[ethbr1]

Afaik, state schools have lost a lot of budget from states (in inflation-adjusted terms) compared to pre-90s.

Consequently, they balance the books by taking on more foreign/out-of-state students (who they can charge much more).

At the core, though, it appears to be a supply and demand problem: there's a ton of demand for people who want to go to college, colleges don't have the resources (or interest?) to expand supply, and so they raise prices because they can.

[nradov]

State schools have also been wasting a fortune on gold-plated facilities. I was just at UCSD yesterday and it was ridiculously nice. This is not a responsible use of tuition and tax dollars. We need an austerity program. If that makes the state schools less attractive to top students and professors then so be it.

[ethbr1]

This is moreso a problem with government/not-for-profit budgetary processes and capex vs opex.

With government funding, it's use-it-or-lose-it. I.e. state legislature will definitely allocate it to something else next year, if they come in under-budget in a year.

Add on top of that that state schools have the NASA problem: they're effectively performing (to state legislature and donors) for their dinner. And big, splashy buildings (with dedication names!) impress both. And attract picky faculty and students.

With not-for-profit, facilities are one of the few allowed places you can dump excess cash.

I floated in another comment that government grant/loan programs should impose an ACA-style admin vs teaching cost cap on institutions for participation. Maybe for capex too?