MU's tuition: when will the madness end?

[GGGG]

All of this ignores the critical point that educational spending is increasing at a rate 1-2% higher than the rate of inflation.  While state direct funding is now "ONLY" about $1 Billion annually if increases had been more in line with inflation the states share would have remained stable.

The technology and energy explanation is spurious at best.  Even with energy costs doubling I doubt they are even 5-7% of total costs. 

You would have to really dig into the numbers to get the whole picture.  Some of the increases are due to dedicated funding sources...Professor Smith gets a research grant to fund his research.  However, salary compression is a big issue that a lot of small public schools face...Professor Anderson was hired in 1975 to teach accounting.  He got his nice 3-4% annual adjustments in salary, but now he's retiring and his replacement will cost $15,000 more.