the six interconnected pieces of the
underlying problems. These are discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 and are
summarized here.

1. High cost: Costs for tuition, fees, and textbooks and other learning
materials have increased much faster than the rate of inflation. Tuition
and fees at public, four-year universities, after adjusting for inflation,
increased substantially from a baseline of 100 in 1985–1986 to 322 in
2015–2016. Thus, $1 spent on tuition and fees in 1985–1986 would
1
cost $3.22 in 2015–2016, after adjusting for inflation. More recent
1
data (2003–2013) show that the rate of increase is unabated as tuition
jumped 79.5% during this period, nearly doubling the rate of increase
in medical care at 43.1% and growing three times faster than (CPI)
at 26.7%. During the same time period, textbook costs have risen
by 79.4%, almost matching the increase in tuition. These values are
2
shown in Figure 15.2.

Rate of increase from 2003 to 2013

Textbooks 79.5%

Tuition 79.4%

Healthcare 43.1%

Inflation (CPI) 26.7%

0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%

Rate of increase from 2003 to 2013

FIGURE 15.2
Comparing rate of inflation in higher education, healthcare, and the Consumer Price
Index (CPI) from 2003 to 2013. (From Kurtzleben, D., Charts: Just How Fast Has College
Tuition Grown? US News World Report, October 23, 2013. http://www.usnews.com/news/
articles/2013/10/23/charts-just-how-fast-has-college-tuition-grown)