Heaven forbid they just lower tuition.

[ECH90]

Whether you can get aid to get around the problems seems to me to be beside the point. Whether students are being required to pay those ridiculous "rack rates" or not, just that fact of their existence is probably enough negative marketing to discourage students from trying. I also think their existence encourages public colleges into thinking that increasing their tuition every year is OK. After it would cost you "twice as much" to go to a private school!

Actually, I personally think that the problem is the existence of government-backed student loans.  If there was not an easy way for students to get money, and they actually had to choose schools based on price, more schools would lower prices to get more students.  Instead, we have a "tuition bubble."  When government money flows fast and free, inflation of whatever they're helping to finance skyrockets.  Has everyone already forgotten the housing bubble??

Private schools can charge whatever they want, and they don't have government subsidies to help reduce costs like our in-state schools do.  The fact that they charge what it probably actually costs to run the school, and then use endowment money or whatever they have to lower costs for individual students, is not a bad business model.  And again, they get to run their businesses how they want to. Now, the fact that they have increased tuition just as public schools have because of the availability of student loans in a whole other issue.

 
Yes. I feel like this is the case for many things.