The high cost of higher ed

It’s easy to see that things aren’t going well for our economy: The Consumer Price Index is down, foreclosure rates are through the roof following the historic burst of the housing bubble, and more and more of the American workforce finds itself un- or under-employed. With all of these negative economic indicators, you wouldn’t think it’s a time for anyone selling anything to raise prices. Yet, across the country, public and private colleges have been raising their tuitions all year. In a report released yesterday by the College Board, four-year public college tuitions increased at an average of 6.5 percent from just one year ago.

For a look behind the numbers, and for the long-term effects of high-cost higher education, we speak to Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Policy and Higher Education.