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"Is it fair to characterize financial aid as a bait and switch?" Yes it is. Absolutely in my opinion. My theory is that the ridiculously rising cost of tuition

"Is it fair to characterize financial aid as a bait and switch?" Yes it is. Absolutely in my opinion. My theory is that the ridiculously rising cost of tuition is directly correlated to financial aid. Govt or even private lenders pump in more money as aid, colleges take advantage of that by raising tuition further. If only Colleges were told that there is not going to be more financial aid available, I wonder if that would factor in the tuition cost for next year and onward. Just wonder.

dublinben 11y ago
It is easy to point to the subsidy of financial aid as the likely source of rising tuition, but there is no evidence to support this. The most significant act of education subsidization by the Federal Government, the post-WWII GI Bill, had essentially no inflationary effect.[0] However, in the decades since then, states have largely defunded higher education. Schools have been directly forced to make up the difference through raising tuition, which can often only be paid for through loans. [0]http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-college-went-from-affordable-to-sky-high http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-coll...
- codegeek 11y ago
  "which can often only be paid for through loans" That is my point exactly. I am not referring to only Govt. aid but also private loans. The entire idea that private loan is available makes it easy for these institutions to raise prices. Again, this is my opinion. I could be wrong. But imagine this. An institution like Phoenix etc. are charging high fees just because loans are available to students. They tout the availability of loans in fact. My point overall is that having a really high fees and then mentioning "loans available" may be causing some of the rising tuition. May be.
- jerf 11y ago
  Why are colleges getting more expensive much faster than inflation then, for decades at a crack? Shouldn't technology be reducing administrative overhead? Shouldn't technology be reducing prices somewhere, while other things remain constant-after-inflation? I understand the political inclinations behind denying aid is the problem, but if it isn't "student aid has gotten too easy so of course the colleges have raised their prices", it's probably something even worse for the universities politically. That's more or less a morally neutral explanation, a simple and plausible story of incentives gone wrong.
  - eli_gottlieb 11y ago
    He did actually say why colleges are getting more expensive much faster than inflation: their state budgets are being cut.
    - hga 11y ago
      That's only very recently, right? Like mostly post-2008. Tuition inflation has been skyrocketing, at much more than the general inflation rate, since at least the beginning of the '80s.
      - eli_gottlieb 11y ago
        >That's only very recently, right? Like mostly post-2008. No, it also dates back to the '80s. Partly this was political: right-wing state governments wanted to crush those damned hippies. It was also demographic: states had major obligations to fund, like tax-cuts for Baby Boomers and pensions for state worker, so public higher-ed got the cut.
rnovak 11y ago
Absolutely. I have first hand experience: When I started school, tuition was 2200 a semester. When I finished (3 years later), tuition was 6400 a semester. (that's base, not including the premiums I paid for taking more than 18 credit hours a semester). Completely insane.

dublinben 11y ago

It is easy to point to the subsidy of financial aid as the likely source of rising tuition, but there is no evidence to support this. The most significant act of education subsidization by the Federal Government, the post-WWII GI Bill, had essentially no inflationary effect.[0] However, in the decades since then, states have largely defunded higher education. Schools have been directly forced to make up the difference through raising tuition, which can often only be paid for through loans. [0]http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-college-went-from-affordable-to-sky-high http://www.npr.org/2014/03/18/290868013/how-the-cost-of-coll...

codegeek 11y ago
"which can often only be paid for through loans" That is my point exactly. I am not referring to only Govt. aid but also private loans. The entire idea that private loan is available makes it easy for these institutions to raise prices. Again, this is my opinion. I could be wrong. But imagine this. An institution like Phoenix etc. are charging high fees just because loans are available to students. They tout the availability of loans in fact. My point overall is that having a really high fees and then mentioning "loans available" may be causing some of the rising tuition. May be.
jerf 11y ago
Why are colleges getting more expensive much faster than inflation then, for decades at a crack? Shouldn't technology be reducing administrative overhead? Shouldn't technology be reducing prices somewhere, while other things remain constant-after-inflation? I understand the political inclinations behind denying aid is the problem, but if it isn't "student aid has gotten too easy so of course the colleges have raised their prices", it's probably something even worse for the universities politically. That's more or less a morally neutral explanation, a simple and plausible story of incentives gone wrong.
- eli_gottlieb 11y ago
  He did actually say why colleges are getting more expensive much faster than inflation: their state budgets are being cut.
  - hga 11y ago
    That's only very recently, right? Like mostly post-2008. Tuition inflation has been skyrocketing, at much more than the general inflation rate, since at least the beginning of the '80s.
    - eli_gottlieb 11y ago
      >That's only very recently, right? Like mostly post-2008. No, it also dates back to the '80s. Partly this was political: right-wing state governments wanted to crush those damned hippies. It was also demographic: states had major obligations to fund, like tax-cuts for Baby Boomers and pensions for state worker, so public higher-ed got the cut.

rnovak 11y ago

Absolutely. I have first hand experience: When I started school, tuition was 2200 a semester. When I finished (3 years later), tuition was 6400 a semester. (that's base, not including the premiums I paid for taking more than 18 credit hours a semester). Completely insane.