The New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonpartisan consumer group, estimates that adjusting for inflation, fees at SUNY increased almost 100percentt from 1990 to 2000.
Many have seen returns on savings, C.D.'s and government bonds drop to niggling amounts recently, often costing them money once inflation, fees and taxes are considered.
But after a decade of above-inflation fee increases, even the most price-insensitive parents must be feeling a little numb.
The BBC's internal specialist factual departments bore the brunt of cuts introduced by director general Mark Thompson to plug a claimed £2bn black hole in the wake of a below inflation licence fee settlement.
In a period of low inflation, the fees charged by hedge-fund managers absorb a large proportion of nominal returns.
The corporation's news department is likely to face more budget cuts later this year as a result of the BBC's below-inflation licence fee settlement.
Following the corporation's below-inflation licence fee settlement, it is down to her and director general Mark Thompson to make the figures add up.
That 3 percent return includes projections on performance of many types of investments but also assumptions on tax rates, inflation and fees — both theirs and those of the outside managers they use.
A decision is expected this autumn on where cuts will fall following the below-inflation licence fee deal, a process likely to shed hundreds of jobs on top of the 4,000 losses announced since 2005.
"For them to believe that a 4percentt payout will likely wipe out the trust's purchasing power, that means that they believe that they can't earn a yearly gross return of 7.5percentt before you take out for inflation and fees," he said.
To propose a short-term, piecemeal approach that may need several referendums over the next decade may look less expensive, but given rising costs, inflation, planning fees and less state aid, it could be much more expensive for both our current and future senior citizens.
