And it neglects to mention a significant expense that didn't exist in nearly the same fashion 10 years ago in technology costs. Not just in terms of putting in ethernet/wifi access, but providing the necessary software to students and faculty. I worked in the IT department for a major university and we spent a significant chunk of change just on software licenses, before paying our own staff to support it. For internet access, it's gone from equipping a couple of computer labs with ethernet, to installing ethernet ports in every dorm, to making wifi accessible everywhere for laptops to making wifi accessible for smart phones and for video game systems. Which has been a consistent cost of upgrading infrastructure because students aren't going to go where those things aren't available.
Additionally as research has become increasingly complex with the growth of new technology, it becomes more expensive. When a psychology study looks to use an fmri machine, that's not cost free. Yes some of that can come from a professor's funding, but some of that comes from the university.
Yes, colleges spend way too much on sports and have grown an enormous number of administrators who don't actually seem to do a lot. But there is also a lot of new expenses that just weren't present before.
The article is also using fear mongering when it talks about how students are grappling with the question of whether going to college is a worthwhile investment. Statistically speaking, it's a no brainer. People who have 4 year degrees on average make nearly twice as much and have about half the unemployment rate of people with just a high school diploma. Yes there are exceptions on both sides, but on average, getting a college degree is a great investment economically speaking.
The problem with simply waving a wand and decreasing student loan debt is that it doesn't resolve the underlying problem. We need to invest more as a country in education across the board, from pre-school through the university level. But because we have to account for the party who thinks any funding is just a commie socialist muslim plot to destroy America by telling us about climate change and such, that's going to be difficult. Neil deGrasse Tyson can say that the great thing about science is that it's true whether you believe it or not, but that doesn't help us resolve the fact that we have a party in this country that thinks that an educated populace is a bad thing.
That said, yes we do need to do something about student loan debt (I still have around $40,000 or so myself), but it's only useful after we fix the funding of schools. Otherwise you wind up giving colleges more incentive to just pile on the costs rather than addressing the skyrocketing costs. Don't give us a band-aid, fix the underlying issue.
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