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U.S. colleges and universities have been rapidly increasing their student tuition and fees in recent years. Here are some examples... According to the 1994 "Information Please" almanac, Anderson College in S. Carolina charged $1,172 dollars at the time, Boston University's yearly tuition/fees were $14,403, and attending Stanford University in California cost $6,505 per year. By when the 2000 "World Almanac" was published, these numbers had risen dramatically. Attending Anderson cost $9,475, Boston $23,148, and Stanford $21,389. These represent increases of 1.6 to eight times in only the second half of a decade. Such costs have not stopped rapidly increasing. As of 2009, Anderson now charges $19,212, Boston University $38,440, and Stanford $38,676. Few people have seen their income multiplied so many times in the past fifteen years. Some of these increasing costs stem from a vicious cycle of tuition, salaries, and degrees. People are expected to earn master's or doctorate degrees before becoming professors - which leaves them in immense debt. Then colleges must pay them high salaries so they can afford the student loan payments, which their students must in turn pay for. This also pushes the salaries for other professions higher (like doctors), resulting in more cost inflation. To think that people in some countries of Western Europe and Latin America don't have to pay any tuition to attend college. This would be possible in the U.S. as well if political leaders had different priorities and universities operated more efficiently. Note: Tuitions listed are for residents of the states where the educational institutions are located.
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