Government Behind Exploding College Costs?

After the federal government got into college financial aid in a big way -- during the late 1970s -- tuition charges started skyrocketing.

• From 1980 to 1992, public-college expenses -- as measured by the proportion of median family income needed to attend -- jumped by one-third to 15.8 percent.

• The price of a private university education leaped to 39.7 percent of a family's pretax income.

• In the decade between 1984-85 and 1994-95, charges at public colleges jumped 23 percent, with private college prices increasing 39 percent.

Analysts say that the increases are the result of a spending boom by colleges once federal aid and loan guarantees started flooding in. Nearly a decade ago, Bruce Carnes, a former undersecretary of education, warned that colleges and universities "seek to maximize revenue, not profit, and therefore they have no incentive to keep costs down."

Critics also warn that President Clinton's schemes to make education costs more affordable will only send tuition costs soaring again, and put loan recipients in hock for decades to come.

Source: Tony Snow, "Side Effects of Targeted Cuts," Washington Times, October 18, 1996.