If someone in your family is heading off to college shortly, here’s something you might want to think about.
A new study by the non-profit Delta Cost Project found that although the cost of college tuition outpaces inflation by a country mile, it doesn’t necessarily translate into better results, according to USA Today.
For example, this year “the sticker price increases ranged from 4.2% at community colleges to 6.6% at public four-year institutions.”
Since a college degree is still the must-have “ticket” for every American student, steady tuition increases are always portrayed as necessary for maintaining—or increasing—educational quality.
However, the Delta figures are based on operating expenses at nearly 2,000 universities. Their study examined faculty salaries, “research, public outreach and financial aid.”
How do these areas benefit students? Not much.
And here’s something else to ponder.
Although this country spends more “per student than any other industrialized nation, it ranks at the bottom in degree completion (54%),” according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Deborah Lambert writes Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.
