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'College tuition' increases in the United States have caused chronic controversy since shortly after World War II. Except for its military academies, the U.S. national government does not directly support higher education. Instead it has offered programs of loans and grants, dating back to the Morrill Act during the U.S. Civil War and the "G.I. Bill" programs implemented after World War II. Developed countries whose national governments directly support higher education tend toward more moderate patterns of change in college tuitions and different forms of controversy.

Contents

Historical trends

Recent trends

Economic and social concerns

See also

External links

References and notes

Historical trends

The first chart compares standard undergraduate annual tuition and fees charged by one each major U.S. public, U.S. private and Canadian public 4-year college, showing both current U.S. dollars during the years from 1940 to 2000 and U.S. dollars adjusted to the year 2000 by using the U.S. Consumer Price Index series.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Tuition at the University of Toronto tracked close to inflation rates during the entire period. ^[4] The University of Iowa had rapid increases in tuition during the 1950s and then tracked close to inflation rates since that time.^[5] The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among the most expensive of the private U.S. educational institutions throughout the 20th century,^[6] had continual large tuition increases, dipping slightly below inflation rates only during the World War II years.^{[7] [8]}
Over the 60-year period charted, the inflation-adjusted, long term, annual increases in tuition at these institutions were 0.4 percent for the University of Toronto, 1.4 percent for the University of Iowa, and 2.1 percent for MIT.^[9] Other institutions in the same categories differ in details but not in general patterns.^[10] The results of the trends are that over the 60 years shown, adjusted for inflation, the tuition at the University of Iowa increased by a factor of 2.3 and that at MIT by a factor of 3.6, while tuition at the University of Toronto rose only about 30 percent.^[11]

Recent trends

The second chart compares average undergraduate tuition and fees charged by about 600 U.S. public and 1,350 U.S. private, non-profit 4-year colleges during years from 1993 through 2004.^[12], both unadjusted and adjusted to the year 2004 by using the U.S. Consumer Price Index series. Data were not available for years 1994, 1995 and 1999.

During the 11-year period charted, both public and private, nonprofit colleges regularly posted tuition increases well above inflation rates. Peak increases for private colleges were in 1997, after the U.S. economy began booming growth. Peak increases for public colleges were in 2003, after state budgets supporting most of them were crimped by a sharp economic recession. Over this period, annual, inflation-adjusted tuition increases at public colleges averaged 4.0 percent, while those at private, non-profit colleges averaged 3.5 percent. Cumulative results over this period are average public tuitions growing 53 percent above inflation, and average private, nonprofit tuitions growing 47 percent above inflation. As of 2004, private, nonprofit colleges cost on average 3.3 times as much as public colleges attended by residents of their states.

Economic and social concerns

Long term price trends make higher education an inflationary sector of the U.S. economy, with tuition increases in recent years sometimes outpacing even explosive health care sectors. ^[13] These trends are the sources of chronic controversy in the United States over costs of higher education^[14] and their potential for limiting the country's achievements in democracy, fairness and social justice.^[15] Today some companies offer tuition reimbursement to employees.

See also

★ Private university

★ Post-secondary education

External links

★ "College costs hit working class hard" - The Methods Reporter, December 17, 2006

★ "Some In-State Students Out of Luck on Tuition", Jack Stripling, The Gainesville Sun, June 19, 2006

References and notes

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor
2. Bank of Canada
3. To show a wide range of tuitions, the chart's vertical axis is logarithmic. The span between two horizontal lines is a factor of ten.
4. Canadian Association of University Teachers
5. University of Iowa
6. For background on the emergence of MIT and other U.S. research universities, see To Advance Knowledge: The Growth of American Research Universities, 1900-1940, , Roger L., Geiger, Oxford University Press, 1986,
7. MIT Undergraduate Association
8. MIT Undergraduate Association
9. Resident tuition rates are charted for public institutions; fees are averaged; nonresident rates are typically higher.
10. Note the qualitatively similar patterns in inflation-adjusted tuitions for three periods: 1940-1950, 1950-1980 and 1980-2000.
11. After 1960, these patterns show gradually widening ratios of private-school to public-school tuition, but some public systems saw tuition increases similar to those of the 1950s in Iowa during different decades.
12. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education
13. Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much, , Ronald G., Ehrenberg, Harvard University Press, 2002,
14. The Price of Admission: Rethinking How Americans Pay for College, , Thomas J., Kane, Brookings Institution Press, 1999,
15. Equity And Excellence In American Higher Education, Bowen, William G., Tobin, Eugene M., Kurzweil, Martin A., and Pichler, Susanne C., , , University of Virginia Press, 2005,