[maestroia]

I was talking to a college professor I know a couple weeks ago about this exact thing. And what they said comprised a substantial amount of the expenses of their 4 year private college made perfect sense, because it's happening to every business.

Health insurance costs.

Now, add to this: salaries and other benefits to both staff and educators. liability insurance. increased food costs. I'm certain facilities have increased costs also, from new construction to utilities. *Plus anything else I've left out.

Let's face it, everything has become more expensive. The Five Guys meal of a little cheeseburger, little fries, and regular drink which cost me $12 4 years ago in March, 2020 (I keep records), would cost me $17-18 today (I checked the prices today at noon and walked away). That's a 40-50% increase.

Why would we expect higher education to not be effected?

[maxlybbert]

I don’t think anybody is surprised that college tuition has increased. They’re surprised it’s increased faster than the prices for almost every other service. So have health care costs. And in both cases, the system is designed to make it difficult and pointless to shop based on price.

I have a hard time believing health insurance costs have driven the drastic increase in college costs. They’ve certainly played a role, but I don’t see any reason they would increase the cost of education more than they’ve increased the price of everything else.

[brigadier132]

Salaries are the primary cost not health insurance. There are more administrators than students. Also there is no excuse, the educational institutions are incompetent at managing their finances.

[science4sail]

> Let's face it, everything has become more expensive. The Five Guys meal of a little cheeseburger, little fries, and regular drink which cost me $12 4 years ago in March, 2020 (I keep records), would cost me $17-18 today (I checked the prices today at noon and walked away). That's a 40-50% increase.

Couldn't this just be combated using shrinkflation? I'm sure that rice, beans, ramen, and other grad student fare is still cheap yet provides enough nutrients to study.

After all, these are supposed to be institutions of the mind, not institutions of the stomach.