Why is tuition steadily going up? Forum

[NoOneImportant]

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum, but I'm basically curious as to why it seems that almost all T14 and T1 schools seem to be going up in tuition 3-5% pretty much every year for at least the last 5 years. Is it just because they know students that would be going to law school anyway will pay it? Is it because overall applications are down?

[KMart]

Is it because overall applications are down?

There are a lot of reasons tuition may be rising, but low demand does not cause an increase in price. Some schools have actually lowered tuition to try to coax students into attending.

[nothingtosee]

Because we still pay it. Why would they charge less? Good will?

[twenty]

To be fair, merit scholarship awards have also increased in both size and regularity.

[usernotfound]

Inflation, demand, etc..

[NoOneImportant]

Is it because overall applications are down?

There are a lot of reasons tuition may be rising, but low demand does not cause an increase in price. Some schools have actually lowered tuition to try to coax students into attending.

I meant in terms of if the applicant pool is lower and potentially poorer, then the number of students matriculating might also be lower meaning less overall tuition money coming in; therefore, they raise the tuition to try and offset the lower number of people coming to school.... or something. But what you're saying makes sense, especially if there hasn't been an overall decrease in the number of students going to law schools.

[KMart]

I meant in terms of if the applicant pool is lower

Lower applicant pool = less demand.
Less demand =/= rising costs.

I got what you're saying . The rising costs suck, doesn't it? It makes me scared to think about what it will be in 30 years when I have children. I read an article a few years ago estimating it might be $100,000/year for undergrad. Estimates so far out are essentially meaningless regarding accuracy, but it speaks to the price increases.

[Nomo]

(1) Some students are willing to pay it
(2) Some state legislatures/board of regents/board of trustees demand it
(3) It hides the price from the large group of students who compare their scholarship to the tuition in the year they apply. These students fail to realize that with tuition increases they are going to pay 10-18k more in tuition over 3 years than they would if tuition stayed flat.

[A. Nony Mouse]

A more macro explanation for some schools (and not limited to law schools) is that state support for higher ed continues to get slashed, so schools raise tuition (law schools often subsidize programs on the rest of campus).

[twitterati]

I think a couple of things are true. Primarily--like others have said--because they can. There's also this planet money episode showing how sticker price can be misleading for a good chunk of the student body. I.e. the impact of tuition inflation really depends on what kind of student you are.

[banjo]

Too many professors, too many electives, excessive amenities, unlimited loans, rankings.

[CanadianWolf]

Agree with the above posts. Additionally, many universities use their law schools as cash cows to support other schools within the university. Tuition will continue to rise so long as lenders are willing to lend; lenders will continue to fund exhorbitant law school costs so long as bankruptcy laws make educational debt difficult to discharge.

[HalfStudent]

Because the federal government will pay the lender if you can't, thus taking the risk out of landing.. Or are they will provide the schools any amount in a direct loan bypassing any private lender which is even worse..

[jessica123]

Tuition is steadily going up due to many reason such as demand, government paying for lenders etc.

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[Mack.Hambleton]

Tuition is steadily going up due to many reason such as demand, government paying for lenders etc.

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[bowser]

Full-price tuition and COA at my current school, which has the highest tuition in the country, is already untenable. Tuition would be around ~90,000 in 10 years at the current rate. That would be like ~1,000,000 total repayment over 25 years haha.

At some point some of the elite schools just need to say it's unethical to do this to young people and rehaul the system.

[$peppercorn]

I think it also has a lot of do with the fact that the fed guarantees student loans for a schools' cost of attendance and there is no reason for them to keep it low. Whatever schools make tuition is the amount of loans students can get. Until that gets reigned in somehow, there will be no incentive to lower tuition. Inflation is, however, not a valid reason. Tuition has risen much faster than inflation. In any case, don't expect schools to do anything on their own initiative.

[SemperLegal]

LRAP and federally guaranteed student loans. Public interest students have zero incentive to keep costs below a million, professors/staff have an inverse incentive, and does anyone expect an academic, bureaucrat, or pi to give two shits about biglaw people who actually fulfill their obligations and pay through the nose?

[RareExports]

In addition to what everyone else has said, it's important to remember that grant amounts and frequency have also increased, perhaps proportionally with tuition or even higher.

It could just be that schools are getting better at price differentiation and that the actual average tuition paid per student hasn't gotten up more than inflation (if at all).

[NonTradLawHopeful]

3-5% isn't much more than inflation. Schools cost a lot of money to operate and continually upgrade facilities. It isn't just law school, most post-secondary schools increase at least the rate of inflation.

[SemperLegal]

3-5% isn't much more than inflation. Schools cost a lot of money to operate and continually upgrade facilities. It isn't just law school, most post-secondary schools increase at least the rate of inflation.

In what universe is inflation nearly 5% and post secondary schools are baselines for institutional sustainability?

[SemperLegal]

In addition to what everyone else has said, it's important to remember that grant amounts and frequency have also increased, perhaps proportionally with tuition or even higher.

It could just be that schools are getting better at price differentiation and that the actual average tuition paid per student hasn't gotten up more than inflation (if at all).

It's like the Jos. A. Bank model of education.

[Winston1984]

In addition to what everyone else has said, it's important to remember that grant amounts and frequency have also increased, perhaps proportionally with tuition or even higher.

It could just be that schools are getting better at price differentiation and that the actual average tuition paid per student hasn't gotten up more than inflation (if at all).

The high price high discount model doesn't mean the actual average tuition paid per student hasn't increased significantly. The average student is definitely pay significantly more (adjusted for inflation) than they were 20 years ago. Remember, there are students paying almost $300k to attend law school. That is insane.

[NonTradLawHopeful]

3-5% isn't much more than inflation. Schools cost a lot of money to operate and continually upgrade facilities. It isn't just law school, most post-secondary schools increase at least the rate of inflation.

In what universe is inflation nearly 5% and post secondary schools are baselines for institutional sustainability?

I said not much more than....inflation in a slow economy is 1-2%, and around 3.5% in a good economy.

[A. Nony Mouse]

In addition to what everyone else has said, it's important to remember that grant amounts and frequency have also increased, perhaps proportionally with tuition or even higher.

It could just be that schools are getting better at price differentiation and that the actual average tuition paid per student hasn't gotten up more than inflation (if at all).

Nah.