A. Market Basket

     Do a market basket survey of groceries and supermarkets that students patronize. This list contains 39 items. You may want to add some. Reach general conclusions on the basis of your survey.

B. Costs

     In 1979, high school students from homes with incomes at the top 25 percent were "four times as likely to attend college as those from the poorest 25 percent," reports Jennifer Washburn of the New America Foundation. Fifteen years later, she says, "they were ten times as likely."
     One of the reasons for the shift "is the skyrocketing cost of college." Over the past decade alone, tuition has increased 40 percent. Especially hard hit, she says, are students who attend the public colleges and universities; they represent 80 percent of the country's students. The cost to a low-income family of sending a son or daughter to a four-year public institution rose from 13 percent of family income in 1980 to 25 percent 20 years later.
     What is the reason for the increase in the cost of college? Some experts contend that cuts in state support is the major cause. Deprived of sufficient appropriations, the college shifts the burden to students through tuition hikes. Others say administrative costs have been a factor.
     What has been the pattern of tuition costs over the past 20 years at your school, and how has this affected enrollment? What do campus and state officials say is the cause of the tuition increases?