As concern over rapidly rising college costs and tuition sticker prices have increased, a variety of research has been conducted to determine potential causes. Most of this research has focused on factors unique to higher education. In contrast, cost disease theory attempts to create a comparative context to explain cost increases in higher education. The theory postulates that all heavily labor-intensive industries will experience faster than average cost increases, based on the limitations in leveraging technology to increase productivity. This research attempts to analyze the extent to which a cost disease affects college costs and tuition sticker prices in two distinct segments. First, trend analysis is used to analyze components of the higher education price index from 1961 through 2008 to assess the extent to which labor costs have driven higher education costs over time. Second, changes in higher education costs and tuition prices are compared against components of the Personal Consumption Index of the National Income and Product Accounts from 1961 through 2008 to determine the extent to which a cost disease differentially impacts labor intensive sectors of the economy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]