College Costs More Because States are Defunding It

So goes one of the standard explanations for the continual rise in the cost of going to college. In this Cato@Liberty post, Neal McCluskey tears it apart. Until recently, college and university leaders found it fairly easy to get money from politicians and donors and they delighted in spending it. As Thomas Sowell has observed, when college leaders spend more money, they claim that their costs have increased, thus justifying still more appropriations and requiring yet more giving and higher tuition. With state budgets deep in the red, family portfolios down, and increased skepticism that college is such a good "investment" for everyone, the easy livin' is over.