I blame Pam Gann

A commenter at Snarky Bastards observes that my alma mater, despite its being listed as a "best value" private college, has become exorbitantly expensive:

As I recall CMC was $26,500 in 1998/99. If my memory is correct then thats a mere 73.5% growth in 8 years.

Stag Blogger Apollo observes:

In 2000/01, it was $30,000. In 2004/05, it was $40,000. I do not recall the college improving by 33% while I was there.

Also, when I applied the admissions office made a big deal about how they only passed along half of the cost to students and that fundraising covered the other half. Thus they were charging $30,000 per student but spent $60,000 per student. If that still holds true, they are now spending $92,000 per student. I cannot fathom how they can productively spend that much money.

Tuition and fees still make up about half of CMC's revenues. And tuition still tracks expenditures fairly closely. Where does the money go?

EXPENSES	2000	2006	Change
instruction	$12,784,000	$21,305,000	66.65%
research	$2,803,000	$5,516,000	96.79%
academic support	$3,740,000	$4,887,000	30.67%
student services	$7,123,000	$9,513,000	33.55%
institutional support	$8,858,000	$10,929,000	23.38%
auxiliary enterprises	$6,465,000	$7,770,000	20.19%
TOTAL	$41,773,000	$59,920,000	43.44%
Academic Year	2000-2001	2006-2007	Change
Tuition and Fees	$22,580	$33,210	47.08%
Room and Board	$7,420	$10,740	44.74%
Total	$30,000	$43,950	46.50%

Expenses on a per student basis in 2000-2001 were 139% of student charges and in 2006-2007 were 136%.

Research funding has nearly doubled, and instructional costs have risen by two thirds in six years. Are professors collecting bigger paychecks? The faculty size has gone down by 15% over the same period.