Are colleges just cashing in before the coming crash? The current system has produced a mountain of debt. It’s not sustainable.

The Daily Caller reports:

Public Colleges Keep Hiking Tuition Costs And Financial Aid Can’t Keep Up

Colleges keep hiking tuition costs and financial aid is not keeping up at a commensurate rate, according to studies released Wednesday.

College Board studies show that the net price paid by students for college — a price that accounts for financial aid and tax credits — rose during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, reported The Washington Post.

In-state public university students paid average tuition and fees of $9,970 in fall 2017, a 3.1 percent spike from fall 2016. When accounting for room and board, these students paid an average of $14,490. Living expenses amount to an average of $8,070.

“It’s true that some people can live at home and live off their parents, but a lot of students are independent and have to pay for their own housing and food,” said Jennifer Ma, a College Board policy research scientist and co-author of the reports obtained by WaPo. “If they are going to school full time, they often can’t work full time.”

But tuition and fees do not outpace financial aid at private colleges because these schools set an artificially high price on tuition before giving large discounts to entice prospective students. Private colleges use approximately half of student tuition dollars for financial aid, according to a report from the National Association of College and University Business Officers.