Transformation 101  Technology is driving down the cost of
teaching undergraduates. So why are tuition bills going up?  By
Kevin Carey  Bookmark and Share  On August 6, 2008, the
Washington Post reported that tuition and fees at public
colleges in Virginia will increase by an average of 7.3 percent
this year. The article was four sentences long and ran in the
Metro section, below the fold, in space reserved for
unremarkable news. The drumbeat of higher education price
increases has become so steady in recent years that it barely
merits attention. But the cumulative effect is enormous: the
average price of attending a public university more than doubled
over the last two decades, even after adjusting for inflation.
The steepest increases came in the last five years.  And there’s
nothing routine about the way college costs are weighing down
lower- and middle-income families. Students are still going to
college—in this day and age, what choice do they have? But some
are getting priced out of the four-year sector