“Being a Student Today Resembles Living at Versailles”

Eric Gibson of the Wall Street Journal is also worried about the alarming rate at which college tuition is increasing and suspects that much of its rise can be attributed to non-essential spending:

Tuition increases have consistently outpaced inflation. Since 1992, inflation has averaged between 2.5 and 3 percent a year; annual tuition increases have often been as high as 6 percent. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the reason that tuition increases at private four-year institutions kept pace with inflation this year is not that these schools suddenly curbed their free-spending ways but that inflation itself jumped dramatically. The average tuition increase was 5.9 percent, while the Consumer Price Index rose 5.6 percent in the 12 months from July 2007.

In spite of this, universities are still crying poor. Surely beleaguered college presidents are already tapping their in-house experts in the economics departments to tell them how to live within their means. No? Then allow me to help. Having spent the fall visiting several colleges with a son who is applying for next year, I’ve been getting a tutorial in college costs. And what an education it has been.

Let’s start with presidential salaries. In its latest survey, published last month, the Chronicle reports that compensation for private university presidents rose on average 6 percent in the past year, a figure that represents 50 percent more than the standard annual merit increase for private-sector employees. The total compensation (salary plus benefits) of three private university presidents for 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, was in the stratosphere: Columbia University’s Lee C. Bollinger earned $1,411,894 and Northwestern University’s Henry S. Bienen, $1,742,560; Suffolk University in Massachusetts paid David J. Sargent $2,800,461.

Then there’s the cost of college life itself. I’ve been wide-eyed on some of my visits, struck by the extent to which being a student today resembles living at Versailles, where Louis XIV’s every whim was so thoroughly accommodated that there was even a Superintendent of the King’s Furniture. One college tour guide proudly informed us that upon arrival every freshman is issued a brand-new laptop. Even if the students already have one? Why, yes, the guide replied.

It’s a lovely rant, and the whole thing is well worth a read.

(Via Arts & Letters Daily )