A more complicated group of kids to teach. More government rules to comply with. In the last 20 years, as inflation climbed by 165 percent, undergraduate tuition and fees at universities soared nearly 500 percent, and per-pupil spending in public school, kindergarten through 12th grade, grew 270 percent. That's double and a 42 percent rise, respectively, after inflation. Costs were rising in other educational settings, too.
Administrators say the biggest contributor to that ever-expanding schooling price tag is personnel.
There are more teachers, though, as schools offer smaller and more specialized classes. Another big-ticket item these days is technology. Things started to change the day his middle school got its first TRS-80. By the time he got to college, his dorm room was wired for the Internet and voice mail, and he registered for classes online. Back home, his old elementary school now boasts a Macintosh for every 10 kids and his high school has a VCR in every classroom.