13 Eyebrow-Arching Numbers About Higher Education

Apologies to our international readers, but this following article is going to be concerning higher education specifically in the United States. Because we have a giant problem, and that problem is student loans. The national student loan debt is higher than the GDP of Canada. Go back and read that again. We’re making more student loans than Canada is making money.
“Go to college to make more money,” they told us. “It’ll pay off.” Yet, even those among us making bank may be struggling to pay off their tens of thousands of dollars in loans. Who decided it was a good idea to give that many loans to teenagers, let alone teenagers being led astray by boomers who lived in a completely different world of higher education costs?
The answer to why higher education is so expensive isn’t so cut and dry. There are lots of theories: increasing administrative costs, lower state funding, student amenities, increased marketing to more profitable students, or supply and demand. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to go back to school and figure it out ourselves, but here are some numbers acquired by people with more applicable degrees.
College costs have increased by 169%

Source: CNBC
Public college costs have risen 28% more than inflation.

Source: NBC News
Textbook prices have increased by 90%

Source: AEI
37.9% of Americans over 24 have a bachelor’s degree

Source: PEW
The average person with student loans owes $37,113

Source: TIME
Americans spend about $30,000 per student a year

Source: The Atlantic
With a bachelor’s degree, you’ll make $15,000 more per year.

Source: CNBC
62% of adjunct professors make under $20,000 per year

Source: The Boston Globe
Student loan debt is worth $1.75 trillion

Source: TIME
Only 62% who start their degree finish their program in six years

Source: PEW
40% of first-time college students enrolled at a college within 50 miles of their home

Source: Manhattan Institute
The federal government spends $149 billion on higher education

Source: DataLab
63% of U.S. adults support making public colleges free

Source: PEW