College costs a lot for the same reason that houses do: you can either be rich and buy in cash, or leverage up and amortize a huge payment into relatively small

College costs a lot for the same reason that houses do: you can either be rich and buy in cash, or leverage up and amortize a huge payment into relatively small monthly payments, making it seem affordable. Once purchasers start leveraging to purchase a good or service, price elasticity goes way up. Not to mention both are part of the classical 'American dream'.