The headline on Jay Hancock’s December 10, 2007 blog for The Baltimore Sun reported: “Harvard Uses $35 Billion Endowment to Cut Tuition.” By way of Bloomberg, Hancock went on to say that,

“These families [making 120k to 180k] will pay just 10 percent of their yearly earnings to send a child to Harvard, the Cambridge, Massachusetts university said today. The payments decline on a sliding scale, with those making less than $60,000 attending for free. The school also eliminated student loans, saying students will get additional grants as needed.”

The Boston Globe reports that Harvard intends to continue its 2007 financial aid initiative, despite suffering a decline in its endowment (see March 16th issue of Forbes). Without such resources, however, judging from anecdotal conversations we’ve had with other educators and various school trustees, there is palpable fear when it comes to affordability issues in this brave, new economy. And worry they should, for educational costs have skyrocketed over the past quarter century, far in excess of normal inflation.

To wit, the following exhibit comes from an ongoing examination of tuitions by a lifelong friend of mine, who will remain unnamed by request—I trailed a year behind him in our academic journey through the same private elementary, secondary and collegiate institutions. Being quite a bit brighter, he later attended a well-regarded business school. The following figures are presented three ways—Tuition of the Day (way back when), Yesterday’s Tuition, Adjusted for Inflation (what it should be), and the Actual Tuition Today:

*Compounded rate of inflation for the period from prior year through February 2009.
—Geordie French