According to [1], the average cost of education has risen significantly faster than the CPI, not only the cost of top name universities with rare connections.
> [Since 2001], in-state tuition and fees at public National Universities have grown the most, increasing 212%.
while
> The total consumer price index inflation increased by around 50% from August 2000 to August 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
I guess I do think people paying for education are trying to buy something other than knowledge, even when it's not the ivy league. Perhaps more like trying to buy a position in society, an entry to a respectable white-collar career.
That would be why (in this theory of mine) it hasn't been disrupted by technology. The ability to impart knowledge to lots of people, in a way which was once only possible by gathering them in a room with a teacher, has indeed become cheap. But, as you say, this has not placed pressure on college tuition, as would happen in a more normal industry, which was actually selling what it says it's selling.
> [Since 2001], in-state tuition and fees at public National Universities have grown the most, increasing 212%.
while
> The total consumer price index inflation increased by around 50% from August 2000 to August 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
1: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-co...