S has been steadily increasing in the past few years. The average cost of tuition and fees for colleges across the country has risen by approximately 385 to 400 percent between1985 and 2005, and this figure may have doubled over the last decade. Why has the price of higher education significantly outpaced inflation, housing, or even medical costs? These ever rising costs has led to the much talked about student loan debt crisis that prevails in the U.S, where it is currently estimated that the outstanding student loan debt in this country is upwards of 1 trillion dollars. How could something that we place such a value upon be allowed to spiral out of control? .
There isn't any one particular reason for the steep increase but rather a combination of factors. The cost to run an institution of higher learning is one of those factors especially with privately run colleges, not all of these colleges are subject to government regulations so they normally set their own tuition costs even though they have rising cost have placed them under more intense scrutiny. These universities tend to pass on some of their increased operating and facility cost onto students, especially those colleges with major athletic programs and facilities. Payroll is another driving factor in the operation cost of running a school, the rising number of administrators and the higher demand in faculty's salaries due to the competitive nature of the business sector searching for talent. Many institutions want to show that they are a force to reckon with; therefore most of them employ very expensive and famous professors. Eventually, the students has to meet the cost of these expenditures, but it should be noted that an arms race among universities is more common in the private rather than in public schools. However the same type of behavior tends to trickle down to the public colleges due to the fact that they would also like to secure good students or produce great results.