Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> Carey Fisher wrote:
>
>   
>> With more people being able to afford to go to college because of the
>> lottery, the cost of college has gone way up for everyone (the immutable
>> law of supply and demand).  
>>     
>
> I think you may be confusing cost and price here. (The difference between
> the two is the profit.) The "immutable law" (is there such a thing? but
> that's a different issue) says that the /price/ will go up if the demand
> increases, not the cost. And often the cost goes /down/ with increased
> production (which may or may not apply to colleges).
I'm not confusing anything.  Here, I'm speaking of the cost to the 
student which is the price the college charges.
And the cost to the student is going up because there are more dollars 
chasing a (relatively) fixed
supply of college (facilities, professors, etc).  The supply is going 
up, thus increased cost to the taxpayer,
but relatively slowly compared to the rate of increase of demand.
>> And since part of the colleges costs is borne by the taxpayer, our taxes
>> are going up.
>>     
>
> Given the above, it's not clear to me whether you were talking about price
> or cost here.
>
>   
With the increase in college enrollment, the colleges are hiring more 
faculty and building new facilities.
So the cost to the taxpayer is going up also. (Here I'm speaking of the 
cost to the taxpayer, which in a way,
is the price the government charges for its services.)

> I also think that a reasonable free market is a precondition for this
> "law". If you're talking about community colleges (as you seem to be doing, 
> at least in this sentence), is this still given?
>   
No, I'm talking about any public college in the state - a public college 
is one that is governed by a Board
("The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia", members are 
appointed by the Governor of Georgia)
that is part of the state government and receives a large portion of its 
operating funds from taxes paid to the state by taxpayers.  The
state has 35 public colleges and universities comprising 4 research 
universities, 2 regional universities, 13 state universities,
4 state colleges, and 12 two-year colleges, 1/4 million students, 10,000 
faculty.

It's true that the state Board sets tuition but they are not blind to 
the increased demand.  It seems they are following
the law of S&D in raising "prices" in response to more dollars being 
available.

> Gerhard
>
>   
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