A yearly income of $100,000 a year is not what it was 10 years ago. The purchasing power dropped significantly. But it’s still not a bad income at all.
For people with this income, college education is free at my school. It’s free in the sense that students pay zero dollars. But it’s not free to us because we have to hire, turn on the lights, connect the Internet, provide textbooks. So who pays? It’s not the students, it’s not the state. Who pays?
The university pays. Our budget cuts, austerity, a hiring freeze are the result. We simply can’t cover all the expenses with the tuition paid by a very small percentage of students and whatever pittance the state gives us.
Also, being amidst all this constantly and then hearing people bleat about how expensive college education has become in comparison with the good old times is very annoying. How much cheaper than free do you want it to be? Do you want us to pay students for attending? Well, we already do that. We pay millions every year in scholarships and awards. That amount grew from a couple thousand to $300,000 for just my department since 2011.
Clarissa's Blog 
I don’t think anyone would begrudge the cost of college education if the money was going to faculty, you know, people who actually contribute to the mission of the university. But it’s it’s the administrative bloat that has seen the most gains in terms of hiring and budget. Not sure about your university but that seems to be the story at many places.
Clearly something is broken. I mean, student debt is a real thing. Everybody can’t be lying about it on social media, right? So what is it?
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