Rates Have Tripled in Only 25 Years!

To students and parents, the interest rate increase on federal parent and student loans is no news. But what is startling is a look at tuition prices over the last 25 years. Tuition at public Universities (with consideration for inflation) has nearly tripled since the ‘80s and students deserve to know why.

According to the US Department of Education, nearly 2/3 of students are graduating now with loan debt. And these are minor debts either. On average, a student graduates undergraduate with about $15 thousand in student loans. This number doesn’t even take into consideration the credit card debt students amass to pay for their everyday expenses. The amount of student credit card debt is also increasing at a steady pace as many student choose to finance their education on their credit cards rather than student loans.

Where is all of this extra money going? Surely it isn’t going toward hiring teachers to lower class sizes…because at many public institutions, this isn’t the case. Students are loosing their individual, one-on-one time with their professors, yet they are paying more now for an arguably inferior education?  ■