<p>A few articles attempting to explain why college costs so much:
[The</a> real reasons college costs so much - MSN Money](<a href=“http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P74829.asp]The”>http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P74829.asp)
Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much, With a new preface (Paperback)
by Ronald G. Ehrenberg (Author) "Unlike businesses, which strive to keep costs at a minimum, universities must spend to make themselves as attractive as possible to their constituents. Ehrenberg, a senior administrator and professor of economics at Cornell University, examines the factors influencing the spiraling tuition costs of the past decade: the need to spend money to have the best facilities, faculties, and learning tools in order to attract the best and brightest students, the need to spend for athletics and other programs to keep alumni support strong, the self-governing nature of university faculty, and the increasing pressure to spend in order to increase ratings in external publications. Observes Ehrenberg, “As long as lengthy lines of highly qualified applicants keep knocking at its door no institution has a strong incentive to unilaterally end the spending race.”
[Marketplace:</a> No-frills colleges don’t have big costs](<a href=“http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/05/pm_no_frills_u/]Marketplace:”>http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/05/05/pm_no_frills_u/) -
[Why</a> do third-tier schools cost as much as Harvard? - Apr. 10, 2009](<a href=“Why do third-tier schools cost as much as Harvard? - Apr. 10, 2009”>Why do third-tier schools cost as much as Harvard? - Apr. 10, 2009) - The mystery of college costs
Why do second- and third-tier colleges cost as much as Harvard? “One answer is that they do it because they can.”</p>