I don’t disagree, but the article isn’t talking about for-profit universities. Private and for-profit are not the same thing (though it doesn’t go out of its way to point out the difference). Most private universities in the US are nonprofit. From the article:
There are about 3,700 two- and four-year public and private degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. That’s already down from a peak of 4,726 in 2012. Almost all that have closed since then were private, for-profit schools, which enjoyed a brief boom before crashing under the weight of consumer discontent and increased regulation.
Many converging reasons explain why private, nonprofit colleges and universities, too, are now under existential strain.
None of that changes the fact that tuition is so absurdly out of control that it certainly feels like a scam. There are a ton of reasons for these rising costs. But for most schools, profit actually isn’t the reason.
There are a ton of reasons for these rising costs.
I know people who study this specifically and I’ve learned a lot from them that has informed my own policies.
The most significant reason is that, in the 80s, we all elected to collectively abandon the social contract and defund education at the state level to move the burden to the individual student.
The truth is the one most important reason for this phenomenon is that we, as a society, do not value education. (Well, ymmv, I’m in the US.)
The fuck you mean tons of reasons. It’s administrator pay. At some point universities decided they needed to pay CEO salaries to “attract the best talent”, which just means giving the dean or whatever everyone’s tuition money. Many of them get paid tens of millions a year while grad students barely survive and professors spend most of their time applying for grants and still making much less than they could in industry. Basically everything bad in our society is caused by some greedy leech cunt stealing from normal people.
Administrative cost is certainly part of it. That’s not just higher salaries, but the size of administrations as more positions are added to fill different roles. But honestly that’s not even the biggest factor, especially for these small to mid size private schools that are on the chopping block. Those administrators aren’t making millions.
The biggest factor as another commenter already pointed out is the elimination or reduction of state support, shifting the burden to the student. You may ask how this applies to private schools. True, they have never received operational support like public universities. But they have historically received state funded research grants, tax exemptions, subsidies, land, etc., not to mention the students who receive government funded tuition grants. All of that government support has been reduced or eliminated over the years, and the burden has shifted to the student.
Another huge factor is the fact that there is no bankruptcy for student loans. This means lenders have no problem lending ridiculous amounts of money to kids who can’t even legally buy a beer. When there’s no limit to how much can be borrowed, it incentivizes schools to raise the cost simply because they can.
A huge factor that isn’t discussed openly very often is the fact that higher tuition allows schools to shape their student body the way they want. They can offer assistance to the students they want most that way and weed out unremarkable ones. They can attract some of the best and brightest, and the rest of the students are basically footing the bill for them.
Another big factor is the campus expansion and renovation projects that are constantly happening to attract students. The infamous “lazy river” projects and other luxuries designed to attract students so they can compete with other schools but drive up the price tag. State of the art stadiums, gyms, dining, maker spaces, etc. all costs money. The amenities that are standard today would never have been dreamed of 25 years ago.
Anyway, these are some of the ones off the top of my head. I know there’s more. Yes administrative cost is part of it, and yes you should be mad that the tuition is so out of control, but to boil it down to greedy administrators doesn’t really capture the majority of the problem.
Ain’t that the fuckin truth. Greedy fucking leeches stealing from the worker. I’m sure there’s a cartoon somewhere with a dude covered in leeches that have all the block sucking middle men on them. Insurance companies, car dealerships, etc etc
I have a wild idea, bear with me, maybe education shouldn’t be a profit-making industry.
I don’t disagree, but the article isn’t talking about for-profit universities. Private and for-profit are not the same thing (though it doesn’t go out of its way to point out the difference). Most private universities in the US are nonprofit. From the article:
None of that changes the fact that tuition is so absurdly out of control that it certainly feels like a scam. There are a ton of reasons for these rising costs. But for most schools, profit actually isn’t the reason.
I know people who study this specifically and I’ve learned a lot from them that has informed my own policies.
The most significant reason is that, in the 80s, we all elected to collectively abandon the social contract and defund education at the state level to move the burden to the individual student.
The truth is the one most important reason for this phenomenon is that we, as a society, do not value education. (Well, ymmv, I’m in the US.)
The fuck you mean tons of reasons. It’s administrator pay. At some point universities decided they needed to pay CEO salaries to “attract the best talent”, which just means giving the dean or whatever everyone’s tuition money. Many of them get paid tens of millions a year while grad students barely survive and professors spend most of their time applying for grants and still making much less than they could in industry. Basically everything bad in our society is caused by some greedy leech cunt stealing from normal people.
Administrative cost is certainly part of it. That’s not just higher salaries, but the size of administrations as more positions are added to fill different roles. But honestly that’s not even the biggest factor, especially for these small to mid size private schools that are on the chopping block. Those administrators aren’t making millions.
The biggest factor as another commenter already pointed out is the elimination or reduction of state support, shifting the burden to the student. You may ask how this applies to private schools. True, they have never received operational support like public universities. But they have historically received state funded research grants, tax exemptions, subsidies, land, etc., not to mention the students who receive government funded tuition grants. All of that government support has been reduced or eliminated over the years, and the burden has shifted to the student.
Another huge factor is the fact that there is no bankruptcy for student loans. This means lenders have no problem lending ridiculous amounts of money to kids who can’t even legally buy a beer. When there’s no limit to how much can be borrowed, it incentivizes schools to raise the cost simply because they can.
A huge factor that isn’t discussed openly very often is the fact that higher tuition allows schools to shape their student body the way they want. They can offer assistance to the students they want most that way and weed out unremarkable ones. They can attract some of the best and brightest, and the rest of the students are basically footing the bill for them.
Another big factor is the campus expansion and renovation projects that are constantly happening to attract students. The infamous “lazy river” projects and other luxuries designed to attract students so they can compete with other schools but drive up the price tag. State of the art stadiums, gyms, dining, maker spaces, etc. all costs money. The amenities that are standard today would never have been dreamed of 25 years ago.
Anyway, these are some of the ones off the top of my head. I know there’s more. Yes administrative cost is part of it, and yes you should be mad that the tuition is so out of control, but to boil it down to greedy administrators doesn’t really capture the majority of the problem.
Ain’t that the fuckin truth. Greedy fucking leeches stealing from the worker. I’m sure there’s a cartoon somewhere with a dude covered in leeches that have all the block sucking middle men on them. Insurance companies, car dealerships, etc etc
Fair enough! I definitely didn’t think much when I made my comment, I was just angry.
I guess it’s really only a matter of profits vs. making an already massive endowment even larger.
The end result for students isn’t really that much different.
If they had massive endowments they would not be on the chopping block.
Small, private colleges rarely have the money that people seem to think.