Providing a clear, logical guide to an illogical topic, this book provides an easy-to-understand guide for anyone who wants to successfully navigate the labyrinth of going to college—and paying for the experience.
100 years ago, college tuition at prestigious Ivy League colleges such as Harvard and Brown was about $130 per year. Even when adjusted for inflation, today's cost of higher education has increased dramatically—to the point where a college education is shifting further out of reach for many Americans. This book explains the essential concepts in the debate regarding the staggering costs of higher education, supplying ten original essays by higher education policy experts, a lively historical narrative that provides context to current issues, and systematic guides to finding additional sources of information on the subject.

Written from a historian's point of view, The Rising Costs of Higher Education: A Reference Handbook explains the economics of higher education in a manner that encourages readers to participate in the discussion on how to control ever-increasing tuition costs. Both college-bound students and parents will come to appreciate how complicated the problem of paying for college is, and grasp the crucial differences between "cost" and "price" in the specific economics of colleges and universities.

List of Tables
Preface
1 Background and History
Introduction: College Costs in the National News Media
From Popular Press to Public Policies
Context: Access and Affordability in American Higher Education
College Costs: A Tradition of College Consumerism
Charters and College Building in America
College Costs and Competition in the 19th Century
Context: Student Financial Aid Precedents and Practices
Attracting Students by Discounts and Low Prices
Prosperity and Prestige from 1880 to 1910
Colleges between World War I and World War II
Post–World War II Innovation: The GI Bill and Student Financial Aid
Prestige and Popularity of Colleges, 1950 to 1970
Need-Blind Admissions and Need-Based Financial Aid, 1960 to 1980
The Federal Government and Student Financial Aid Initiatives, 1950 to 2010
Hard Times: The New Depression in Higher Education, 1973 to 1985
The High Point of Student Consumerism
Cost Escalation and Tuition Price Fixing Allegations
The Rise of Loans in Federal Student Financial Aid Programs, 1978 to 2011
The Best of Times and the Worst of Times in Student Financial Aid, 2000 to 2011
Context: Categories of College Costs and the Contemporary Campus
Costs Complexity: The Case of the Multipurpose University
Prices and Costs in Higher Education: Decentralized Academic Budgeting
References
2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions
Connections: Past to Present
Concepts Crucial to College Costs
The Complexity of the Modern Campus
Universities versus Business Corporations
Problems within the College and University
The Faculty as the Problem in Rising College Costs
The Administration as the Problem in Rising College Costs
Students as the Problem in Rising College Costs
Research and Development as a Problem in Rising College Costs
Academic Medical Centers as a Problem in Rising College Costs
Intercollegiate Athletics as a Problem in Rising College Costs
Policy Perspective: State Government and Higher Education
Policy Perspective:The Federal Government and Higher Education
Controversies over Policies: Problems of Rising College Costs
Price versus Cost
Access versus Choice
Admissions versus Affordability
Efficiency versus Effectiveness
Student Financial Aid: "Need-Based" versus "Merit" Scholarships
Student Financial Aid: Packaging and Layers
Public Good versus Private Good
The "Tuition Gap"
Controversy: Explanations on College Costs
Solutions to the Problems of Rising College Costs
Solution: Faculty Accountability
Solution: Eliminate Faculty Tenure
Solution: High Tuition, High Need-Based Aid
Solution: Clarity of Purpose
Solution: Rely on Distance Learning Technology
Solution: Rely on Private Fundraising
Conclusion: Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education
References
3 Perspectives
Introduction to the Forum on Policy Perspectives
The College Cost Problem: The View from the Delta Cost Project, Jane V. Wellman
Defining the College "Cost Problem,"
Growing Economic Stratification between Institutions
A Growing Price/Cost Gap
A Slight Decline in the Instructional Share of Spending
Employee Benefits Increasing—Particularly in Public Institutions
Modest but Promising Increases in Productivity
Conclusions
References
Perspective on the Rising Costs of Higher Education, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Introduction
Why Tuition Kept Rising
Will Tuition Keep Rising?
References
College Cost: Over Hyped and Misunderstood, Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman
The College of William & Mary
Poor Pricing Information
Misconceptions about the Factors Driving College Costs
References
How Much Have College Prices Really Increased?, Terry W. Hartle
Posted Price Has Increased Sharply in the Last Decade
Why Cost Matters: The Taxpayer Burden of Higher Education, Jorge Klor de Alva
Is the Price and Cost of a Degree Worth It to Taxpayers?
Public Institutions Cost Taxpayers More Than Private Ones
Percent of Total Annual Cost to Taxpayers per Student Earning a Bachelor's Degree
Conclusion
References
Too High a Price? The Impact of College Prices on Underserved Students, Brian A. Sponsler, Alisa F. Cunningham
Underserved Student Responses to High College Prices
Addressing Student Perceptions of High Prices
Learning from Student Reactions to High Price
References
Just Say No to "Sticker Price," Andrew P. Kelly
Families Need Net Prices
Broadening Definitions of Cost
Summing Up
References
Forecasting Our Risks, Kristine E. Dillon
References
Commotion at the Gates: Higher Education's Evolving Role in U.S. Inequality, James C. Hearn
References
International Perspectives on the Rising Cost of Higher Education, D. Bruce Johnstone
References
4 Profiles
Key Organizations and Programs
American Council on Education (ACE)
American Education Society (AES)
American Educational Society (AES)
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI)
American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Association of American Universities (AAU)
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT)
Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP)
College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB)
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's Education Center (CHCI)
ConnectEDU
Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE)
Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, Cornell University (CHERI)
Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)
Delta Costs Project at American Research Institutes
Education Sector (ES)
Education Trust
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU)
Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
Institute for College Access & Success
Institute of Higher Education Policy (IHEP)
International Comparative Higher Education Finance & Accessibility Project (ICHEFAP)
Latino College Dollars
Lumina Foundation
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU)
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE)
National Student Clearinghouse
National Study of Instructional Costs & Productivity (University of Delaware)
Nexus Research and Policy Center
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)
Pullias Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Southern California
State Higher Education Executives Office (SHEEO)
Student Loan Marketing Association (SLM), or Sallie Mae
United Negro College Fund (UNCF)
U.S. Department of Education (USDoED or ED)
Williams Project on the Economics of Higher Education (WPEHE)
Key Persons
Adelman, Clifford
Archibald, Robert
Baum, Sandy
Blumenstyk, Goldie
Bowen, Howard R.
Bowen, William G.
Callan, Patrick M.
Carey, Kevin
Chambers, M. M.
Cheit, Earl
Cunningham, Alisa Federico
Dillon, Kristine E.
Dingell, John D.
Ehrenberg, Ronald G.
Feldman, David
Finn, Chester E., Jr.
George, Richard
Grassley, Charles
Green, Edith Starrett
Hartle, Terry
Hearn, James
Hess, Frederick M.
Hodgkinson, Virginia Fadil
Johnstone, D. Bruce
Kelly, Andrew P.
Kennedy, Edward Moore "Ted,"
Kerr, Clark
Klor de Alva, Jorge
Lederman, Douglas
McPherson, Michael S.
Middaugh, Michael F.
Morrill, Justin Smith
Odell, Morgan Sayre
Pell, Claiborne
Perkins, Carl D.
Rhoades, Gary
Schneider, Mark
Jeffrey Selingo
Shapiro, Morton O.
Sponsler, Brian A.
Vedder, Richard
Wellman, Jane V.
Wilkinson, Rupert
Zook, George F.
Key Publications
Change: The Magazine of Higher Education
Chronicle of Higher Education
Grapevine
Inside Higher Education
Journal of Higher Education
Review of Higher Education
5 Documents
Introduction
Constitution of the American Society for Educating Pious Youth for the Gospel Ministry (1815)
The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862)
Foundations and the Privately Endowed University as a New Type (1922)
Serviceman's Readjustment Act (1944)
President's Commission Report on Higher Education for American Democracy (1947)
California Master Plan (The Donahoe Act) (1960)
Higher Education Act Reauthorization: Creation of the BEOG (Pell Grants) (1972)
What Price Egalitarianism? (1981)
Delta Cost Project Report Summary (2009)
6 Resources
Print Resources
Historical Context of Higher Education
College Costs and Prices
Student Financial Aid Policies and Programs
Access, Equity, and Social Justice
Public Policy and the Financing of Higher Education
College Student Enrollment and Retention
Administration and Regulation of Higher Education
Private (Independent) Colleges and Universities
Philanthropy and Fundraising
For-Profit Higher Education
Intercollegiate Athletics and the Costs of Higher Education
Research Universities
Professors and Faculty
International Higher Education
College Consumerism Tools and Databases
7 Chronology
Glossary
Index
About the Author