The reason why prices are high won't matter once the customer stops purchasing. I think there are enough metrics to suggest a peak in US higher education growth

The reason why prices are high won't matter once the customer stops purchasing. I think there are enough metrics to suggest a peak in US higher education growth, probably around 2010. ( www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/education/getting-out-of-discount-game-small-colleges-lower-the-price.html & http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-30/student-loan-defaults-rise-in-u-s-as-borrowers-struggle-1-.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-30/student-loan-defaul... for a few recent examples.) The debate needs to encompass the entirety of the US higher education system rather than making generalizations based on specific pieces of it. State universities, private schools, not for profits, for profits, schools with massive endowments, and so on, each have their own piece of the story. Secondly, given that the issue in question involve debt, some portion of the analysis here is future prediction -- both for the students borrowing and for schools which are borrowers. Borrowing a ton of money today seems rational if the future brings great inflation, and lunacy if deflation or stagnation.