Hahahahahaha....trick question.
Government is involved....THAT’S WHY!
They are making colleges into resorts. I can’t believe the dorm and campus is for my son starting in August. This is my first experience with colleges since August 1987 when I Started. The differences are incredible. The gym, cafateria, etc. are so much better. The price went from about 9,000 to 24,000 a year in almost 30 years. Is that really that terrible considering how high everything else is from 30 years ago?
Gotta pay the exorbitant salaries for all those -—— Studies profs!
That's a very big part of it. Before 1970 you didn't have entire full-time professional staffs devoted to Diversity, Inclusion, Affirmative Action, and the administration of the sundry rules involved with government grants, including research grants, academic scholarships, and the endless regulation associated with social programming. And further, you didn't have a demand for junk "Studies" departments that produce nothing but political discontent and agitation.
There are less inimical sources as well - no university in 1950 had the sort of demand for technology as a modern one does, for infrastructure surrounding student wealth such as the possession of motor vehicles, and certain even more inimical sources such as the need for full-time Counsel staffing to fend off the relentless assault of predatory legal action.
There's a lot of fat that could be easily cut to bring down the overall cost of a college education, but quite a bit of it is sacrosanct. Try, for example, to eliminate the African or Gender Studies Department and see what happens.
..and stupid people sign up and say they will pay it.
Regardless that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for INTRAstate schools, I wouldn’t be surprised if constitutionally low-information colleges are taking advantange of unconstitutional, vote-winning federal funding for everything from student loans to climate research. So school fees are probably based on what schools can milk from the feds.
Bingo... government subsidies make sure demand stays artificially high, so the prices can constantly rise.