单选题 For college students and their parents, the steady high tuition prices in recent decades has been not only troubling but mysterious: why on earth is tuition inflation double the general inflation rate? What"s behind these huge tuition bills: Less public funding? The cost of acquiring real estate?
Over the last two decades, colleges and universities doubled their full-time support staff while enrollment increased only 40 percent, according to a new analysis of government data by the Center for College Afford-ability and Productivity. During the same period, the staff of full-time instructors, or equivalent personnel, rose about 50 percent, while the number of managers increased slightly more than 50 percent. The data, based on United States Department of Education filings from more than 2,782 colleges, come from 1987 to 2007.
Neither the report nor outside experts on college affordability went so far as to argue that the increase in support staff was directly responsible for spiraling tuition. Most experts say that the largest driver of tuition increases has been the decline in state financing for higher eduction. Still, the data findings raise concerns about administrative bloat (膨胀). "On a case-by-case basis, many of these hiring decisions might be good ones, but over all, it"s not a sustainable trend," said Pat Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The growth in support staff included some jobs that did not exist 20 years ago, like environmental sustainability officers and a broad array of information technology workers. The support staff category includes many different jobs, like residential-life staff, admissions and recruitment officers, fund-raisers, loan counselors and all the back-office staff positions responsible for complying with the new regulations. "A lot of it is definitely trying to keep up with the Joneses," said Daniel Bennett, a labor economist, "Universities and colleges are catering more to students, trying to make college a lifestyle, not just people getting an education. There"s more social programs, more athletics, more trainers, more sustainable environmental programs."
In the 20-year period, the report found, the greatest number of jobs added, more than 630,000, were instructors—but three-quarters of those were part-time. Converted to full-time equivalents, those resulted in a total of 939,000 teaching jobs, up from 641,000 in 1987. "Colleges have altered the composition of their work force by steadily increasing the number of managerial positions and support or service staff, while at the same time disproportionately increasing the number of part-time staff that provides instruction," the report said, "meanwhile, employee productivity relative to enrollment and degrees awarded has been relatively flat in the midst of rising compensation."

单选题 According to the passage, what is the main cause of high tuition prices?

单选题 Which of the following is TRUE about the data findings from the report?

单选题 From the passage we can learn that ______.

单选题 What does Daniel Bennett mean by saying "A lot of it is definitely trying to keep up with the Joneses" (Lines 5～6, Para. 4)?

单选题 What does the increasing of support stuff result in?