half of outstanding student loan isnt being repaid. 7 million in default

[mike_c]

51. I think you're missing the real problem....

I'm a full time, tenured university professor. The rise in tuition cost has paralleled the general rise in the cost of doing business, such as rising energy costs, building costs, etc. But the REAL reason for dramatic, year-to-year increases in college tuition, at least at state schools, has been ongoing disinvestment of public funds in higher eductation.

The cost of tuition at a California State University campus was once fully funded by the state legislature-- from tax revenues, of course. At that time the CSU was a model for the entire world, and it became the largest university in the world, a distinction that it still carries if I'm not mistaken. When I went to work here, public investment in higher ed was already declining-- by the mid 1990s students paid about 20% of the direct cost of instruction in the form of tuition, and the legislature paid the remaining 80% as a public good. And it is a public good-- not only does it produce an educated work force, but studies have shown that every dollar invested in higher ed in California ultimately returns more than four dollars in lifetime tax revenue from graduates and in other economic benefits to the state.

Currently, CSU students pay almost half of the cost of instruction. The legislature pays, on average, about 56% of the cost. That disinvestment, from 100% of the cost of instruction to just over 50% represents most of the increase in tuition at the CSU. At the same time, "belt tightening" at the campuses in response to those dramatic cuts has seriously compromised the quality of instruction that once made the CSU an international model. So students are paying more and getting less as the state disinvests in the future of its own citizens and its own economic success in a generation or so.