There are several issues at hand.
First, these loans have reached a point where you know they just can’t be paid within a reasonable amount of time. They should have set a limit of $800 a month for ten years, and that’s all the money you would have gotten. I can’t imagine how some idiot could come up at 22 years old...owe $100k and they’d have to deny themselves ever buying a house.
Second...you’ve got big name professors who demand big salaries, but rarely teach more than one or two classes in a semester, and never in the summer. You can’t sustain madness.
Third....look around at the administrative staff of every college. Everyone has an assistant, and they usually draw a minimum of $60k. Toss in the fact that each has a secretary or assistant....and you probably are thirty percent overmanned at each university. All layers of cost.
Fourth....every year....a new structure is built...all driving up the cost of each university.
Fifth....ever noticed how major universities now have buffet meal operation going on....almost sixteen hours a day?
No legislature will dare step foot on a campus and investigate what is their own operation.
RE: Fifth....ever noticed how major universities now have buffet meal operation going on....almost sixteen hours a day?
And the “dorms” of NYU rival some of the best apartments in the city. Someone has to pay for living there... guess who?
Boston University, Johns Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh, NYU all have rock climbing walls as part of their indoor recreational facility.
Here’s another:
http://recsports.osu.edu/facilities/recreation-physical-activity-center-rpac
I once had a neighbor who was an officer at a large bank. The state commissioned him and others to go audit the state university's finances. They were completely stonewalled even though the university is subject to sunshine laws and everything about the university should be public information. The audit group finally disbanded without even writing a report. And this was years ago.
It is way past time for state governments to crack down and get these schools under control. They always back down though, because they are accused of being anti-education.
I think the only important issue causing the high prices of college is that you cannot discharge your debt in bankruptcy. The money would not be there in loans if the borrower didn’t have to pay it back.