why is college so expensive?

[The Poet]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

I would disagree with you. Salaries at public universities are available for some states per FOIA:

You may disagree all you wish, and you may even be correct. However, one cannot within reason compare (for instance) the salary of a renowned research scientist in charge of a cutting edge lab at Illinois or UCLA with a professor of sociology at Podunk College . . . and there are a LOT more of the latter than the former. The initial question was regarding the cost of a college education in general, with an inquiry about how salaries affect the expense. The aforesaid researcher may indeed earn (and I do mean EARN) $200K, while he is leading to discoveries which others without his skills or knowledge will make billions.