It costs an arm and a leg to go to college these days, and when students graduate they are saddled with debt that will take them years and years to pay off.

The cost of a college education is increasing about  8 times faster than wages.  

Total student debt has seen cumulative growth of roughly 157% in the past 11 years, with $1.5 trillion now outstanding, the second-most of any consumer-debt segment, trailing only mortgages, 13D Research reported.  

The average annual cost for the 2015-2016 academic year was more than $19,000 for a public four-year university, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. For a private university, it is $40,000 annually for tuition, fees, room and board.

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Because this debt is surpassing wages, many borrowers are having a hard time paying it back. More than one in 10 borrowers are at least 90 days delinquent. This could ultimately lead to another financial crisis for the U.S.

But have you ever wondered just why higher education costs so much?

Federal money for schools is decreasing, so schools have to look elsewhere — student’s pockets. Between 2008 and 2017, overall state funding for public colleges fell $9 billion dollars. In nine states, per-student spending fell by 30 percent or more, 13 D Research reported.

Tenured professors are making more money. The average salary for a full professor at a top public institution has risen 12 percent in excess of inflation since 2000, according to the American Association of University Professors. However, many universities have cut back on the number of full professors on staff, opting for part-time professors.

Yet administrative staff (this includes fundraisers, financial aid advisors, and global recruitment staff) have grown by 60 percent. This is 10 times the rate of growth of tenured faculty positions. The more staff, the more salaries there are to be paid.

At the top of the staff salary ladder is the university president. As of 2015, average pay for private-college presidents in the U.S. surpassed $550,000, with 58 presidents taking home more than $1 million a year, 13D Research reported.

Another major expense is construction. In 2017 alone U.S. universities and colleges spent $11.5 billion on construction — an all-time high, according to Dodge Data & Analytics.

Public colleges and universities are also in debt, which has more than doubled since the recession, reaching about $150 billion. Meanwhile, private colleges and universities are $95 billion in debt.

The cost of college textbooks in the U.S. has risen faster than the cost of healthcare, house prices, and inflation.

— Unknown Facts (@InterestingAhaa) November 26, 2018