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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- As students swarm back to school on Utah's colleges campuses this fall, they'll find tuition and fees rising to what some say could be a tipping point that could price some out of the education market.
"Are we getting to the point where students are just going to say, I can't do this?" asked Barbara Snyder, vice president of student affairs at the University of Utah. "Utah is still quite a bargain, but that doesn't soothe a student when they've got a tuition bill to pay."
Tuition at Utah's nine public universities and colleges has risen roughly 10 percent annually since 2002. At the University of Utah, the jump is closer to 50 percent over the past five years.
Also climbing are the unadvertised costs not included in tuition and fees, like room and board, books, transportation and other expenses. Experts estimate that when tacked on, all those extras will push the average costs of one year's schooling at the University of Utah close to $14,500.
At Utah State University, undergraduates will pay more than $10,500 a year, according to the most recent 2005 estimates.
"If you give the full cost of attendance, it scares the heck out of people," said Paul Brinkman, the University of Utah's vice president of budgeting.
Put together, the cost of college is outpacing inflation and is the fastest-growing sector of the Consumer Price Index, noted Richard Vedder, a member of the secretary of education's National Commission on the Future of Higher Education.
Nationally, the year-round cost of colleges expenses at public, four-year schools has risen about 44 percent since the 2000-01 school year at public four-year schools.
And while sticker shock may not deterring students in droves yet, the system is already feeling the effects. More students attend school part-time and more student debt is incurred.
"It's the frog in the boiling pot it's not all at once," Brinkman said. "It's a little tricky to know when someone would literally get priced out. Of course, that's probably occurring, but the question is, is it occurring in large enough numbers to be a concern?"
Higher education leaders will have to increase efficiency and become more productive in order to prevent costs from continuing to grow, Brinkman said.
"I don't see much that would give me reason to say, 'Don't worry about it, tuition's not going up for the next 10 years.' That's not the case," Brinkman said. "Tuition will be higher and probably significantly higher."
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Information from: The Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
