The big word among many politicians (especially during the 80s - current) is deregulation.  Let the market take care of it and don't put any government intervention in place.   The market will always provide the best solution in a capitalist society.  I disagree with this train of thought and many industries have proved the point.  I understand there can't be government red tape all over the place but there needs to be some protection for consumers.

I want to bring up deregulation of universities which happened in Texas.  It was said that if the universities were deregulated then tuition rates would drop (many politicians backed this idea).  What happened?  Interesting enough tuition rates increased far more than ever before...

"Tuition at Texas universities rose 58 percent between 2003, when schools were first allowed to set their own rates"

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/As-Texas-public-college-tuition-rises-1773092.php

Now, let us view the credit card industry.  The credit card industry with their heavy lobbying avoided any meaningful regulation until recently with the financial meltdown.  With little regulation what did the credit card industry do?  They promoted temporary 0% interest for 6-12 months which seems like a pretty good deal for consumers...  However, they raised their over-the-limit fees, practiced unfair billing techniques (sent bills out late in mail with due dates very close to when received the bill in the mail), raised interest rates without little warning, etc....

I can keep going if you want but I will let others bring up more valid points.  I am not here to say that every industry needs heavy regulation.  The point I am trying to make is that by promoting total deregulation sets that sector up to abusive practices. 

are the fees rising because of deregulation or some other factor? I know in ca college fees have gone up every year for years now. Not sure the exact percentage in crease but here are some articles on it.

http://news.change.org/stories/uc-students-rally-against-tuition-increases
"What's behind this campaign? A request from the University of California to the Board of Regents to increase tuition for students another eight percent (fees increased 32 percent last year) to more than $11,000. Similar tuition increases for students in the Cal State education system are also in the works. Tuition (also called "fees") doesn't cover the other costs of room, board and books that families pay for higher education (UC Berkeley has the second-highest cost for room and board of any institutions, public or private, the Los Angeles Times editorial board has reported)."

Fees are always rising (inflation).  However, after deregulation of universities in Texas the tuition rate has jumped far more each year than before deregulation.

yes, but the same can be said for ca in the last decade. fees have risen far more than in previous years. So is it a cause of deregulation or something that is just affecting all universities? how many states have universities with rising fees and how fast are they rising?

Hmm not too sure.. College tuition rates have outpaced inflation in most states to my knowledge.  I am not sure if California deregulated their universities.  However, didn't California deregulate their energy during the early/mid 2000s?  Isn't that when Enron raped your state?