Once the business world began using colleges as gatekeepers for good employment the ability of colleges to exploit students was inevitable. Break that connection and the cost of college will drop.
Tuition increases do not go to faculty pay. Some of it certainly goes to faculty health-care benefits, which in our case are very good. But we have had a very minor, virtual cost-of-living wage increase for the past 10 years.
On the other hand, new buildings are going up like crazy, cuz donors can put their names on buildings.
Track tuition inflation against any common commodity, the cost of a box of corn flakes, for example.
Anything between that steep rise in tuition and the more modest rise of a retail box of corn flakes is almost entirely due to the availability of easy loans and federal grant dollars.
Nobody but a fool leaves money on the table when it is there for the taking.
When the first number is low or near zero, the second number is always going to increase. If you are, say, paying 50% of salary for retirement of past employees, that means for every two employees which retires, you've taken up the entire salary of a new employee.
If there was but one law I'd put into place and enforce that would cease most of this insanity, it would be: No promise, commitment, nor contract shall have any binding obligation on a future elected body unless duly passed by the voters and the obligation duly funded by bonds issued.
But that's only part of the story why prices are skyrocketing. The second critical component to a marketplace is scarcity. The only scarcity in colleges today is seat space - student funding through irrevocable debt means only imaginary limits on the cost of college.
And while there is plenty of administrative bloat, almost always those who float that excuse are those looking for more money for their pet in the show.
People are more than welcome to pull up your local university's budget - you'll see line items - buildings and facilities, administration, personnel costs - but the buried ever increasing and growing line item is paying for past retirements.
Honestly, every single public employee - that is an employee paid fully or mostly from public funds, should be paid a flat wage - they are welcome to buy retirements or medical coverage or whatever they please with that money, with zero promise of any future money to add to it.
We've long ago run out of other people's money. The average educational institution is paying more today for past employees than they are paying for current payroll. It is the worst ponzi scheme, as this one, the only one who loses is the taxpayer when guys with guns show up to collect from you the money to pay others.
Another social distortion and leftist political advantage funded by cheap, unbacked money causing a huge increase in debt.
“The cost of college is skyrocketing—the average cost of attendance at a four-year public university has quadrupled over the past 35 years”
In private schools, the rise is similar. I started at Georgetown in 1979-80, and the tuition was $4,450/year. Now it is now a hair over $48,000. That’s about 11-fold in 37 years. Almost all colleges and universities, public or private, have followed this pattern.
The solution is simple:
1) Prosecute college officials nationwide for collusion to defraud the students and the federal government.
2) Decrease federal and state aid to college and grad students - massively.
3) Change the bankruptcy laws to allow student loans to be defaulted upon once again (as before 2005). Then banks will force students to a higher standard of proof that their intended course of study will actually produce some reasonable amount of income once they get out of school. No more $100,000+ student loans for Sociology majors who haven’t a snowball’s chance in Hell of paying it off.
4) Rinse, wash and repeat #1 about every 5 years.
Bump for later.
This is 100% accurate.
But what the article fails to point out is that many of these "administrative" positions with 6 figure salaries are because of Political Correctness and "Diversity."
Today, almost every college and university has a "Director of Diversity and Inclusion" - or some such laughable title. The job usually comes with a staff of flunkies.
These are people who are making six figures who are not qualified for any real job. They are a payoff to the race baiters and agitators.
When unlimited credit in the form of student loans is thrown at colleges, why would they leave any money on the table - prices always adjusts to what consumers can bear, and in this case, government intervention makes it unlimited.
Colleges in turn create exotic menu of liberal courses which on their own, can not financially stand on their own feet, but when pooled together with other bread and butter courses, they thrive and in the process bloat their budget. This is how liberal fat cats suck money from people and government.
And they still have not figured out that Obama’s college loans are funding the colleges thru the back door.
Bernie and clinton are promising free education dont worry
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