"Richard Vedder and the Future of Higher Education Reform" by Jayme S. Lemke and William F. Shughart II
 

Richard Vedder and the Future of Higher Education Reform

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Cato Journal

Volume

36

Issue

1

Publisher

Cato Institute

Publication Date

1-1-2016

First Page

143

Last Page

164

Abstract

In the 2001–02 academic year, when Richard Vedder was beginning his work on the causes and consequences of rising costs in higher education, the average cost of a single year at a four-year university was $17,418 (including tuition, fees, and room and board). In other words, for every bachelor’s degree awarded, somebody—whether the student, his or her parents, the donor of a scholarship, or the federal student loan program—was paying something around $69,672. Since then the price of college education has risen sharply relative to the prices of other goods and services. Average tuition for the 2011–12 academic year was $23,066—an increase of 32.4 percent in only a decade, compared to a 27.6 percent cumulative rate of inflation over the same period.1 With the cost of a four-year college education now approaching $100,000, Vedder’s project has only grown in significance.

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