How college tuition has gotten so high
Why is four-year college tuition so high in America?
William Bennett, President Reagan's secretary of education, offered his hypothesis in 1987. In a New York Times op-ed titled “Our Greedy Colleges,” he argued that colleges were able to raise tuition because increases in financial aid, particularly federal loan subsidies, enabled the higher prices.
Bennett's warning gained support after a sweeping 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act substantially expanded access to federal student loans. The law made unsubsidized Stafford loans available regardless of financial need and removed annual and aggregate borrowing limits on PLUS loans.
In the two years after the changes, federal student borrowing increased 57 percent, reaching a then-staggering $24 billion a year by 1994 (and $88 billion in 2025).
Economist Richard Vedder noted that from 1910 to about 1978, tuition fees rose about 1 percent a year, adjusting for inflation. From 1978 until about 2015, fees rose a whopping 3 percent a year.
In the last decade, published tuition prices have continued to increase — but four-year public-school tuitions have actually decreased by 7 percent when inflation is factored in. Four-year private school tuitions have increased by 2 percent.
Nonetheless, high tuitions have saddled nearly 43 million Americans with roughly $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt. Federal data say the average student loan balance stands at around $40,000.
Here's a rough breakdown:
Tens of millions of federal borrowers owe less than $20,000.
About 3.8 million federal borrowers owe more than $100,000.
More than a million federal borrowers owe more than $200,000.
About 9 million federal borrowers are in default.
The college amenities arms race
College presidents, chancellors and the American Council on Education say tuition is high because their costs are high. They say the state didn’t send enough money, that federal rules are expensive to obey and that they have to buy computers and labs to teach.
What they don't say is they have spent millions to attract college kids to their schools.
From the mid-1990s through the 2010s, colleges went on a spending spree, frantically trying to outdo their competitors. They built fancy food courts, Olympic-size pools and world-class auditoriums and sports arenas.
According to The Associated Press, many universities tore down traditional dormitories in favor of posh facilities that offer private suites, granite countertops, designer furniture and streaming TV.
Today's college kids don't have to worry about much. Maid and laundry services are now available. Heck, kids don't even have to pack up the SUV when moving in. Moving companies do that for them.
Many colleges and universities have spent millions improving everything but the quality of education.
In fact, the quality of education has arguably gotten worse. In the 1950s, teaching loads of 12 or more classroom hours a week were common at many colleges.
Meanwhile, federal data from the early 2000s found that roughly half of full-time faculty at research universities taught fewer than four hours a week.
Another reason college tuition got so high is, believe it or not, because colleges were able to keep raising it.
Why? Because for years, many parents and students believed that if they spent more for college, they must be getting a better, more prestigious product — and because easy borrowing has allowed millions of college kids to saddle themselves with massive debt payments upon graduation.
Sticker prices at many private campuses now top $90,000 or even $100,000 a year for tuition, room and board. Few students pay that full freight — many schools discount heavily — but the published number is still awfully high.
Who really pays the price?
But now that so many graduates of high-cost colleges are underemployed or still out of work, many people are finally wondering whether the high tuition was worth it.
In any event, Bill Bennett was right in 1987. Well-intentioned government programs have helped to create a high-tuition, high-debt mess.
Congress enacted new caps on graduate borrowing in 2025, with the new limits taking effect in 2026. That is the first real test in years of whether shutting the open tap slows the price.
And now you know why four-year college tuition has gotten so high in America.
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Copyright 2026 Tom Purcell, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
See Tom Purcell’s syndicated column, humor books and funny videos featuring his dog, Thurber, at TomPurcell.com. Email him at Tom@TomPurcell.com.
Copyright 2026 Tom Purcell, All Rights Reserved. Credit: Cagle.com
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