George Leef has told us for years that college is oversold. A new Money magazine report (apparently not yet posted online) might leave you believing college is also overly expensive.
Over the past 10 years the cost of private college has jumped more than 60%, nearly three times as much as incomes over the same period, and will now set you back $42,000 a year on average. Prices at public colleges have shot up even more, nearly doubling to $21,000 for in-state students. Got younger kids? By 2020 you’re looking at a four-year bill that’s likely to top $240,000 for private schools and $155,000 at public universities.
Among Money’s recommendations for reversing the trend of ballooning college costs? Refocus on academics. Instruction costs rose about 10 percent in the decade that ended in 2009, while spending on student services jumped 19 percent and operations outlays increased by 20 percent.
Another option — which Money dubs a “bigger, bolder move” — should interest the Pope Center’s Jay Schalin.
Boost the number of hours professors teach. Using data from the University of Texas at Austin, Richard Vedder, head of the nonprofit Center for College Affordability and Productivity, concluded that the average public research university could reduce its faculty size at least 25% by requiring professors to teach one or two more classes a year.