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I just wish there was a rational explanation for the extreme increase in tuition the last 10 years or so.
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Well, let me take a stab at it.
Some of the items that make up the big parts of the budget in higher education are things that are going up a lot steeper than general inflation. Utilities, for example. Benefits, particularly health care costs (and we're talking about a labor- and personnel-intensive enterprise).
Also, the technology costs at colleges and universities are demanding, and unlike a lot of industries, those investments generally don't enhance productivity or cut jobs or create other efficiencies that recoup the costs. They might enhance education (which is why they invest in them) but they don't increase revenue.
Another factor is the role of institutions as depositories of knowledge. Colleges and universities can't just embrace new knowledge and discard the old--they have to keep it all. The body of knowledge is always increasing, and they are expected to maintain it through library holdings, museums, staff and scholarly expertise, and so on.
All these things push costs (and tuition) up in ways that may not be typical in certain other industries.