Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos earlier this year testified before a U.S. Senate committee and cited a rather compelling, if somewhat surprising, fact: the cost of complying with federal regulations "equates to approximately $11,000 in additional tuition per year" for students.
The math was simple: $146 million in compliance costs in 2013 divided by some 12,800 students equals about $11,000 per student.
Yet perhaps it was too simple, as the figure snowballed into an arguably misleading message about the cost of compliance, which is being debated as lawmakers in Washington consider renewing the Higher Education Act and possibly loosening regulations to ease the perceived cost burden on colleges and universities.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/03/vanderbilt-university-weighs-its-controversial-compliance-costs-report