public universities should be accessible without crushing debt
I would tend to agree.
Initial thoughts: I believe it is important to identify the causes of steep increases in tuition.
Some ideas presented in other venues and on other related threads have included:
- Availability of student loans.
- Emphasis on and investment in sports (as opposed to academics).
- Construction of campus
amenities such as water parks, waterslides, lazy rivers, rock climbing walls.
- Benefits offered to employees may include college tuition for offspring... thereby transferring the cost of these "free" seats to the remaining student body.
- Age of professors (baby boomers retiring, some institutions have promised lifelong pensions). I understand that to offset this, some institutions now hire more adjuncts, assistant professors, and associate professors... all of whom who are paid much less than full tenured professors.
- Investment in technology. This could reasonably be expected to have a payback period of lowered costs of operating... but may instead become an upward spiral of early adoption of new technology... an arms race.
- Insurance costs. Unfortunately, we may live in a litigious society.
This is not an exhaustive list.
It may be important to have cost transparency and accountability.
Unfortunately, many of us may be aware of rampant end-of-the-fiscal-year spending, whose mantra is: spend it all, or we'll be allocated a smaller budget next year.
I believe that by identifying costs and delving into them, duplication and waste can be found and so-called "cuts" may be made which have little or no negative impact on the student experience... creating a sustainable budget... capping costs... and then reducing costs.
I understand that cost cutting may be moderated by a need/desire to keep as many jobs as possible so that the universities may continue to offer significant employment opportunities.
