Why has college tuition been rising so high and fast? Will college costs ever drop back to more affordable levels? According to a report issued by the Delta Cost Project, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.:

• The main reason tuition has been rising faster than college costs is that colleges had to make up for reductions in the per-student subsidy state taxpayers sent colleges.

• Big private universities, powered by tuition and endowment increases, have increased spending dramatically while public schools have languished.

• Public universities have been reining in overall spending per student in recent years.

• Increases in spending were driven mostly by higher administration, maintenance, and student services costs.

More about the Delta Projects report featured in U.S. News and World Report.

For a look at rising tuition costs in Washington State, check out EOI’s latest report: Losing By Degrees, or read the blogged excerpts: part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here.