College Affordability
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education put out its annual report card on states and higher education. On affordability, Utah and California received top honors. With C-minuses. As you might guess by that, the report argues that all states are doing a horrible job. Trailing Utah and California, five states received a D or D-. All the rest failed.
Nationally, the reports states that, while median family income increased 127% since the early 1980s, college tuition and fees increased 375%. By contrast, the CPI increased 95% during that time, and even medical care increased a “mere” 223%.
Nationally, the reports states that, while median family income increased 127% since the early 1980s, college tuition and fees increased 375%. By contrast, the CPI increased 95% during that time, and even medical care increased a “mere” 223%.
posted by steve u. at 9/20/2006
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15 Comments:
Part of this is because colleges and universities are wasting money on programs that have nothing to do with becoming a productive member of society. Part of the reason for that, some studies have found, is that the programs we have created to help students pay for college provide colleges and universities with a government-sponsored stream of cash that has caused them to become wasteful.
It is a vicious cycle. Tuition is high, so we create programs to help students pay tuition. This income source makes schools decadent, so they expand (sometimes worthless) programs, causing tuition to increase. We respond by increasing student assistance programs, thereby, increasing the schools' cash flow, ...
Reach Upward,
Can you define some "programs that have nothing to do with becoming a productive member of society?" Physics? Math? Classics? Philosophy? Spanish? English? or is the answer simply anything that is not Business, Engineering, or Accounting?
How about courses like "The Social Construction of Whiteness and Women", "Multicultural Biblical Criticism", studies of pornographic films, "Feminist Critique of Christianity", "Goddesses and Feminine Powers ", etc.? See this link and this article for more details. Couple these courses with loads of ridiculous research projects done by research universities, and you've got a lot of wasted money.
Our colleges and universities are rife with fluff that passes for academics. But this will continue as long as we continue to fund the fluff.
Also see this article about how our colleges and universities are failing to teach courses essential to good citizenship.
Also see this article about how our colleges and universities rip off employers and fail to prepare students for the real world through grade inflation.
Reach Upward, Are you really mad because people are studying something you don't find important?
Just because you think it is worthless or don't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't have value or shouldn't be studied.
Have you ever taken a class with one of those titles?
I have not taken any of these worthless courses. The course descriptions are sufficient for me to avoid them. I don't have to invest in bad investments to know that they are bad. Similarly, I don't have to attend worthless courses to know that they are worthless. My 11:50 AM post demonstrates that we are losing important values by focusing on the wrong things.
There is no need to defend the shoddy elements of academia. Instead, those elements should be fully exposed so that the worthwhile elements can be properly promoted.
Hmmm. Well, I'm glad people are taking those classes.
Jordan, you're probably just one of those left-wing liberals living in San Fransisco. Nobody here really cares what you think :)
Jordan,
Don't worry - not everyone from Utah, even those who call themselves Mormons, are as narrow-minded as "Reach Upward" and Pat Robertson, to whom he refers. They may try to define what is or is not acceptable or worthwhile to everyone else. How biased and arrogant! Now, there is no question that some university courses are indeed of spurious value. Do you know what happens to such courses? They are dropped. Those rare exceptions that hang on are hardly cause to call the entire system, based on discovery and academic freedom, to be in a "free-fall." Such are the old, worn-out arguments from closed-minded, ultra-far-right moralists who view their "way of life" as the only way. Ironic that differing factions of the far-right look at each other as heathens and heretics. The important thing for them, apparently, is simply to "believe in something," thus defining their own in-groups and out-groups, all in a quest for personal comfort and the gratification of feeling superior to their fellow human beings.
Obviously "Reach Upward" has a personal bias against the social sciences. Just because he fails to recognize the worth and value of this rich area of human exploration does not make him right. Also, citing a course such as "multicultural biblical criticism" as worthless is simply ridiculous. Does "Reach Upward" not know that Brigham Young University offers a "Survey of World Religions" course? Does that mean the LDS church is endorsing these religions simply because they are teaching about them?
I would suggest that "Reach Upward" take a course in respecting others' beliefs. I fear, however, that he will continue to reject his church leaders' call for tolerance because such behavior does not square with his own views of what other people should learn and how they should conduct their lives.
I'm fine with respecting others' beliefs, but I'm not fine with paying for them without question. Social Science classes are fine. Social Seance classes are not. As noted in my 9:47 AM post, our colleges and universities have problems turning out informed citizens because of failings in the social sciences.
Jordan, just because I disagree with you and believe that our colleges and universities merit closer scrutiny does not mean that I am narrow minded. Or, perhaps in your definition, those that disagree with you are necessarily narrow minded.
Spending is out of control at our institutions of higher education. We need to understand why that is and what to do about it. I never said that useless courses are the entire problem. They are only a symptom of a much larger problem.
I agree that money is wasted in higher education and the rise in cost is unjustified. What monitoring occurs in Utah? How does the Legislature require accountability for monies allocated?
Salaries are the biggest problem, in my view. In the purest academic tradition, professors in times past changed schools to keep themselves interested and interesting. Today, they settle into tenure and some become deadwood--with nice salaries. (It's a relaxed life. The professor is expected to teach four classes per semester. Research is nice but optional. Yet, if the institution offers lower salaries, brighter minds go elsewhere.)
Furthermore, offices are staffed with more than enough employees. Programs overlap so that there are gray areas of jurisdiction resulting in several people being paid for doing similar jobs.
Another expense is the upkeep of buildings. In order for a campus to remain accessible to the serious student, buildings are open and heated and well-lighted early and late, while only a handful of people occupy them. Empty offices are comfortably heated/cooled for weeks at a time.
Travel is another huge expense. While it's a genuine strength for academic minds to meet and share ideas, travel to conferences is a luxury we've come to take for granted--not to mention the multitudes of other trips that require maintenance of an entire motorpool.
Like businesses everywhere, the schools are asked to provide benefits that include everything from costly health packages to childcare for parent employees.
When questions arise about immediate expenses, program administrators or professors are often calloused. "The student can pay." Rather than putting a syllabus on line for free, the teacher prints up a 50-page document that the student must purchase.
It doesn't help that the students themselves are so often well off. The culprit here is not only our affluence but the deplorable student loan system. Students take out college loans to finance a better car or a rock-climbing expedition. Meanwhile, some on-campus jobs go begging. It makes it difficult to sympathize.
Still there Steve? Haven't heard from you for a while.
Steve, while I do think that it is wrong that the cost of college is obnoxious, why don't we also fret about vocational schools? Not everyone wants to go to college, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, there is an interesting article on the Opinion Journal website that discusses the importance of vocational schools. It is worth a read.
I meant to type that the cost of college is obnoxious. That is wrong...
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