Comment by guccigav

The increase in price probably comes from a combination of demand for college education and some monopolistic competition in the accredited university market, where government regulation suppresses the supply of accredited universities. I think we're seeing some change with the latter supply (e.g. community college, online degrees, etc) but demand for a U.S. college degree still stands strong on the global market from international students. It would be nice to get data on yearly university applications and do an empirical analysis on supply and demand.