College costs rise, "even" in a recession? I recommend taking a look at this chart over a one year period: http://www.google.com/finance?catid=us-63372821 http:

College costs rise, "even" in a recession? I recommend taking a look at this chart over a one year period: http://www.google.com/finance?catid=us-63372821 http://www.google.com/finance?catid=us-63372821 Education fell less than the market as a whole starting in August, then shot upwards in October, around the time people understood that this would be a prolonged depression. One of the biggest costs of education is forgone earnings. When the job market sours, the total cost of education drops, demand at a given out of pocket dollar cost increases, and no one is ever going to lower prices when demand increases. But that's honestly par for the course with the New York Times. This is the same publication that employs an economics columnist who can't even manage his own finances. (Edmund Andrews) I sort of look at recessions or depressions like an object in an elliptical orbit at perigee, where its speed is the lowest, and where the smallest push can have the largest effect on it. Education is one way to spend this time, but another is to notice that a lot of people try to crawl into a hole and wait it out. The successes will be those who were willing to take risks when the economy isn't doing well.