I wonder if anyone has done an itemized breakdown of where each dollar of tuition goes to? How much to the teaching staff, how much to building maintenance, etc. Would be interesting.
I don't have the numbers with me right now (on phone), but the ratio of administrators to professors has gone through the roof over the past few decades. This is where a lot of the money is going.
Facilities have also improved quite a bit at many schools.
Over the same period, the ratio of adjunct faculty to permanent faculty has also increased. Meanwhile, the permanent faculty are burdened with even more administrative duties (e.g., committees).
The administrators learned that they could eat high on the hog on the government's dime, and they have done so with a frightening degree of efficiency.
Then that brings up the next issue -- would students choose the simple college over the more expensive one? After all, they can get a loan for both, and many 18-year-olds make different (less beneficial) choices then they would later in life.
Facilities have also improved quite a bit at many schools.
Over the same period, the ratio of adjunct faculty to permanent faculty has also increased. Meanwhile, the permanent faculty are burdened with even more administrative duties (e.g., committees).
The administrators learned that they could eat high on the hog on the government's dime, and they have done so with a frightening degree of efficiency.