Remember that instructional costs per student have increased about 60 percent over the last decade. At the same time, state appropriations for public higher education, adjusted for inflation, have decreased by about 8 percent. These additional costs and losses in funding have to be offset somewhere. Public colleges and universities are relying more and more on tuition and fee increases to offset rising costs and declining state funds. So, you as taxpayers and perhaps as parents of students probably want a more thorough explanation of what is driving rising costs.
Many people think the first driver of costs is faculty workload and the tenure system.
It's true that higher ed is a labor-intensive industry. But, there is little evidence to suggest that faculty hiring practices and workload have driven up college costs. In fact, there has been movement in the opposite direction. At the same time, we are increasing the amount of hours faculty spend in the classroom. Instructional costs have increased for several reasons, including the need to meet certain student expectations.