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The American College: Why So Expensive?

shutterstock 52951918
shutterstock 52951918

As early as the mid-1800s, the American college system was decried as exorbitantly priced and for no good reason either. It was surmised that the decadence to which America was accustomed contributed largely to this phenomenon. But is this denunciation accurate? All told, $30,000 a year is doled out per student in the United States far more than in any other developed country. And the question is: Why so expensive?

Ancillary services

The U.S. ranks No. 1 in the world for ancillary services. These include things like housing, meals, healthcare, and transportation. “All in all, American taxpayers and families spend $3,370 on these services per student,” according to The Atlantic Daily, “more than three times the average for the developed world.”

Live-aways

One reason for the difference is that American students are far more likely to live away from home, a fact that results in higher expenses. Campuses in Europe tend to have far fewer dormitories and dining services than in America. Students that live at school require expensive services to support them while at school, including not only housing and food but also healthcare, security and physical education facilities.

Core services

It turns out that the United States also pays far more for core educational services at colleges —- staff and faculty — than countries such as Finland, Germany and Sweden. In fact, we spend about double. These costs add up to about $23,000 a student per year! American schools are a service-oriented industry, services provided by relatively high-paid professionals whose salaries have risen much more rapidly than other service providers.

Non-teaching staff

Many U.S. colleges employ large numbers of non-educational staff such as maintenance staff, security personnel, food service workers, admissions officers, psychological counselors and fundraisers. In fact, U.S. colleges spend more on non-teaching staff than on educators. Their salaries really add to the cost of education.

Student to teacher ratio

American schools tend to have low teacher-to-student ratios. Among researchers, there is no consensus about whether small classes are worth the money. And in the rest of the developed world, undergraduate education tends to take place in large lecture halls. As a matter of fact, when American college-educated adults are tested, they tend to perform worse than similarly educated people in other developed countries, which might show that small classes are not worth the expense.

Takeaway

Despite the expense, a college degree is still valuable in the United States. Over a lifetime, people with bachelor’s degrees earn more than half a million dollars more than people with no college degree in the U.S. In fact, no other country rewards a college degree as richly as the United States. And few other countries punish people so relentlessly for not having one. So, whether the high cost of college in the U.S. is worth it or not, people are willing to pay to get the degree.

 

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