When students first begin college, many have the new responsibility of paying their bills. These bills can include car payments, insurance, cell phone payments and also paying for college.

While many of these bills will remain consistent from year to year, this doesn’t hold true for college tuition. With each new school year comes the shock most students feel when they see how much tuition has risen from the previous year. Many are then left wondering not only how they are going to pay the bill, especially if they have to complete an unpaid college internship, but also why college tuition has risen once again.

College tuition increases each year because of many factors. Maybe your university is renovating part of campus or is putting up a new building. If this is the case, part of the cost of these projects are often times passed onto students through activity fees and other tuition fees.

College campuses experience increased upkeep costs from year to year and have to come up with the funds to cover these costs so they can, in turn, charge more for college tuition. It also costs more to attend prestigious universities, so if your university has experienced an increased rank or has switched sporting divisions, there is also a chance that tuition will increase in response to these changes.

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By David D M

If you are among the post-recession cynics who think a college degree is an expensive, but worthless, piece of paper, here’s some food for thought.

In 2009, the unemployment rate was the lowest for those who held a professional degree, at 2.3 percent, while it was the highest (14.6%) for individuals whose educational qualification was less than a high school diploma. (bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm)

If that doesn’t convince you of the importance of education, here are some more numbers to do the talking.

The average weekly earnings of a high school graduate in 2009 were $626, which was $135 less than the weekly wages of professionals who held an Associate’s degree, $399 less than those who had a Bachelor’s degree, and a whopping $631 less than those who had a Master’s degree. (bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm)

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