<p>Stanford reported this morning that its endowment increased substantially and that it had a fairly significant surplus from operations as well:
<a href="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/january12/financial-1215.html%5B/url%5D">http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/january12/financial-1215.html</a>
At the risk of being stupid, can someone explain why these results shouldn't suggest that tuition remain at its current levels?</p>
<p>My state had a huge surplus turn into a huge deficit in just more than one year. One year's good times isn't enough to predict future prosperity. </p>
<p>But of course the real reason colleges keep tuition high is because they can. I just finished reading The Two-Income Trap today, and that was quite disturbing. No end in sight to sky-high college prices.</p>
<p>tokenadult - good point</p>
<p>Also, it seems that schools set tuition (and room & board) based on what similar schools are charging, not in any relationship to endowment or operating surplusses.</p>
<p>i know for a fact my school sets tuition at a nice lower rate than other similar schools, and it uses its endowment to do so.. so not all schools completely ignore it when deciding tuition.</p>
<p>Probably next year, for the first time, the total cost of a year at the highest priced private institution will exceed the median family income in the United States.</p>
<p>The market will bear it.</p>