Why has this happened? The answer is simple: outside (third party) money made it possible. The biggest culprit nationally has been the explosion of federal student assistance in the form of grants but most importantly loans. The higher tuition fees that occurred has funded all sorts of things at the periphery of learning more than learning itself. Presidential candidates seem to try to outbid each other throwing more money at higher education (“free college”), rather than reforming a system that is highly inefficient, with few incentives to achieve excellence and efficiency.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2019/12/09/students-love-their-professors-but-not-academic-bureaucrats/#e61142660577
