tuition faculty faculty salaries faculty compensation tuition rates tuition increases college costs Penn State Big Ten corporate university
Abstract:
At well over five hundred percent since 1985, the cost of higher education has increased faster than that of any other commodity in the US. Considerable attention has been given to the causes and consequences of what is arguably an unsustainable rate of growth in the costs of higher education. Prompted by a review of the literature, this essay attempts to examine the relation between faculty salaries and tuition costs. Specifically, attention is focused in this essay to studying if rising faculty salaries account for the rates of inflation in college costs. Data is examined from Pennsylvania State University and its Big 10 peer schools to evaluate the hypothesis. The essay adopts a production view of the educational service industry and related limitations and assumptions are highlighted. While a strong correlation between tuition and faculty salaries appears to exist, an analysis of other unquantifiable factors that affect tuition are excluded from the study. This prohibits a high level of certainty that faculty expenses directly influence tuition rates. While the results are only suggestive, the questions it raises for future research are indicated.
