American universities have an incentive to seem extortionate
The article says that the net price (price after discounts) has gone down over time. This surprised me.<p>They cite a College Board report, but don&#x27;t specify which one. I suspect it&#x27;s this one:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;research.collegeboard.org&#x2F;trends&#x2F;college-pricing" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;research.collegeboard.org&#x2F;trends&#x2F;college-pricing</a><p>Tables CP-9 and CP-10 do indeed show net price going down for the last few years. But the figures aren&#x27;t expressed in dollars, but in &#x27;2022 dollars&#x27;, i.e. the charts don&#x27;t show the actual net price, but the net price adjusted by CPI inflation.<p>This is an important distinction because, when people pay for college, they&#x27;re not comparing it with the cost of other goods and services (which is what CPI measures), but whether they can afford it, based on their parents&#x27; current&#x2F;past income, or their own future expected income.<p>If you agree with this perspective, using CPI to make the curves look flatter does everyone a disservice. Wages for many people haven&#x27;t kept up with CPI, so a higher nominal net cost still makes college less affordable.