if you want to see the real driver in the price of ptvaire education, look at scholarships.  as the % of students receiving aid goes up, the price that those who can pay must pay goes up as well.  i am still involved with my old high school, whose tuition has gone from $15k/yr in 1990 to $33k now.  scholarships are the big driver of this.  they also create an unfortunate barbelling effect in the student body: only the rich and the poor can go.  there is no middle to hold them together.  on $60-100k a year, you will find it very difficult to get aid, but the cost is simply out of reach, especially if you have more than one child.  i understand the impulse that scholarships are supposed to heighten fairness, but the simple fact is that it does not work out that way in the intermediate term.  how is it fair to exclude the middle class from the best educational opportunities?  how is it good for the students who do get in to be starkly divided into rich and poor with no middle?  (and it does have a noticeable effect on campus).  a strong middle is a part of diversity too.