Recently there has been a great deal of discussion about the rising costs of higher education and the crushing burden placed on graduates in repaying their student loans. Various solutions have been suggested and a recent case in point is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pledge to provide free tuition at public colleges in New York state.

Coupled with free tuition, in the governor’s budget message was a threat to withhold offering TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) to students attending private colleges that had tuition increases above $500 or the annual increase in the Higher Education Price Index, whichever is greater.

The cost of higher education, at both public and private schools has shot out of sight in the last 30 years. These rising costs have put a strain on both students and their parents so the governor’s free tuition proposal sounds good to many.

The real issue is that the entire cost of higher education has gotten totally out of hand in the years since the rush to college by the children of GI Bill educated parents began in the 1960s. As college loans became more widely available and the money came pouring in, colleges were able to hire more faculty, build more impressive academic and athletic facilities and better student housing.

These amenities enhanced the ability of private and public colleges to compete for students and through the years if an increase in cash flow was needed the schools could increase tuition, room and board or fees and nary a word of complaint was heard from students or their parents because they had been sold on the necessity of a college degree as a prerequisite for success in life.

However, by early in the current century it appears that many colleges had lost touch with reality and were now in danger of pricing parents and students out of the college market. From August 2003 to August 2013 college costs rose by 79.5 percent compared to increases in medical care of 43.1 percent, in food and beverages of 31.2 percent, and in housing of 31.2 percent. Forbes magazine pointed out in a 2012 article that since 1985 while the overall consumer price index had risen by 115 percent the college cost inflation rate had risen by nearly 500 percent. The same study pointed out that between 2003 and 2012 family income fell with current evidence indicating family income is stagnate at best.

A major culprit in rising college costs is the increasing cost of administration. Forbes Magazine indicated that, between 1993 and 2007 while total university expenses rose by 35 percent, administrative expense rose by 61 percent. According to a 2010 Goldwater Institute study, colleges and universities have increased administrative staffs while often decreasing the number of professors.

Rising costs have begun to have a negative impact on college enrollment in recent years. Nationally, since reaching a peak in 2010 the total number of college students had fallen by 812,069 students nationally in 2014. Falling enrollment at community colleges and four-year colleges in the SUNY system is reflected in figures available on its own website. After reaching a peak of 249,343 students in 2010 community college enrollment fell to 222,998 in 2015. At four-year colleges in the SUNY system enrollment has fallen from a peak of 94,024 in 2009 to 87,764 in 2015.

What about the governor’s plan for free tuition? First, because SUNY colleges can’t print money and its unlikely that staff and faculties will work for little or nothing, someone will have to pay for that free tuition. That someone will be you and I, the already overburdened and much disrespected taxpayers of New York state. Meanwhile students will still be faced with steep payments for room and board and other fees and still faced with loan repayments. Of course until reality hits the governor will be a hero to many.

What the governor is really up to is to make SUNY more viable and attractive to students through free tuition while at the same time making private colleges less attractive to students by withholding TAP at those private colleges that raise tuition higher that what “King” Andrew deems proper. What a mind the governor has, someday he should put it to some worthwhile use.

The way to solve the problem of college costs is for public and private education to begin living in the real world and get a grip on ever escalating college costs that threaten to condemn many graduates to years of college loan repayment while weakening the economy.

If colleges and universities continue on their current course they will force many potential students out of the market. Eventually we may have a higher education landscape marked by shuttered colleges and universities and decaying abandoned campuses.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com