From The New York Times: As income inequality has increased in the United States over the last decade, so too has the gap between rich and poor colleges and universities. A new report, “Trends in College Spending,” found that between 1999 and 2009, private research universities that enroll about 1.1 million students increased their education-related spending per student by about $7,500, to almost $36,000. But in that same period, at public community colleges that enroll 6.7 million students, education-related spending stayed nearly flat, at slightly more than $10,000 per student.