Mostly admin costs and vanity construction projects. Spending on administration has doubled as a percentage of college expenditures, while spending on direct education such as instructor salaries has fallen by almost 50%. Some colleges now spend twice as much on admin as on academics. Every college now has its presidents, vice-presidents, deans, and sports coaches each getting a million dollars or more in compensation, and each requiring their own expensive staff, and each pushing for cushy sinecures for their friends and acquaintances.

Realistically, for the tuition charged nowadays by a typical American private university, a half-dozen students could pool their money and hire a world class specialist to personally tutor their small group full time.