Sad chart of the day: College tuition v. median wages (The Lookout)

CNN Money has a chart, above, showing the stark rise in average college costs at four-year public universities compared to wages since 1988.

The gap is even more steep if we go back a few more years--college costs have nearly tripled since 1980, even as wages for the middle class have stagnated.

The article accompanying the chart concludes that college is now out of reach for many middle class families, as federal aid hasn't kept pace with the ballooning costs. Financial assistance from federal and state sources, and colleges and universities themselves, is up 140 percent since 1991, according to a report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. But students are still taking out more loans to make up the difference.

Economists told The Lookout that the college?affordability?crisis is primarily affecting those in the bottom 20 percent of American's income distribution. As society's income distribution has become radically more unequal, the economic value of a college degree has gone up, allowing both public and private colleges to hike prices.

A recent Pew study found that 60 percent of Americans don't think colleges are providing their students with a good value, and 75 percent say college is financially out of reach for most people.

(Chart: CNNMoney.com)

View the original article here

University of Washington to hike tuition following steep budget cuts (The Lookout)

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire approved huge budget cuts today that will hike tuition at the state's premier public university by 16 percent, the Associated Press reports. Tuition at the University of Washington will cost twice as much when Gregoire leaves office than it did in 2005.

A report on Stateline.org explains that higher education budgest are also on the cutting board across the country, after facing years of smaller cuts since the recession began. Nevada is cutting public higher education funding by 15 percent, and Arizona state budget cuts have resulted in a 20 percent tuition increase at Arizona State University.

In Texas, college tuition has risen by more than 70 percent since it was deregulated during a budget crisis in 2003. Those increases have?prompted Gov. Rick Perry to ask college administrators to figure out a way to provide a college education--including books--for $10,000.

Higher education lobbyist Terry Hartle told The Lookout public colleges are the first to get hit in a budget crunch because college students "look very much like paying customers," and it's more politically palatable to cut higher ed funding that K-12 spending. In-state tuition has?jumped 7.9 percent just this year, according to a recent study, and?the average college student's debt is now a record $23,000. Pennsylvania State University has the most expensive in-state tuition and fees of any public college, at more than $15,000 per year, according to the U.S. News and Report.

According to data from the National Association of Budget Officers, 18 states cut K-12 and higher education spending in fiscal 2011, by $1.8 billion and $1.2 billion respectively. But proposed cuts for the next fiscal year are much steeper: They total $2.5 billion for K-12 schools and more than $5 billion for higher education.

(Gregoire unveils her budget plan: Ted Warren/AP)

View the original article here