Much more pertinent, as the President has noted, “It’s not enough just to increase student aid; we’ve also got to stop subsidizing skyrocketing tuition.” There’s no question that federal policy has contributed to tuition increasing at double the rate of inflation over the past 20 years. Federal spending on higher education increased nearly 400% in real dollars from 1985 to 2010 – all of which bolstered college and university budgets and supported exorbitant tuition increases.