Why a college degree became an unaffordable luxury for many Americans
As more Americans consider whether a college degree is worth it, the rising cost of attending a college or university is often at the forefront of their minds.
The average college tuition more than tripled between 1980 and 2022. Most of that increase appeared after 2000.
When adding in housing, food, books and other costs, the total amount to attend Brown University, Tulane University, the University of Richmond, Williams College and other schools can easily rise to $100,000 per year for those who don’t get scholarships or financial aid.
Why has a college degree become akin to an unaffordable luxury for millions of Americans?
I am a scholar of the history of higher education. My data analysis of college tuition trends from 1840 to 2020 shows that college tuition has not significantly risen since 1990, at least compared to tuition changes over the previous decades.
In fact, after a period of extraordinarily high tuition growth from 1920 to 1990, tuition growth slowed in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.
But that’s likely little comfort to American families shocked at the sticker price of college costs. This is especially true because since 1980 the growth in real median family income has been relatively modest, while college tuition has continued to rise faster than inflation.
High tuition has contributed to more than half of all undergraduate students in 2025 taking on student loans. In 1995 and 1996, by comparison, about 25% of undergraduate students had student loan debt.
Cumulative student loan debt rose from about $500 billion in 2006 to nearly $1.8 trillion in 2024.
Student loan debt can prevent college graduates from purchasing their own homes or cars, as well as making other decisions in adulthood, such as whether to marry or have children. Total student loan debt accounted for 7.1% of borrowers’ annual income in 2024, compared to 4.6% in 2006.
There is no shortage of policy proposals for reducing college costs, ranging from freezing tuition to canceling student debt.
But all available statistics about the evolution of tuition capture only the growth of tuition since 1963.
To fill this data void, I collected data about the origins and evolution of tuition charges at American colleges from 1840 to 2020. I’m working to create the very first national database of college tuition that charts its entire history.
This database, which I am working to publish in an academic journal, comprises tuition data in 10-year increments for 667 private and public colleges and universities – representing 64% of all colleges and universities established before 1920.
