Math PhDs are usually paid stipend and pay no tuition, so each additional student is a cost to the school.

And they are primarily funded by outside, usually government, money that professors bring in through grants etc. If government doesn’t fund the professors, they can’t pay grad students. If they can’t pay grad students, then the university has to pay them directly from its own money, but the university can only pay so many grad students.

Through this whole thread, this is really the answer. Students don't just pay their own way. And the model isn't that universities give scholarships to PhD students. PhD students either get TAships (that are paid by the department) or RAships (paid by the professor through their research grants). If the school is losing (or at risk of losing) research grants then the first and easiest thing to go is grad students.

This isn't about administrative bloat or any of that other stuff. It's purely the model to fund grad students is being choked and this is one of the few levers programs have to adjust to it.

I agree with you about the excesses of university luxury, but the fact that it's just teachers and students is what makes it expensive in fact.

As technology and labor-saving devices make everything more productive, human labor gets relatively more expensive over time. It's more expensive than it was 30 years ago, much more than 60 years ago.

Any business that relies on specifically human labor that can't be automated has more and more trouble being profitable, at least at prices that any but the rich can afford.

The excesses of luxury at universities are for the purposes of attracting sources of revenue - undergraduate students.

indeed! And rich ones especially, as they are the only ones who can afford it without a discount...

I don't think it's actually the luxuries that cause the high price though, I think it's the increased relative expense of human labor, as above. Is my hypothesis anyway.

> Their acceptance rate is in the 25% range. Clearly the demand is there, so why is there a "fiscal situation"?

They are projecting multiple years of declining federal investment in education and research which made up an important portion of their budgets.

They also would rather cut or shrink classes / labs, etc. than loosen academic or admissions standards because their institutional reputation is very important and decided by such things.

> You don't need Waygu beef and massages in order to teach students.

I went to one of the top (and most expensive) schools in the US. I never once saw Wagyu beef or massages offered to students.

The fiscal situation, again, is because of increasing government clampdown on academia. The Trump admin just a few days ago circulated a "compact" it wants universities to sign which would mandate all science degrees be tuition free and int'l student admissions be capped at 15% of the whole student body. Such dramatic lurches and demands can be hurled any time by this admin so schools cannot afford to be caught off guard anymore

You forgot about administrators, who are climbing in number relative to the number of students for no good reason.

Prove it.

For your convenience, here's a link to a conversation started by someone else saying the same thing & then actually providing sources (that don't necessarily support their claim): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45466504