Soaring college costs--where's the money going?

[raccoon]

I'm here to tell you the rank and file at the colleges are NOT getting it.

At the community college where I work, an H.R. employee told me that 50% of the faculty/staff are part-time, hourly workers with no benefits. No insurance, no leave time, no nothing, no raise except when your department head can scrounge one. If the State Congress votes a raise for all state workers, that doesn't include the part-timers.

IME, the power structure at most colleges just want to build more buildings, open more branch campuses, etc.

Anybody else working in an academic setting (or not), feel free to chime in.

[mainegreen]

1. Insurance?

[Democrat 4 Ever]

7. At the major universities it is going for coaching staffs and athletic

facilities. When I attended classes a couple of years ago there was a $100.00 fee for each semester for every single student - full or part-time, for the athletic department. This school has a basketball and football coaches with multi-million dollar contracts and a brand new football stadium and with all the whistles and bangs. The stadium was "donated" by a major contributor but the school found the upkeep of the facility more than they expected so the poor college students were expected to pay for their hubris.

At the same time I was paying an extra $200.00 a year for these vanity items, my professors were not getting pay raises, classes kept getting larger and larger, they were losing quality professors, the classrooms were dirty, equipment broke or not available. I remember a basic biology lab where we "conducted" experiments by going through the motions without the necessary supplies. The TA said we were just "learning" the process and to pretend that we were documenting results on experiments we did not do. Everybody got an "A" for pretending. Good thing I wasn't a science major.

The President of the college lives in a multi-million university home, travels first class, enjoys an expense account that tops over $100,000 a year, and schmoozes with the movers and shakers in town so he could build a new basketball arena - not upgrade the university facilities and the learning experience and furthering education. That is why tuition is rising faster than the rate of inflation.

Edit - typos - dang!

[mainegreen]

9. Ack, that sounds awful. n/t

[mntleo2]

22. The UW At Its Atheltic Height

...actually LOST money out of the athletic departments. It costs so much to put on a game what with bus services, special parking staff and spatial parking needs, security and police, they did not make one red cent. Just as an FYI. Maybe it is different at other universities, but this was true for the Universtiy of Washington anyways.

Cat In Seattle

[NashVegas]

24. Education Is An Industry, Functions Supply and Demand Spiral

It has become imperative to have a college degree to get a decent job, not just for management but for underlings and even technical work.

Companies no longer want to invest in training individuals; The loyalty that binds a person to a company for 10 years to life is gone. Why spend the time and money training someone when a) future outsourcing may come into play and b) interns will do the work for free?

When you see a CEO come on Lou Dobbs and defend himself against charges of the costs for individuals to retrain, he will inevitably say something like, "hey Lou, I retrain, I go back and pick up new degrees ..." What he doesn't say is he started with a degree in general Economics and now picks up degrees in economic specializations - macro, micro, business law, int'l business law, etc. Degrees that build on a base to make his salary shoot to the stratosphere.

The degrees he expects us to pick up - for the same money per credit hour - are for specialized training to keep us on the lower rungs of white collar territory. Communications, internet applications, etc., and a host of others designed for the ballyhooed "creative class." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_class)

In the meantime, more workers are competing to stay out of unstable blue-collar work, which absolutely demands a college education. For a worker who does not intend to become an entrepreneur, a college degree is as much an investment as a house. Why the surprise that it should cost as much?

Sidenote about interns - we had a couple last season from a degree program that required undergrads perform 32 hours of internship work per week. Two kids that were 8 hours short of being full-time, and they paid tuition at a prestigious university for that.

[TahitiNut]

38. In my college 'career,' I made a point of never attending a sports-addicted college or university.

IMHO, people who attend schools where sports are the highest financial commitment deserve a substandard education - a trade-off one gets for aspiring to be an alumna with a 'prestige' t-shirt in a sports bar.

At my first 'college,' my gymnastics coach was Abe Grossfeld - Olympics gymnast and coach. Our football coach and my workout 'partner' on the trampoline was Otto Graham - NFL Hall-of-Famer. My swimming coach was a former coach of the US Olympics swimming Team. At the same time, that 'college' offered no athletic scholarships or preferences. None. (It was the USCGA.) Excellence in true sportsmanship doesn't require million-dollar stadia and million-dollar salaries. If anything, it's the opposite.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

43. I understand what you are saying about not attending a school

where sports isn't a priority but I had no choice.

I was a "returning" student - read that as an older than dirt coed who was finally attending classes after a long term marriage and nasty divorce. I went to the closest, more affordable school I could. I couldn't afford a private school and the local hometown college was a two-year junior college. I had to drive 45 miles each way just to get to class and I counted myself very fortunate that I could even do that. Wish everyone had the opportunity to attend any school they want but sometimes you take what is available and make the best of the situation.

And don't get me started on the scam the colleges have with the selling and re-purchasing of books. This is on the scale of an organized crime endeavor to fleece students. I truly believe the university could be indicted on RICO charges if we had a honest Justice Department.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

44. I think that's a bit like talking about "true scotsmen".

Sadly, sporting achievement (which is the nearest measurable thing to sportsmanship, although it's not the same thing) does correlate strongly with money spent. Obviously, there are all sorts of exceptions in both directions, but in general spending money leads to more medals.

FWIW, the association between universities and sport in America is something that looks bewildering from this side of the Atlantic - here, most universities have all sorts of sporting facilities and teams, but there's never any doubt that sport is something people do as a passtime, and that the point of universities is education. My impression is that in the US that's much less clear-cut, at least at some institutions.

[TahitiNut]

45. Indeed, it's different.

Here, most of the coaches aren't really interested in those who aren't already very good at a sport. It's rarely about comprehensive participation - instilling an appreciation for the various sports and offering opportunities for everyone. It's about 'winning' and only coaching the 'A-students' (in athletics). It's exactly the opposite of every other subject in the curriculum. (Which is why I'm opposed to the way our public schools - primary and secondary - engage in sports.)

That was a huge advantage for me in going to the USCGA where every cadet learned every sport from excellent coaches and instructors. For example, I'd never had an opportunity to compete in swimming since I'd never lived in a public school district that could afford a pool. Yet at the USCGA, the coach recognized that I had a natural 'ability' (due to my 'frog hips') to swim the breast stroke. Thus, I became a member of the varsity swimming team the very first year. Likewise, we all participated and competed in soccer, wrestling, gymnastics, rowing, sailing ... and a multitude of other sports. It was the first time in my (blue-collar) life that 'sportsmanship' became a real thing.

[raccoon]

10. Hell, no. nt

[whistle]

2. Corruption and secret military projects funding

[Kelly Rupert]

8. Hey, only two posts in before someone brought the crazy.

But feel free to readjust the tinfoil every time you drive past your community college.

[whistle]

34. You think ?

<snip>
FROM WOUNDED KNEE TO IRAQ:

A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS

by Dr. Zoltan Grossman, University of Wisconsin Professor

The following is a partial list of U.S. military interventions from 1890 to 2007.

<snip>
A BRIEFING ON THE HISTORY

OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS

By Zoltán Grossman, October 2001



<more>
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

[Buzz Clik]

18. ?

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. Corruption, maybe, but the government research projects at

the universities pay for themselves - that's why they're so popular.

I'd say it's the "not quite professional" sports system that sucks money out of the adacemic system. They claim that the sports programs are moneymakers, but in the long run they cost much more than they bring in in receipts or donations. I wonder if they ever consider the fack (made up out of thin air) that 50% of campus crime - assaults, rapes, hazings, etc. - are committed by the 5% who are in the sports programs. What is the cost of that? Did Duke's lacross team bring in more money than the trial and negative publicity took away - regardless of if the guys were guilty or not?

[Solo_in_MD]

35. Wherer do you get that college are spending tuition money on "secret military projects"

[whistle]

42. Partly by inference .........

....and this recent book:

<snip>
The Corporate Campus: Commercialization and the Dangers
to Canada's Colleges and University
By James L. Turk

For 50 years, the quality of education offered by Canadian universities and colleges steadily improved, along with access to these institutions. By the end of the 1990s, these gains were in danger. As tuition fees increased, universities made new and often secret arrangements with the private sector; as courses and research were offered up for sale, Canada's institutions of higher learning were at risk of losing sight of the public interest. In this volume respected scholars--including Ursula Franklin, Dr. Nancy Olivieri, and William Bruneau--examine the many issues surrounding the commercialization of colleges and universities. "The Corporate Campus" offers penetrating analyses of the threats posed by remodelling post-secondary institutions along corporate lines.

<more at>
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MYnJdXfGEJwC&oi=fnd&pg=RA1-PA17&sig=pran9DvLbmybHTuX2wSpmcpJuj4&dq=%22Turk%22+%22The+Corporate+Campus:+commercialization+and+the+dangers+...%22+#PPP1,M1

I wish something like this existed on American universities and colleges, especially now that tuitions and other costs for attending major universities have gone through the roof.

Here is a somewhat dated paper <10/13/2003> that has some interesting comparisons and suggestions on how to deal with this issue:

<snip from page 38 of the paper>
6. Alternative futures It is no great secret that nationally the percentage of public colleges' operating budgets paid for by the public sector has been falling in recent years while that of tuition and fees has been increasing. Furthermore, higher education is receiving a lower share of the average state's education budgets. As Ehrenberg has shown, "state appropriations to higher education institutions are a declining share of state expenditures on education, which itself is a declining share of the state budget "(Ehrenberg, 2003, p. 3). Despite the high-tuition high-aid policy almost universally supported by economists, the amount of aid has not kept up with the rise in tuition at public universities. With continued cutbacks in the current political environment, many public colleges have begun to refer to themselves as state-assisted rather than state-supported. At the University of Michigan, the state only pays for 10% % of the operating budget. At the University of Virginia it is 13%. Talk of privatizing public colleges is now commonplace as tuition at some public universities approaches that of their private sector competitors (Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2003, B1).

<more>
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cheri/conf/chericonf2003-oct/chericonf2003-oct_08.pdf

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Are the presidents massively overpaid?

[jellybeancurse]

14. At my alma mater

The Dean of the college got a raise to over $1 Million a year (including a free mansion on campus that she never used, a car and driver, and just perks perks perks). I guess it says something that representatives of Outback Steak House, Coke-a-Cola, and the like are on the Board of Trustees. In my stint there the tuition per credit hour went from $89/per credit to $120/per credit. They built a new chemistry building and a couple parking garages and gave the food responsibilities to the same company that did the state prisons. Professors never got raises and the only departments that got funding were the biology/chemistry research areas. This is a school of some 36,000.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Sounds like they have followed the corporate model :^(

[Buzz Clik]

20. A million annually for a dean?

Wow. That has to be the highest paid dean I'm aware of.

However, there's no doubt that administrators do a nice job of keeping their salaries high.

[jellybeancurse]

49. Actually one of the arguments

for her getting the raise was that compared to other Dean's across the state she was vastly underpaid. They had a huge spread, front page, in the major paper describing the huge income gap between her and every body else. I want to say I heard she got another raise (something like 2-5%) because "she had brought" the athletics program to the national competitive level.

The Art building, which has one of the largest and fastest growing programs, was just falling apart old, but hey they did build a sports bar on campus and LOADS of Greek housing on top of one of the intramural fields.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. As mentioned above, corruption.

When the Board of Trustees includes 400%er CEOs, they have no idea what real salaries are - they see the top half-dozen administrators at a university as their equals, and everyone else is the underpaid serf that they themselves rule over. That's because the members of the board are chosen because of their ability to bring cash into the system, not because they know anything about what it takes to run a university. And the cash they bring in goes to the top tier salaries and to new stadiums because everyone knows that people only base their college choice on how they did last season.

corruption and profound ignorance. what college is all about.

[Bill McBlueState]

29. excellent point about trustees

They get appointed because they're big shots in the corporate world and they claim they'll "run the university like a business."

Ever since 2001, when I hear, "run it like a business" I think of Enron.

[Malikshah]

4. Pet projects and initiatives from the 2000 Executive Vice Presidents for

Navel gazing ....

Each new administration figure (and the breed like maggots on meat) has their own project they want to throw money at.

The Center for Making me Fool Good about myself because I didn't get love as a child.
The Institute for Building my Self-esteem
Etc.

Any time I hear of these new "initiatives" and Centers I cringe.

We have too many Associate VPs Associate Deans, etc.--

[MountainLaurel]

5. You're dead on

My husband went to grad school at what is now one of the most expensive schools in the country (he began his program ages ago, before the Reagan-worshipping, business-model president came on board). When he was finishing a couple years ago, about 65 percent of graduate-level courses were taught by adjuncts.

And you'll see that throughout the university. I'm an academic librarian, and many schools are either using paraprofessionals for what used to be faculty-librarian positions, or they are splitting librarian positions into multiple part-time jobs with no benefits. One college where I worked had 4 part-timers working. All of the people in those positions were in need of full-time jobs.

[antigop]

6. Time Magazine cover: March, 1997-- How colleges are gouging U.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986060,00.html

[no_hypocrisy]

11. My analysis is that the money is going to almost everything but

to professors and teaching aides.

I have seen expenditures that cannot be reasonably defended in the past 20 years with respect to colleges and universities.

* Presidents and other administrators who get raises while benefits are cut and wages remain stagnant for professors.

* Construction of "necessary" new facilities like gymnasiums (with or without work-out rooms), swimming pools, book stores, dining halls, campus bistros, etc. Stuff that will make the university more marketable to prospective students with its commercial appeal versus academics.

* Landscaping (believe it or not). Service Master came in and did more than mow lawns. They cut and pruned literally every bush in the ground, sometimes leaving little more than stumps in their wake.

* Insurance. Anything can happen on campus that insurance is needed to protect the school from bankruptcy in case of potential litigation (sexual harassment by professors, personal injury, harm by students or visitors to other students, food poisoning, etc.)

[Kelly Rupert]

13. At U Chicago they change out the flowers 3+ times a year.

They're still in bloom when they rip them out and replace them with other blooming flowers.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Your example is altogether too common. There is very little

oversight for these expenditures. The colleges spend money like Congress (well, esp. the last session at least). And there are bright kids who don't qualify for scholarship and can't afford to attend. There HAS to be a reason why a private college cost $5,000 for TWO semesters IN 1978 AND the same expense is over $35,000 28 years later.

[Buzz Clik]

30. The building costs and maintenance are THE big tickets.

Our humble school has raised over $1 Billion (yes Billion) in donations, and poured every dime into new constructions. And how much of this new money will be going into on-going maintenance? Er... nothing. With roughly 10 new buildings on campus and essentially no new infrastructure and no new funds for maintenance, every building on campus has seen the maintenance cut but about 1/3. On hot days in the summer, they rotate power for air conditioning from building to building. So, as the trash accumulates in your waste basket, the temperature in you office climbs over 80 degrees. Such a lovely working environment.

And did they learn from this? (rhetorical question). We just heard this week that we got a $100 million grant from a private enterprise to take the University's research and commercialize it. Sounds great, right? Well, they want all the intellectual property rights (i.e., fuggetabout publishing related and foundational research) AND they want 30,000 square feet of new building. Oh, did I mention that the donor was NOT going to pay for the building? Yeah -- $30+ million just for construction. Woohoo!

So, where's the money going? Brick and mortar legacies to the current administration.

[lectrobyte]

12. I believe that there is some truth to the theories posted here already, but since

the current administration has been in power, fed money to colleges has been cut. And in a case of trickle down that actually works, fed money to states for a lot of things has been cut, and this triggered state budget deficits and crisises. And since education seems to lag behind roads and lotteries, the colleges have to make it up somewhere, hence the often-insane increases in tuition and other fees.

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. Worked in state civil service with university for 15 years

and left just over 10 years ago. Four year state university, about 10,000 students. I can only speak of that experience at that university, but it seems to be same for pretty much across the board from others I known. What your describing was beginning in the faculty for some of the departments. Some Departments were really getting squeezed.

A big part of the problem is that the money is allocated by the highest levels into specific budget line items, and there are very strict rules about how that money is spent. Department heads do not have the ability to transfer money from Contractual Services into Commodities or Salaries or Travel when it's needed. At the end of the year, every penny has to be encumbered for spending whether it's needed or not--or it's likely to be lost for the next year's budget.

It's a never ending circle. At the beginning of the budget process Department Heads are given the opportunity to make some adjustments, usually based on things like 3%, 5% 10% increases in each line item and can propose moving a limited amount of dollars from one line item to another. But salaries are not something they have control over; that's at the VP/President level.

As far as employees, they can't negotiate their own raises. Most of them are unionized now. We had a heck of a time getting the clerical staff unionized. It took a few years but it was sweet once we finally got 'er done! We were barely even getting crumbs of what was left over after the administrators and other unions grabbed theirs.

What the 'average' person doesn't realize about the college/university budgets is how they work though. It's not like a regular business that can raise the price of the product or have a fire sale and put some money away to be spent where the needs are. There's public funds, private funds, grants, scholarships, and fiscal restraints that are a nightmare comparable to the tax code! LOL!

Ah, the good old days.

[mntleo2]

16. I Saw So Much Waste Where I Worked

...the worse in my mind being the way some industry contributed to the University of Washington ~ third highest in the nation for recieving grants.

First of all, NOBODY donates to infrastructure ~ such as building upkeep, food services, bathrooms, parking, computer staff, staff salaries, etc. This funding is usually mandated by the state legislature.

It is the "private" donations that bothers me the most though. At the UW there is a department called Fluke Hall (built by Fluke of course). There, when industry donates money, it funnels through that department and is used for reasearch. Then, whatever comes out of research, the patents created, are then given back to the "philanthropists". Soooo, the company can take a tax break for donating to the university and then take the patents discovered there for free, PLUS they can use graduate students as slave work (unpaid) who are PAYING for their "privilege" to do the research. Voila! A multi-billion dollar patent for which they did not pay one red cent! In other words they get to use all the facilities and slave labor AND get the profits for FREE. all thanks to We The People! Ain't we generous?

Virtual reality was discovered at the UW ~ that alone for medical as well as many other purposes could have brought in billions to the university and to the state, but who were these patents given away to? Pharma, computer (Microsoft) and medical companies, that's who! One might also point out that these patents would never reach anyone with a small business, because who donates the most would get the most consideration so it just shuts out everyone BUT large corporations.

Another thing I saw as an example of corporate donations. The Nordstrom family "donated" (tax deductible of course) to the UW to build an indoor tennis court. There are tons of tennis courts all over campus, but it was during the Goodwill Games and also they did not want one of their family coeds getting their widdow footsies wet while playing tennis. The problem came when all they came up with was half the money for this indoor court, so guess who came up with emergency funds for the rest of it? Why the legislators, who else (as they and the governor did for Paul Allen with the football stadium voted down TWICE and other things). The tennis court was built and here is the kicker: Nobody but the rich can afford to use it because the fees are so high most likely "to pay for it". Of course we have the building upkeep, repairs, etc, which will cost us ongoing too.

This has been going on for at least 2 decades at the U that I know of. Is this a hint of where some of this money is going?

Cat In Seattle

[Bill McBlueState]

31. unpaid graduate students?

Aren't grad employees unionized at UW?

http://www.uaw4121.org/index.php

Seems like the union should be investigating that kind of thing.

[mntleo2]

33. It All Depends On What They Are Doing

...of as part of their degreed work they work in the lab on research in their field, then they would not be paid, they would pay to do it. If they are lab techs, taking care of the lab and keeping it up, then they are "student workers".

I would not quibble though, my point is that whatever they are doing, they are being used at rock bottom cost and their work is given away to corporations at any rate `~(pun intended).

Cat

[dropkickpa]

23. Not to staff, that's for damn sure

At my uni (where I work) it's been a noted problem that the only way to get a decent raise is to job-hop within the university.

I got a 5% (standard was 3.25%) raise last year which my supervisor had to write several justification letters for to HR. Fuckers. Nevermind that for half the year I was doing 2 peoples jobs. Oh yeah, I earn $8 more a month than a recent hire in the same job (I trained her), but I have more experience, more certifications and a degree, and have received several raises prior to her hiring. But I only earn $8 more a month. I love what I do, but I hate how universities work.

Over the last several years, because the aproved raise rate has not matched inflation, people who stayed in the same job here have actually been earning less each year. Wonderful, especially since tuition gets hiked 5-10% a year, but we see none of it.

[mntleo2]

28. And They Ignore the Community Colleges

......no tenure or little of it, and crappy finding. It is disgusting since far more Community Colleges are used by the population than universities, which have become mainly technical and research colleges in many ways.

I often ask my legislators this: "Where do degreed people who cannot get jobs in their fields go to get a REAL job? Why they have to go back to the community colleges of course! So why are these colleges the last places to get decent funding???"

Never get so much as an answer for that one, lol

Cat In Seattle

[mike_c]

25. it's not going to faculty for the most part, I assure you....

When we talk about "soaring college costs" we need to make clear what we're talking about. At public colleges the cost that students pay is usually a relatively small proportion of the actual total cost of education-- the majority is paid by taxpayers through state appropriations and federal education subsidies, those being the social investment in a well educated populace.

The balance of payments is shifting. State and federal investments are not keeping up with rising costs-- certainly not in my university system-- and more and more of the burden is being shifted to individual tuition payers. Not only are the actual costs rising, just like all costs in our society, but a greater proportion of those costs is being taken from students.

This reflects a real problem in America, IMO. Education should be HEAVILY sponsored by society at large (just as health care should be). The benefits of an educated population accrue to everyone, not just the individuals who benefit directly. Part of the problem is that we do allow so much of the direct economic benefit to accrue to individuals in some cases, so it appears as though education is an individual investment in an individual's future, but that is a gross error, IMO-- and the subject of another conversation....

[Bill McBlueState]

27. I'll tell you where it's going

Administrator salaries.

Here are some numbers for the last year at UMass-Amherst. It's not the whole story, but you see my point.

Increase in tuition and fees: 3.6%
Pay raise for graduate TAs and RAs: 2%
Pay raise for the chancellor: 39%

[SheilaT]

32. First of all, you really must

distinguish between public and private institutions. Private schools can charge whatever they want and are only accountable to their trustees. Public schools, which I realize many of the responses are referring to, are an entirely different ball game. The real problem with them, as I see it, is that over the past thirty years states have cut way back on how much they fund their public colleges and universities. Way back. There's apparently an idea floating around out there that students should pay the full amount of what it costs to educate them.

Another huge issue is that varsity athletics, most particularly the big-time sports of football and basketball, do NOT make money for their school, rather they lose money, sometimes lots of money. And the shortfall is made up on the backs of the students, as for instance in $100 fees for each and every student, whether or not they ever attend a game.

Junior colleges are almost always a pretty good bargain, and usually offer very good vocational sorts of programs. They are also a relatively inexpensive way to get started with college. Transferring after to years to the lowest-cost public 4 year school is often a good idea. Of course very bright students who made good grades in high school and had lots of the right extra-curriculars can get full-ride scholarships in some cases.

And what really frightens me is the extent to which students and their parents are encouraged to take on massive debt to finance college. That's almost always a mistake. There have been threads posted here on DU int he past describing leaving college with debt that's closer to a mortgage in its amount and monthly payments than anything else.

If you're lucky enough to get a full-ride scholarship to Harvard or somewhere else, great, go for it. But no matter what, look closely at the lowest-cost alternative and try to be brutally realistic about your job opportunities upon graduation.

[stirlingsliver]

36. I'd Guess Administration

I think a lot of the increased costs are in the administrative areas of colleges and universities.

Deans, Associate Deans, and other administrators.

This is not to say that those administrative positions are not necessary -- but for each new dean or associate dean, there are costs.

[hfojvt]

37. I am not sure if college costs are really going up

How's that for a headline?

Seriously though. State aid to colleges has gone down and tuition has gone up. The total revenue for the college, especially on a per pupil basis, has not changed that much. The revenue is just coming from students instead of taxpayers.

" Higher education enrollment in Kansas grew by about 26% between 2001
and 2006, making it the fourth-highest growth rate nationwide, according
to the study. At the same time, the amount appropriated per student in
Kansas dropped by more than 23%, from $7,122 in 2001 to $5,480 last
year.
Kansas University received about $5,800 in state general fund money
per full-time student in 2006, slightly below the national average,
according to KU figures."

[izzybeans]

39. Adjunct faculty and support staff are highly exploited.

My salary is 80% of one of my students tuition costs, taken together all students I teach in a given year generate about $600,000 dollars of revenue for the school. I came in with a promise that I'd a) get a substantial raise after one year of high performance b) be given an opportunity to become tenure track and c) be provided institutional support towards the completion of my dissertation.

I fully understand the administrative costs associated with education.

On all performance indicators that matter to the P and T commmittee I have outpaced my colleagues in my department (a small one) and yet that committee has never seen them. I have had to silence my student's who are pissed that I'm leaving (because this fight is not worth it).

I have recieved none of these and have decided to stop dissertation work until I can get my family on stronger financial foundations. I will be leaving this place with a big middle finger flying high on my way out the door.

I am just one of many who get chewed up and spit out by academia, one of those incovenient problems that gets swept under the rug has someone who as "burned out". Try bringing this up to the tenured (around other tenured) and you'll get a wall of silent hypocracy. Bring it up behind close doors and you get a tragic empathy; "I am so sorry that they treat you like this." Then the next day comes without a skipped beat.

[donco6]

40. The reason here in Colorado for rising costs is . . .

a dramatic decrease in state support, which offsets the costs. So even though costs are rising exponentially, no one actually sees any increase in pay.

[geiger]

41. there is so much anti-intellectual propaganda about this whole issue

colleges across the country are STRUGGLING to fix deteriorating infrastructure, keep up with unfunded mandates, and just to compete. If you live near a college or university, find out what they have to spend per capita to keep their educational operations going, and then compare it to the per capita spending of your municipality. They are hundreds of times apart.

Education is EXPENSIVE, and then we berate our educators based on bullshit. The history of anti-intellectualism in this country just confounds me sometimes.

[Bill McBlueState]

48. so about costs...

Are you saying that the current levels of tuition and fees at the nation's colleges and universities are generally justifiable?

I agree that education is expensive, but especially at state schools, there's a legitimate debate to be had about what fraction of those expenses should be shouldered by students.

[ComerPerro]

46. I know one thing: Banks and loan companies are making a killing

[dkofos]

47. Look at what Gates was being paid at Texas A&M. that is your answer