Not sure whether your comment was sincere or sarcastic, but . . .
Not all degrees are created equal in terms of cost. There’s way more to some courses of study than lectures from profs.
Providing the necessary facilities, equipment, and expertise to educate scientists and engineers requires more than books, profs, and a classroom like, for example, a degree in English or psychology or history.
Yes, this is true, but this doesn't explain the continuous rise in tuition, especially at Universities with very large endowments. Regarding scientific training, this is a big problem, IMHO. A significant amount of taxpayer-derived federal research funding is going to pay for foreign trainees (e.g. postdoctoral research fellows from Europe and Asia training in US labs), and not enough US students are pursuing scientific careers.
There are many reasons for this, and it's not a simple fix. I would, however, limit the percentage of federal grant money that can be used to hire/train non-US citizens. This is not meant to be anti-foreign trainee. It's just a practical issue in that we need to do a better job attracting and keeping capable US citizens in scientific careers. It is, to some extent, a matter of national security.