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Bill Bugbee, Published January 30 2011

Government caused tuition problem

Resident and nonresident college tuition recently was in the news. I have always asked myself why tuition is so high today. Back in the ’50s and ’60s, it was easy to work your way through college and come out debt-free ... yes, it was; I kid you not. I know because I did it. What happened in the past 60 years?

So I went to our trusty Web and found an answer that satisfies me: government subsidized student loans. Can’t be, you say? Well, when a student applies for a loan, his co-signer is, in effect, the U.S. government.

The banker will gladly loan you the money because it is risk free with guaranteed payback by the feds. The universities know this, too, so instead of a free, competitive downward pressure market, we have spiraling tuition willingly paid by students conditioned to living in a debt-ridden society.

Being the skeptic I am, I can’t help but think that the banking industry might have had something to do with this scheme. Can you think of other government involvement in our lives that have driven prices up?