When you take the last several years of tuition prices and account for changes in U.S. inflation, tuition has actually decreased, rather than increased, half the time.
Let me explain. Inflation is, at it’s most basic, when money loses value. So, a hamburger may cost $1 this year and $1.20 next year. That’s inflation.
Inflation is usually calculated using what’s called the Consumer Price Index. The higher the prices of goods become, the higher the index increases. That’s what we’ll be using to see if the University is taking more than it should to keep up with the ever-changing face of the dollar.
Look at my beautiful little chart to the right. The striped line represents the nominal price for your tuition. That’s what actually shows up on your fee bill. It’s the number that’s been going up an average of $143.55 in the last four school years. It’s the number everyone’s mad about.
Now I want you to think about buying a cup of coffee. Let’s say each day represents a school year for the University. Monday, our first year, will be LSU’s 2006 year, and the price will be $2.03. Tuesday, the same coffee will cost about $2.08, then $2.19 Wednesday, a little cheaper at $2.16 Thursday and $2.18 on good ol’ Friday.
Those numbers aren’t arbitrary; it’s a version of the CPI (divided by 100 — for the nerds), and matches how the prices of goods have changed in the last few years. It’s the exact same product, just at changing prices.
This is important. The real price of the coffee hasn’t changed at all, just the nominal price — what you’re actually putting in the barista’s hand.
So, we can throw those numbers onto LSU’s 2006 tuition prices and see what it looks like matching inflation.
The spotted line is the 2006 LSU tuition price if it didn’t      really change.
Essentially, we’re going to compare everything with 2006 dollars. So, when we convert the changing tuition to 2006 dollars, we get the solid line.
The second graph is what we’re really looking for — is the University taking more than is fair? Is it just making necessary increases in tuition to account for increases in the costs of goods, or are they taking a little more?
The graph starts at zero because that’s the 2006 tuition — our baseline, if you will. For the next two years, the University took $63.48 and $117.06 under the cost of inflation, in real dollars per student per semester. That’s awfully kind.
Most of our problems with the University’s budget have been in the last couple years. Compared to the 2006 cost, after inflation is accounted for we’re understandably paying more than the 2006 price of tuition in real dollars.
While I don’t think it’s intentional, but rather a by-product of compensation for funds that will be missing soon, the numbers seem to suggest the University has charged us less in the last few years than it could have and increased our fees only when it needed.
If only we could stay on this trend. Now that would be something.
Instead, my beloved chart will probably look like the Gulf of Mexico’s oil content in the next decade.
Devin Graham is a 21-year-old business management senior from Prairieville. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_dgraham.
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Contact Devin Graham at [email protected]