Despite a struggling economy and increasing pressure on colleges to make higher education more affordable, college tuition increased faster than inflation this year, according to College Board figures.

Tuition at private institutions increased by 5.9 percent over the past year, according to figures released Oct. 29.

Outside fees, like the cost of information technology, energy, library materials, health care and other forms of insurance, are mostly to blame for driving up the price of college tuition each year, said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a consortium of private colleges.

Still, Pals said the increases are necessary to maintain the quality of many private institutions.

‘If institutions were to keep tuition increases to 2 to 3 percent a year, the impact on education quality would be devastating,’ he said. ‘Schools simply do not have enough money coming in to provide classroom experience that students expect.’

College Parents of America President Jim Boyle said the rise in college tuition has remained consistent over the past 20 years in both good and bad economic times, a trend that hurts middle class families.

‘College costs have increased to the point where it is almost impossible for a family to put their child [through] college without incurring some form of debt,’ he said.

Boyle said schools continue to pay professors more each year, including tenured professors, which he said add the least value to the undergraduate experience.

‘Most businesses, when they look at their budget, look at revenues and costs, and if they are not making a profit, they figure out how they can hold down their costs and sell goods and services for highest price,’ Boyle said. ‘[Colleges] do a terrible job and raise costs.’

The added debt has a ‘chilling effect’ on students seeking to attend college, Boyle said. He estimated a family earning $60,000 or less spends up to half of its money on college costs.

Public colleges and universities also increased tuition overall this year, though not as drastically as private schools did. University of Massachusetts-Amherst spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said university trustees approved a 3.1 percent tuition increase for the state university’s 2008-2009 academic year, an figure slightly below the inflation rate for the past five years.

‘We try to moderate as best we can, knowing that its important to invest in institution and provide for faculty so students get the education they expect and deserve,’ he said.