I can just imagine Wild Willie's frugal brain saying, "What the f*@#?"

When I was trying to decide on where to go for college during my senior of high school, I had reached a point where I had wittled down my stack of acceptance letters to two--The University of Texas at Austin and Washington University in St. Louis. It was a difficult decision for me. I even resorted to picking names out of a hat during physics class once, as I recall. After really sitting down and discussing the issues with my dad in depth, we finally decided UT would be the best option. And it really had nothing to do with academics, per se, or the fact that three of my good friends were becoming Longhorns. It was all about money. Being a public institution, the tuition at UT was seven times less than what I would have had to pay at Wash U. I didn't want to bankrupt my dad trying to put me through college, and I didn't want to be saddled with that much debt either. I eventually only lasted two years at The University before the sheer size and chaos of the place compelled me to transfer out to a private school, but at least I got a bargain of an education for at least half of my undergraduate career.

I thought back to those days as I was reading this article in The New York Times about the rising costs of college tuition. Now we're all aware of the skyrocketing cost of obtaining a college degree, with the rise of tuition far outpacing the rate of inflation. But apparently, the perception that "what costs more must be better" has spilled into the realm of academia. Colleges are basing their tuition charges to match those of institutions they feel are on par with them. Places like the University of Notre Dame have increased their tuition rates to spruce up their academic image, instead of just being known for their football, working of the notion many prospective students perceive that if it costs as much as Harvard, it must be just as good.

This doesn't preclude students from attending these expensive universities, as financial aid has gone up, too. Unfortunately, as is typically the case in this free market economy, the middle class gets screwed. The poor become eligible for a large sum of aid, and the rich don't need financial assistance to begin with to pay for the hiked up costs. Much of the middle class, however, may earn just enough to make them ineligible for substantial financial aid, putting any dreams of attending their dream school out of reach.

No wonder our society has become so polarized.