<p>[Colleges:</a> Where the money goes - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-dreifushacker-college-cost-20100912,0,6821452.story]Colleges:”>Colleges: Where the money goes)</p>
<p>Excerpt:</p>
<p>"At Pomona College, a top-flight liberal arts school, this year’s sticker price for tuition and fees is a hefty $38,394 (not including room and board). Even after adjusting for inflation, that comes to 2.9 times what Pomona was charging a generation ago, in 1980.</p>
<p>This kind of massive tuition increase is the norm. In New England, Williams College charges $41,434, or an inflation-adjusted 3.2 times what it did 30 years ago. USC’s current tab of $41,022 is a 3.6 multiple of its 1980 bill.</p>
<p>Tuition at public universities, in a time of ailing state budgets, has risen at an even faster rate. The University of Illinois’ current $13,658 is six times its 1980 rate after adjusting for inflation. San Jose State’s $6,250 is a whopping 11 times more.</p>
<p>If you look at how that added revenue is being spent, it’s hard to argue that students are getting a lot of extra value for all that extra money. Why? Colleges aren’t spending their extra revenues, which we calculate to be about $40 billion a year nationally over 1980 revenues, in ways that most benefit students.</p>
<p>One thing colleges are spending more on is athletic teams, which have become a more pronounced and costly presence on campuses everywhere. Even volleyball teams travel extensively these days, with paid coaches and customized uniforms. Currently, 629 schools have football teams 132 more than in 1980. And all but 14 of them lose money, including some with national names…"</p>