The OP keeps talking about the
tuition increases. But as far
as I could tell, the OP was considering
only, call it, tuition list prices.
But, with scholarships, various forms
of financial aid, etc., maybe often the
list price is not the actual price,
that is, what the school
actually receives from the student
(and their family). So, the OP didn't
explain how much the actual price
has changed over the decades.
E.g., recently Stanford announced that
the tuition will be $0.00
for any student whose family
earns less than $125,000 a year.
Sure, maybe the list price tuition
at Stanford is ballpark $50,000 a
year. But the actual price is
sometimes zero. And some scholarships
also cover room and board making
the actual price negative.
It was long the case that the tuition
for a student
paid only ballpark 1/3rd of the full
school budget per student. So, maybe
what's happened is that the schools
decided to set the list price
to be the full cost per student,
maybe plus some,
and have students from wealthy families
actually pay that price. Then
nearly all the rest of the students
get a significantly lower actual
price, maybe even $0.00.
Further, given that there are student
loans available to cover the list
price, then maybe just go ahead and
charge list price for students
using student loans.
Then we have the issue of, with
so many students getting student loans,
maybe they are not very good students
and wouldn't even have been accepted
at the school back decades ago. Maybe.
Or, if some money sources are eager
to pay or loan list price for some not very
good students, then colleges can be
tempted to go ahead and take the
list price
easy money and let the students
attend the classes.
I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say. But I challenge your argument that schools are listing the full cost per students.
One reason I doubt current list price of tuition covers 100% of the cost per student for the vast majority of schools (which are public and receive state funding).
Students with student loans aren't bad students. Depending on you parents salary they might not qualify for any other type of need based financial aid except student loans. Also, merit base aid is limited and can't be extended to all students with academic standing that usually leads to them successfully completing college with high grades.
In the end, a large amount of students pay for college entirely with student loans and don't realize the cost until they are in repayment. They pay the list price and more due to other costs of going to college.
To successfully be able to pay for college without aid and loans a student today would need to have a full time job while students in the 1950-60... could generally pay the full amount with a summer job.
Edit: Also, price per students vary between faculties, a engineering student might cost 50K+ while a arts student would cost half or less of that. Some students end up subsidizing others.
Yes this article, and many others, employ the "sticker price fallacy" to advance their claims.
As David Leonhardt put it, tuition is like sticker prices at Joseph A. Bank "If you take Joseph A. Bank’s sticker prices literally, you don’t understand its business."
E.g., recently Stanford announced that the tuition will be $0.00 for any student whose family earns less than $125,000 a year. Sure, maybe the list price tuition at Stanford is ballpark $50,000 a year. But the actual price is sometimes zero. And some scholarships also cover room and board making the actual price negative.
It was long the case that the tuition for a student paid only ballpark 1/3rd of the full school budget per student. So, maybe what's happened is that the schools decided to set the list price to be the full cost per student, maybe plus some, and have students from wealthy families actually pay that price. Then nearly all the rest of the students get a significantly lower actual price, maybe even $0.00.
Further, given that there are student loans available to cover the list price, then maybe just go ahead and charge list price for students using student loans.
Then we have the issue of, with so many students getting student loans, maybe they are not very good students and wouldn't even have been accepted at the school back decades ago. Maybe. Or, if some money sources are eager to pay or loan list price for some not very good students, then colleges can be tempted to go ahead and take the list price easy money and let the students attend the classes.