It's a lot of people in these streets crowing about financial responsibility re: student loan debt but almost none of them are talking about how much college tuition and fees have spiked in the last 15-20 years. Also cost of living is much higher. (Thread)

I'm not an expert but I covered this for years. I'll pick on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, since it's the largest public university here.

From what I can see, the base tuition for Illinois residents for Fall 200 was $6,460. What's the base rate now?

$12,254.

Here's where I found that info

http://archive.registrar.illinois.edu/financial/tuition_archive0607/ugrad_base.html

https://cost.illinois.edu/Home/UgradBase?DiffCode=BASE&TermCode=120208&TableType=1

That's just the base tuition rate. That doesn't include mandatory fees (which vary on your academic program), room and board (or housing costs off campus), or any of the other costs of college -- which double or triple that price tag

To wit. All those added expenses add more than $20,000 to your base tuition as an Illinoisan right now. Back in 2006, estimated fees, room/board etc were around were around $11K.

https://registrar.illinois.edu/tuition-fees/tuition-fee-rates/ug-additional-expenses-2021/

So you're talking about cost of college being roughly $19K-$20K a year around 14 years ago, versus around $33,000 now. Part of the reason those prices have increased is because state financial support for higher ed has dropped. As state funding declines, tuition spikes.

All that is just for being an in-state student. Suffice it to say, the out of state rates are 2-3x that and also have increased a great deal, which is the case at most major schools.

When I went to Michigan in 2001, my tuition/fees were around $22,000 (reduced through a scholarship). What are tuition/fees for out of state students in Ann Arbor now? $52,266.

I don't think I need to say this but incomes haven't exactly been increasing proportionate to these ballooning costs of college. And yes, there are broad financial aid programs but many don't have enough funding to cover rising costs or help as many families who need it.

College, let alone graduate school, is increasingly unaffordable. Families and students don't take out student loans for the hell of it; they do it because that is the only way to finance an education.

Most of these people are not sitting with debt because they can't manage their finances or they're not working hard enough to pay it off. It's because they're compelled to borrow what might as well be a mortgage loan.

That wasn't as common for those who went to college 25+ years ago. You don't just account for that by living in a crap apartment and surviving on canned creamed corn for years.

So yeah, please forgive my student loans. I've definitely paid back as much if not more than I originally borrowed. I've never missed a payment and I've consistently worked in the field my degree is in for 10+ years. Please wipe this debt so I can move on with my life.