NPC Newsmaker Program: The Real Reason College Costs So Much

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Aug 26, 2014, 11:11 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Why are college and university Costs escalating so rapidly? At a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on September 10, Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and economics professor at Ohio University, will discuss the reasons college costs have continued to explode despite 50 years of ostensibly benevolent government interventions.

In 1964, federal student aid was a mere $231 million. By 1981, the federal government was spending $7 billion on loans alone, an amount that doubled during the 1980s and nearly tripled in each of the following two decades – and amounts to about $105 billion today. Taxpayers now stand behind nearly $1 trillion in student loans.

Meanwhile, grants have increased to $49 billion from $6.4 billion in 1981. By expanding eligibility and boosting the maximum Pell Grant by $500 to $5,350, the 2009 stimulus bill accelerated higher ed's evolution into a middle-class entitlement. Fewer than two percent of Pell Grant recipients came from families making between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in 2007. Now roughly 18 percent do.

This growth in subsidies, Mr. Vedder argues, has fueled rising prices: "It gives every incentive and every opportunity for colleges to raise their fees."

Like all NPC Newsmaker events, this news conference is open to credentialed media and NPC club members. It is free of charge and no advance registration is required. This NPC Newsmakers news conference is scheduled for Wednesday, September 10 at 10 a.m. in the club's Zenger Room, on the 13^th Floor of the National Press Building, 529 14^th St. NW, Washington DC 20045.

CONTACT:
Tony Gallo NPC Newsmakers Event Host
202 -544-6973, [email protected]

Herb Perone, NPC Newsmakers Chairman
301-512-7636, [email protected]

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SOURCE National Press Club