From the Economist: The rising cost of education and health care - excerpt: The Real Culprit (IMO) is the Federal government* that should subsidize under Mandatory Spending the cost of a post-secondary education. The US is still stuck in a hole having taken almost 60 years (beginning in the 19th century) to have states fund secondary-schooling. State-funding of tertiary-education still requires (on average) students to pay $14K annually on average. So why is it that only 45% of high-school graduates actually obtain a post-secondary degree? From the NCES here: And if your existence is anywhere below the Poverty Threshold ($24K annual earnings for a family of four), there is no way in heaven-or-hell you are likely to go on to a postsecondary educational degree (vocational, associates, bachelors, masters, doctorate) to get out. *In terms of Discretionary Spending, the Federal government spends just less than half the entire budget on the DoD (and has been doing so a great long time), with a measly 6% going to Education. (See here, if you don't believe it.