For the record, I’m not American nor live in the US, but I have a 19-year-old son who started attending the University of Chicago this year, studying economics. Just the tuition itself is $70k. My husband and I are lucky enough to be able to afford it - I still believe it’s an outrageous amount of money to attend college.
Because he wanted to go there & we can afford it. Plus it’s ranked as one of the best in the world for economics.
You just answered your own question to why it’s so expensive. While a community college is still overpriced nowadays, it would probably be 1/10th of the cost. But if you’re willing to pay 70k a year then obviously someone is willing to take that much money from you.