Staff Jobs on Campus Outpace Enrollment

By Tamar Lewin The New York Times 4/20/09

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/education/21college.html?_r=1&sq=tamar%20lewin%20staff%20jobs&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=1&adxnnlx=1241965291-asCS28YUs/naqEben3c4gQ

This article points out some of the causes of rising college tuition. The author points out:

“Over the last two decades, colleges and universities doubled their full-time support staff while enrollment increased only 40 percent, according to a new analysis of government data by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a nonprofit research center.”

“A lot of it is definitely trying to keep up with the Joneses,” said Daniel Bennett, a labor economist and the author of the center’s report. “Universities and colleges are catering more to students, trying to make college a lifestyle, not just people getting an education. There’s more social programs, more athletics, more trainers, more sustainable environmental programs.”

Our response:
She points out some of the reasons that college costs keep going up but the fundamental reason is that there is so little push back. The widely-held assumption is that any dollar spent on college is a dollar well spent. And since many students and their parents are borrowing to foot the bill they have less concern about the costs and more about the hours of the gym. It is only when they start paying the bill years later that they wish they had shopped a little harder.