College Costs Jumped $1,000 in 2009
On the bright side, scholarships totaling an estimated $71.2 billion were handed out last year
The consumer price index estimates that energy, food, and other costs are 1.3 percent lower now than last fall. But spokesmen for colleges said they had to raise their prices to make up for declines in their endowments and state appropriations. States cut their outlays to public universities by about $4 billion, or almost 5 percent, last year, and are expected to pare even more again this year. Also, many colleges set their prices at least nine months in advance. In 2008, the CPI was up 3.8 percent.
David Shulenburger, vice president for academic affairs for the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, asked parents and students to be understanding. States are sending 12 percent fewer dollars (after adjusting for inflation) per student to public universities today than they did a decade ago. He said his members have been cutting staff and reducing costs to avoid larger tuition increases.
But the College Board also documented startling increases in other costs, such as a 6 percent increase in the average cost of dorm and cafeteria contracts.
Joseph Spina, executive director of the National Association of College and University Food Services, said his members are being told by college administrators to cut their costs while charging high enough prices to send surplus money to support classes. "Food service on campus is often asked to help with the budget situation to make sure there is a return," he said.
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Reader Comments
Are the two that commented academically challenged?
Wow, what an example of poor grammar and of obfuscation on the part of the two that commented above.
In a two page article I think that a reasonably good job was done to explain what it costs to go to college at the various types of institutions and what the change has been from a year ago.
Kept in context, I think this is a commendable article.
health insurance/public option
The notion that a public option for health insurance is at best a joke.At best there will be mismanagement,corruption and incompetence.Lookm how the government has taken care of it's verteran''s and people trying to obtain social security disability benefits.I can tell you they get a grade of F.Why make a bad situation worse.Nancy Pelosimis delisional if she thinks she is acting in the best interest of the country.Guess who will pay for the incompetence?John Q. Taxpayer.That's you and me.
Badly Written Story
Another unhelpful, uninformative and badly written piece comparing apples and oranges. It certainly could not have taken much effort to include the TOTAL increase in costs in 2009, instead of unhelpfully pointing out that they increase an AVERAGE of $1,000.
To then include the gratuitously irrelevant statement that “on the bright side, scholarships totaling an estimated $71.2 billion were handed out last year” is offensive because it does nothing to inform readers of how this compares to the TOTAL COST of college. Nor does it state if this is an increase or decrease in the amount of scholarships compared to the previous year. It is comparing apples and oranges.
Somehow, I doubt that the total amount of scholarships awarded rose as much as the total cost of college. A professional writer would have provided this information.
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