This isn&#x27;t supported by much..  The cost per student hasn&#x27;t increased, only the proportion charged to tuition rather than taxes. It&#x27;s easy to blame easy government money for the increase in admin staff, but during my grad program I GA&#x27;ed in the office and half of the staff were dealing with financial aid &#x2F; loans &#x2F; scholarships. They would be there regardless the source of the cash.<p>I&#x27;ve fought this battle on HN before and nobody wants to believe that college isn&#x27;t any more expensive than it previously was, so I&#x27;ll leave this here -- but do a bit of research and you&#x27;ll be surprised.<p>Edit;<p>Since everyone seems to be downvoting this point, here&#x27;s the inflation-adjusted cost per student in California from 1987 - 2013:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;keepcaliforniaspromise.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2013&#x2F;12&#x2F;figure1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;keepcaliforniaspromise.org&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2013&#x2F;12...</a><p>It actually costs about $2,500 less per student today than it did in the late 80&#x27;s -- yet during the same time, tuition has increased by upwards of 5x.  That delta used to be carried by taxpayers but has been shifted to tuition.