As Colleges Move Classes Online, Families Rebel Against the Cost

[rachel83az]

More people complaining about schools going online without reducing tuition. Of course they see this as a reduced quality of education (which it doesn't have to be if done right) and they don't realize that at many schools, a lion's share of the tuition goes into financial aid programs to compensate for reduced government support. So they probably cannot reduce tuition by too much or risk losing student aid for those who need it.

I just recently learned this and it's fascinating. I never realized this was part of why college is generally so expensive. Just how much does this tend to increase tuition costs? I'm assuming a good portion of tuition is going towards sports as well as facilities. Just how much could feasibly be cut to reduce costs?

In addition, how many students wouldn't even need the financial assistance if tuition weren't so high in the first place? 

Sports does cost a lot but it also can bring in a ton of money for the school. Not only does sports mean ticket sales but also increased merchandise sales. There is a big push to buy hoodies, water bottles, backpacks, etc. to show support for the local sportsball team. I used to live near ASU. Their teams are relatively popular. A lot of the people who wear ASU merch locally are probably not students, staff, nor alumni. That's money that the school wouldn't be getting without its teams. I'd definitely be interested in seeing a breakdown of how much sports teams cost colleges vs. what they bring in. I guess we'll be running a huge experiment this year to find out the actual cost/benefit of sports to a college.