The College Fix

Higher education bubble alert: Government solutions are the problem

A new report from the American Action Forum details how government loans drove up college tuition costs to record-high levels over the last several decades.

Noting tuition during the last 30 years has more than doubled — outpacing inflation by 2 to 4 percent and pushing student debt to more than $1.3 trillion, the report cites how “colleges have argued that reduced state funding combined with continued enrollment growth has increased pressure on tuition rates.”

Not exactly, the report’s authors note.

“Financial assistance itself may be the problem — more expansive loan programs and more generous grants combine to explain over 70 percent of recent tuition inflation,” the report states. “Couple the skyrocketing cost of college and the level of debt students incur along the way with evidence of federal financial aid acting as a key factor in driving up the net price, and it’s easy to come to the logical conclusion that restrictions need to be placed on taxpayer funded financial aid.”

The report’s conclusion notes that “150 years after the federal government began higher education financial assistance, the taxpayers find themselves paying a high price for ever-higher tuition.”

Writing in the Washington Free Beacon, Ali Meyer reports the Obama administration has not helped matters. She cites the U.S. Education Department, which notes “since taking office in 2009, the Obama administration has taken strong action to counteract the rising cost of higher education [by] expanding Pell Grants and making student debt more manageable by expanding loan repayment options that cap payments based on income.”

So the solution, at least according to the feds, is to throw more taxpayer dollars at it and increase debt-forgiveness instead of pushing personal responsibility.

Read American Action Forum’s full report.

RELATED: Bucking national trend, Washington state passes ‘historic’ college tuition cuts

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter