The Surprising Causes of Those College Tuition Hikes
A new report finds that much of that money does not go directly toward educating students
Reader Comments
This is the result of
colleges being run on a business model and shouldn't be a surprise. I am glad to see the myth debunked clearly here that increased loans and grants are somehow pushing up the costs of tuition. Thirty years ago 75% of tuitions were covered by state loans or grants. now it's less than 50%. As this article points out, the DECREASE in student aid has actually pushed up costs.
Administrative parasites
Simply check the ratio between teaching faculty and administrators at your chosen school. Note that, as in the case with our university, the number of "Ceans", "Directors" and "Heads" outnumber the faculty (all are provided with a "staff" and office). The colleges and universities have become a rich feeding ground for bureaucratic parasites, who neither teach nor learn. We even have an "Assistant Sports Information Director" (comes complete with staff and office)! I'm tired of parents whining about costs who never check into the way their school is spending their money. If you choose to be a Sheep then don't complain about being sheared..
robber barons in mortarboards
Colleges force undergraduates to disclose every penny their families have. They then jack up the sticker price to outrageous levels. The system is designed to extract every last penny from families' pockets to fund the ever-growing array of gravy trains that have little to to with teaching undergraduates and everything to do with expensive management perks.
What a scam!
Fixed Tuitions
In going through my Bachelors program it was always my belief that most colleges had some type of fixed tuition policy like a local college out here in TN, Nossi College of Art. However, it appears that is not the case; especially after reading this article. Most understand that most colleges are for-profit for somebody other than teachers and students, but come on! We wonder why nations in Communist societies out rank us in everything eduction, its because we forget that life isn't only about money but the process of learning something that we love and can possibly change the world. I am a firm believer in a fixed tuition policy at least, that keeps college from seeming like the stock market and give students (and parents) piece of mind when it comes to the true cost.
Sate legislature apportions of college/educational costs
States which have lotteries and claim they give large amounts of lottery income to educational institutions e.g. FLA which advertises on BILLBOARDS ALONG its highways that it has given $18 BILLION IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS FROM THE LOTTERY to education- should also tell us how much they reduced the appropriations otherwise to have been paid by the amounts that came from the lottery money. A very deceptive practice as usual from politicians and their dishonest use of our money!! Appropriation money is reduced by the amount provided by lottery money; appropriation money is not SUPPLEMENTEED by lottery money though legislators deny this. What was the movie: LIAR, LIAR. It also happened in PA, my home state, by reducing university appropriations by the amount of Endowment Foudations our state-owned university system institutions raised from contributors. It has since I left in 1997 stopped happening I am told. Can your agency look into these kinds of things?
Tuitioning has become entirely commercial
Tuitioning has become entirely commercial. Home tuition Education is a big business these days. People happily afford extra tuition fees in the hope of better careers for their children. Tuition proved recession proof business due to ever increasing need. http://www.tuitionacademylahore.co.cc/tuition_academy_lahore.htm
college tuition
why is it that tuition rates are inflating and making it more and more impossible for people to to go college. Where does that leave hope for people. When the cost of going to college surpasses a parents income, that leaves them to borrow. Then if they borrow, their left paying debt for the rest of their lives. Why cant college be more affordable for all instead of in just for all?
Hey this is good!
When a situation gets out of hand, corrective measures take over making it so no amount of outside influence or stimulus is effective. In this case the colleges will see a loss of revenue and the government will see a loss of taxes thereby curtailing the myth that we can continue to spend like druken sailors on education.
So let the chips fall where they may on the exportation of good US jobs. Hats off and thank you to Bill Clinton and Al Gore for signing the NAFTA and GATT treaties making them the law of the land. We are living in interesting times!
cut costs where you can
I work a cafeteria on-campus and I try to save the best I can. I buy books used(craigslist or Uloop) and I've got a paid internship lined up for the summer(found on Uloop). All it takes is determination and knowing where to look and you can find the opportunities. They're out there.
Good luck
Dave
UCSD
Internet
Yeah let's all learn from that new miracle drug. Let’s learn how do learn from our caves and forget the real world. Let’s all have electronic diplomas and let’s all be experts, isn’t this what internet is all about?
Still, some classes can benefit from this new media, one of them being reading skills but then again, should not that be done before one leaves High School? Are not the remedial classes given to poor students (in every sense of the word) part of the rising cost? There is no excuse for High Schools to fail their students on what are STILL basic skills.
That said I was shocked when I was working in a community college to learn that they replaced their entire fleet of landscaping equipment with brand new machines. It is true that some of it will cost too much to repair and needs to be replaced, but the entire fleet? I felt it to be totally unjustified. This is one drop in the sea…
Then all the pavements in parking as well as other less traveled street were resurfaced. True, there were some pot holes, mostly minors in the parking lots, yes climate (cold can be extreme) can accelerate decay and decoration but… Was there a need to resurface roads seldom used at the same time like one that goes to the staff houses? There were not in any need of repair. Of course the new black asphalt would have contrasted with the older grey surface.
