Tyler Cowen, Columnist

College Is Actually Getting More Affordable

However slowly and inefficiently, higher education in the US is restructuring itself to be ready for leaner times.

November 6, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the Marginal Revolution blog.

The Maclaurin Buildings on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. The presidents of Harvard University and MIT have been under scrutiny amid furor over their remarks to Congress about antisemitism on campus.
Photographer: Mel Musto/Bloomberg

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The decline of the American system of higher education has many causes, several of which I have catalogued over the years, but one of the most popular reasons is overstated: cost. Higher education in America is becoming more affordable, as the laws of supply and demand are turning a crisis into a manageable problem.

As college became more expensive in the decades before and just after the turn of the century, students and their families adjusted. Many opted for a cheaper version of the basic product, such as state schools or junior colleges. Others went to vocational school or did something altogether different. In response to these market pressures, colleges have responded by making their product cheaper, as outlined in a new report from the College Board.