BOULDER, Colo. (U-WIRE) ÷ Rising tuition prices are leaving the nation's higher education institutions in a state of crisis, according to a report released last week by Congressional GOP education committee leaders.

But budget officials at the University of Colorado system responded that tuition decisions are not made in a "vacuum" and go through "accountability," adding that higher education has less value today than it did 10 years ago.

The 22-page report, introduced by the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner, R-Ohio, and 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., states that decades of cost increases threatens to put higher education out of reach for many middle and low income families.

Steve Golding, vice president for budget and finance for the CU system, said the university is already fully accountable to the State Legislature and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.