“Colleges Spend Like There’s No Tomorrow” - But On What? | Amanpour and Company
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2023
- In the U.S., public universities are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day and getting students to foot the bill. College costs have soared past the inflation rate, while the nation’s student loan debt is over $1.7 trillion. Melissa Korn, higher education reporter at the Wall Street Journal, investigated the spending of 50 flagship universities. She joins the show to discuss her findings.
Originally aired on September 8, 2023
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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As a retired professor (37 years in a private nonprofit baccalaureate degree granting college) I can attest to the fact that the annual rise in the cost of tuition would always outstrip the increase in the cost of living at the great majority of colleges and universities in the states. But the extra income did not, at the institution where I taught, go into faculty salary increases.
Instead, the college president received significant annual bumps in his compensation, a sum that included a house, new cars, a membership to a very exclusive golf club and a generous pension plan.
Also, the number of vice presidents, all quite well paid, mushroomed over half a decade's time, and new buildings sprang up at a dizzying rate...but faculty salaries stagnated.
Exactly. Sounds like Korn did a surprisingly shoddy job with this piece
It’s the elites taking a bigger and bigger piece of the pie, the foxes are guarding the henhouse
Agree! This interview was so disappointing. Korn suggests that cutting faculty is an acceptable solution to the financial problems of universities, but defends bloated administration and expensive construction. Furthermore, Isaacson doesn't even bother to defend the spending on faculty. The faculty should be the heart (and primary expense) of the university. Aren't universities supposed to be institutions of learning not institutions of fancy buildings? So gross.
No shit. Not only that, but look at what adjuncts make and how they get by. This from supposed egalitarian institutions of higher learning, who don't mind shafting the lowest rung of the ladder any more than drug dealers, CEOs, or Hollywood studios.
I might add that the precarity of the majority of university faculty undescores your point. Some studies have concluded that as much as 75% of faculty at US universities are adjunct, without job security or benefits, receiving an hourly wage, This has implications for students as well, for example when teaching staff is only paid for in-class time (perhaps a bit more for prep and/or grading) so they are not available to students and not fully part of the life of the university,
I spent eight years as an assistant professor at two private universities. It was shocking to me what was considered necessary to "win students." My own alma mater, Northern Illinois University, "won" me over in the mid-1990s by offering low tuition and a decent library. My dorm room, which I shared with roommates, was just a bed, a desk, and a cabinet on each side of the room with not much floor space in between. In fact, I spent hardly any time there because it was really just a cell for sleeping. But it was a great time of my life--no special luxuries needed. As a faculty member, I then witnessed posh dorms being built, state of the art workout facilities, new sports stadiums, tons of money being poured into recruiting athletes, and yes, deans and directors of every description, while adjuncts were severely underpaid and faculty could hardly feed their families. In fact, I moved to Germany in order to escape; now I teach middle and high school, and have more financial stability for myself and my family than I could have ever achieved in American academia. Back to the basics--keep student debt low, keep faculty salaries humane, and serve your in-state population.
They need to make the dorm fancy so that they can charge students $2-3k per person per month for a shared room 😅😅😅
Plenty of these places charge a lot and still have shitty old dorm rooms too.
Totally agree with you, except that those upgrades are being tied to investment portfolios aimed to increase profits not education as a sui generis good!
I wouldn't object to a decent gym for students - when I attended Princeton, Dillon Gym was maybe a step above Kronk in terms of having that old school gym smell, but in terms of the workout gear, it had everything you needed, nothing you didn't. But in terms of the dorm room, you're Goddamn right - bed, desk (even a wooden chair, can you imagine?), chest of drawers and closet to hang shit in. I shelled out for luxuries like a bookcase (okay, if they want to provide one of those, I'm fine with that), dorm fridge, stereo, and occasional hooch. Laundry and kitchens (if you didn't have a dining plan) were communal. Get out there, take advantage of the social life - or the great library - or the manicured grounds. But I don't need the tanning beds, the lazy rivers, or whatever else they seem to cook up.
I'm 54 years old, part of the older generation that values frugality and efficiency. Today's world has lost its damn mind.
The college I attended forced all students to purchase a dell laptop for $2,400. No excuses even if you had your own. It made me so angry when I realized that it was not needed. All we accessed were websites online, no special software. Even 15 years ago that was a lot of money. You would think that since they were buying in bulk they could give us a huge discount, but they were more expensive that anything that was selling at the time. It was obviously another way to make money off the students. I scoff everytime I see a donation solicitation in the mail from them. It goes straight to the trash can!
You need to name this college; no reason not to. Be factual, be truthful.
Foreign and out-of-state students are literally a cash cow for universities, and as she mentioned going after wealthier families. Sadly many schools are over-spending on "perks" and so-called "expectations" that are ridiculous. Some of these "dorms" look like 5-star hotels, which is overkill. It's like an arms race. Student debt isn't forgivable in bankruptcy so universities are incentivized to keep raising tuition. They could easily cut back on overpaid "administrators" that don't do anything but feed at the public trough.
I don't think any of the dorms at Princeton had air conditioning when I went, and I don't think any of the ones that form the Gothic theme park part of the campus still have it (the newer dorms certainly do I reckon). We had old style radiators for heat, we weren't allowed to have anything other than an approved electric kettle and a dorm fridge, and we made do with that. Our idea of a Lazy River was dipping our toes in the Public Policy school fountain during the late summer and late spring months. I think the one perk that any university worth its salt should have is high speed internet via both hard lines and wifi. Outside of that, community kitchens and laundromats, and cafeterias should be the go. And State schools should not try to compete with the Harvards and Princetons of the world: they should serve their state's best students who don't want to travel that far away. I don't mind if the out of state students and foreign students pay full freight.
@@bengaltiger96State schools should serve not just the “best” students in those states but all students who want to tackle higher ed. The “best” students often have other options; kids with lower test scores and such don’t. They need those state schools the most.
@@meganbaker9116 Agreed. I didn't make my fuckin point very eloquently. My point was that the state schools who are advertising their low admissions rates are trying to come off as exclusive as the Ivy League or other renowned private schools. State schools, at least the ones in the University of California system, made their bones by providing "ordinary students" with "extraordinary opportunities." Imagine a homeless shelter that said "we only take the top 7% of all homeless people." In the 70s, the admit rates to UCLA and Berkeley were around 30 to 50%. While it would be difficult to see that level of admissions due to the influx of foreign students and the increased interest in college by the domestic student pool, the state schools should serve their underserved communities (although this should not include those who are not quite ready or able to handle the college experience, but that's a conversation for improving the primary and secondary school experience). Our country (and society) are better served by having more poor kids climb out of the shitheap of poverty; we've seen through Operation Varsity Blues that (many) rich kids will find their way. Like I've always said, it's a hell of a lot easier to go from being a 10 millionaire to a 100 millionaire, than it is to go from a hundredaire to a thousandaire.
In many ways, this is a result of looking at university education as a business, and not specifically education. There is less focus on academics, and now more focus on extras [sports, amenities, etc]. I think it's interesting how this corresponds with the rollback of the bankruptcy laws and how students can no longer dispel student debt through bankruptcy. If there was more pressure on universities, vis-a-vis students filing bankruptcy, there would be less push to expand the extras and ultimately the costs.
You are wrong. The massive spending occurs because the university is not operated like a business. Businesses cannot have expenses exceed revenue.
Op is not wrong about the bankruptcy part, but you aren't wrong either about colleges not managing their money like they are a business.
The Clintons did that, by the way.
I paid $110,000 for my bachelor’s degree and I’m certain I could’ve acquired the same knowledge for half that cost in half the time. The point of the degree was not having my resume thrown away automatically when I applied for a job that offered a middle class wage.
This system is bullshit.
For many fields college degrees aren't even a good indicator that the person knows much of anything, and people could learn much more for free on the internet. So in those instances colleges should lose their authority as de facto certifier of how legit you are, and employers should stop looking at degrees and diplomas as the default requirement, since those credentials only mean you had the privilege to flush a lot of money down the toilet
where did you spend that much?
I had a manager for a Fortune 500 company ask me what college I went to because I understood 'redlining" ( a manner of conveying how they want a letter or document edited using red pen). I told him flat out, never went to college. Learned it reading a library book about business letter composition.
$110,000 for a better chance at a job? Something IS broken here ( as well as the school admissions dept that sold you that lie)
It's supposed to be all about the knowledge gained and not the piece of paper or the name of the college. I'm convinced that for every major, there are really only 3 courses that you need to move onto the workforce.
well, i can tell you as a former instructor at a state college, they are not spending that money on faculty, that's for sure! Can't say the same for bloated admin salaries though.
one other anecdote, my mother and father both went to a state school at no cost (it was fully subsidized by the state at that time).
Note that underpaid adjuncts and overpaid unnecessary administrators were not mentioned in the interview.
@@sheilagolden8674 This was my personal experience as a graduate student at San Diego State. I graduated in May of this year and I was overall extremely disappointed with the program.
So sorry you had such a bad experience. I hope the adjuncts/faculty at SD State are organizing!@@panama_juan These schools are now run as businesses, but they're using a bad business model.
I have seen that administrators are essential for a college. A college managed by academics descends to a mess because of the toxic and ego filled nature of academics.
@@tindrums Of course administrators are essential, but too many of them getting paid absurdly high salaries are turning universities in capital seeking enterprises like a corporation. That directly takes away from the quality of education and outcomes for graduates, not to mention degrades the quality of faculty in the long term. If this is what the US wants for higher education, let them have it, and face the consequences.
it's no longer education, it's a luxury brand.
As I watch some of these college football games right now, I definitely get the luxury over learning vibes from the school commercials.
I have a cynical theory that college will eventually be just a paper you sign. You won't actually have to attend classes or do any tests or assignments. You can sign for any degree you want but the debt you incur with be escalating with the level of degree. Then when you get the higher paid job with the higher salary, the automatic withholding for the debt will level you back down almost to what you would have earned with a lower degree.
Funded by DEBT on the backs of Students. Bankruptcy rights for ALL debt will END THIS PRACTICE.
And on the backs of their parents, too. The issue here is the increasing cost of higher education and the things that drive those increases. The primary drivers of college cost increases are probably (1) the decrease in state funding levels and (2) the increase in the availability of student loans, not necessarily in that order. Things like bloated administration, 5 star dorms with AC and high speed internet, and the exponential expansion of student recreational facilities are all symptoms of the arms race for students.
You are correct that allowing bankruptcy for new student loans would drive down the cost of education at some schools. It would end all new student loans immediately. No lender in their right mind would ever offer a loan that has a 99% chance of default before they receive a single payment. With no student loans available, the pool of students who could afford uni would be a fraction of the current level. The high end schools would still be fine because they could still fill their classes, but all the others would be forced to slash costs and many would have to shut down permanently.
Is that worth it? In my opinion, probably not, but feel free to disagree. Just be aware that all actions have consequences.
If they simply took the collection agencies out of the student loan racket, it would make the biggest difference, but they give tons of money to politicians in Washington. both parties
This is the equivalent of an arm's race in higher education, which is turning our colleges and universities into fancy country clubs for students who can afford it.
US universities are often viewed as sports acadamies as much as they are places of higher learning. When a university's football head coach is paid $12 million and the same university's deans of studies are paid around $105,000, we know where the school's priorities are. (Univ of Alabama figures). 🤔🙄
Univ of Colorado has a new school commercial all centered around Deion Sanders/Coach Prime.
I have taught at the junior and senior high school level for nearly 30 years now. I've seen some stuff go down regarding sports. In small rural Midwestern areas the local high school games are a great source of entertainment just like the pros. So fighting against them in favor of academics is like attacking a sacred cow. So the stats that were given regarding the Univ. of AL wasn't that surprising. Sad, but not surprising.
We had a lot of scandals where students that were supposed to be banned from football practice and games were allowed to play anyway. A woman AD told me she could not ban any players since final grades were the only ones that mattered and they would not be issued until after the semester was over.
I already knew that was NOT the way it works. Every progress report and mid term counted.
That schools teams always lost. I considered reporting her and would have done so if they had ever won games. If she knew it was me I would have probably gotten fired.
I forget who it was, but one commentator, in the midst of the Cold War, wondered whether MIT was a government-corporate entity with extensive research departments and educational courses or a university with an extensive government-corporate research apparatus. One can now ask whether American research universities are now professional sports teams with some educational courses or a university. Regardless, most of them operate under a retail and corporate model.
This is part of a broader change throughout human activities throughout the world.
The notions of duty-- altruism-- selflessness-- are quickly reaching extinction.
Basically, no one will do anything of note any more unless it promises riches. Even so-called "nonprofits" end up revealed as great wealth generators for the prime actors involved.
College was once a place that was justified and sustained solely by social imperatives and altruistic motivations to maintain standards of knowledge, articulation, logic, theoretical processes, and science-- each being thought to be their own reward.
No more.
At least here in the United States, college has succumbed to the drives of popular culture, emphasizing spectator sports, in-vogue technology, and media-driven endeavors.
All thought to be pragmatic only because they are in conformity to current trends-- rather than being honest labor in the interest of maintaining the quality of human reasoning for the sake of both the present and the future.
We have largely abandoned the intellectual life generally, and thinking itself, because these things do not create great wealth immediately.
Couldn’t articulate this any better myself, our society has become decadent and the purpose of education itself has become very twisted. Now it’s all about jobs and creating wealth instead of for the purpose of learning how to think critically and become well rounded citizens.
@@jackbeagle8458 Yes. It's very distressing.
You nailed the ethical collapse of our society in late capitalism. Every cultural production reflects the coarsening of values in the quest for opulence, the appearance of dominance and abundance. College is plainly for the rich, and poor students can’t compete. Unmitigated capitalist ideology in action.
@@jackbeagle8458 College is all about jobs nowadays? What??? You have hundreds of liberal arts colleges pumping out tens of thousands of underwater basketweaving degrees every year. College has devolved into an expensive party that gives you a degree at the end of the 4 or 5 year party all funded by govt loans that students arent even going to pay back because big daddy govt will bail em out.
In many European countries students pay for their books and sometimes a small fee. America has a screw the public way of doing everything. We need to understand there are better ways to do things and realize we are doing things the way we do to only benefit the wealthy.
Europe still has socialist values inspired by the Enlightenment of the XVIII c. America embraces capitalism’s grift at every level and has identified higher education as a market to be exploited and driven into the ground, just like the basic necessities of housing and nutrition. We have a government which at its best is handmaiden of industry, at its worst a terrorist gang pillaging public coffers (guess who I mean in each case). The point is the wealthy have no fear of the middle class as they learned they must in Europe. Until we the people claw back our power from the ruling donor class that owns everything, we are screwed. College is basically f/t daycare for the scions of the 1% now. Sincere students from less moneyed families are not part of the equation, because we don’t realize class solidarity, being miseducated to ignore class altogether. Big difference between Europeans and Americans.
@@moeermotz9564 I rather doubt that math of yours. The fact is that Europe faced a hard-left threat to status quo after WWII and had to accommodate workers to avoid soviet-sponsored revolutions. In the US FDR had to avoid a fascist revolution with massive public spending in the WPA, etc. before WWII.
European countries levy much higher taxes than the US. These free universities are still exclusionary and only a small % of the total population gets to attend.
Mainstream media never shows this.@@moeermotz9564
Federal Pell grants, and federally guaranteed student loans should not be spent on campuses that allocate more than 15% on administration or more than $15 per student on landscaping, lawn, or garden expenses of any kind. Shuffling money from maintenance of old buildings to new buildings should be prohibited unless there is a plan to demolish the old building. I could keep going all day on this.
1. Teacher salaries per credit are UNCHANGED for 50 years (adjusted for inflation). 2. Admin spending is way, way up. 3. State legislature support is down dramatically for public schools (this is the main cause of higher tuition than 30 years ago). 4. Lots of "directors of X" that did not exist 30 years ago.
1. I think the percentage of tenured vs adjunct has reversed in 50 years, so that is why the average teacher income has gone down.
The problem is that what were once considered cost centers are now considered profit centers. College is a business...BIG business...and that is the wrong approach.
When Ron DeSantis took a wrecking ball to the mission and curricula of New College (of Sarasota, Florida), he fired the then president and installed Richard Corcoran as the acting president. And he increased the president's salary quite dramatically: Mr. Corcoran's salary as the new acting chief administrator soared to four hundred thousand dollars more than his predecessor. And when his other perks--housing stipend, car allowance, "goal-based bonuses, and pension contributions--were added to his salary the total rose to a sum just in excess of one million dollars. This is a "rockstar" salary, a stellar sum that defies any plausible justification... though it does bring to mind the Russian practice of creating oligarchs, persons gifted with obscenely lucrative positions in industry who owe their newfound wealth--and loyalty--to their boss (Vladimir Putin).
New College was not a university, it was a center for political and social indoctrination.
That's not a response, that's a political manifesto. Pot, meet kettle. @@AdrienLegendre
Great observations, especially about admin overhead & sports! Also, college rankings created an "arms race" where universities try to buy their way up the league tables. Applications & donations rapidly fall off outside of the top 10.
The problem is simple (and likewise the solution): there is simply too much administration and a general lack of focus on teaching, as one commenter aptly states here. We need a Department of Education with focus and teeth. From there, not only will university be far more affordable, but also far better in quality.
Sports, new roof yada yada , never the students. Sad.
I applaud Ms Korn for her nuanced answers to Mr Issacson's black or white, good or bad, yes or no questions. Linking the student debt fiasco to skyrocketing costs for everything it seems, except regular faculty salaries [not the high paid "superstars" of attracting students, colleagues, and grant money, is a smart way to begin to address the problems. All college sports fans need to hear the information regarding the cost of college sports [but not just Division I]. IMHO the whole collegiate conundrum presents a great opportunity for community colleges.
I agree, I thought his questions where a bit underdeveloped and he would ask questions she had already answered. But as someone who is currently a student in community college, I think there are a lot more people coming here just because it is so affordable. Last year the campus felt like a graveyard and I was worried about the future of it but this year enrollment has gone up and it feels more like a college campus. I am apart of my school's honors program and it is crazy the amount of people who come who got straight As in high school, had great leadership experience, and are overall intelligent just because they don't want to get in 6 figures of debt.
Thanks for saying that his questions were as bad as her reporting was good.
Sports is a major industry in the United States. I remember when Darrel Royal was hired to coach at UT Austin back in the early ‘60s, He received a nominal salary that ws in line with what a full professor earned, but of course he had others sources of income. Because he had a graduate students fill his income tax returns the full size of his compensation became know to the faculty and they rebelled, Those engaged in money0-making research got handsome raises. For ordinary professors they got decent enough raises and were happy, But the school made up for this by hiring more TA’s
I got my BA from the University of California, Davis in 1976. Total cost for a quarter's tuition was $212.50. IOW, it now costs more for a single class than it used to cost for an entire academic year.
When I went to Sacramento State in 1989, the tuition was 1500 a semester.
I started college in the fall of 1976. I went to community college for the first two years. The tuition for a class was $8.00/credit hour. In the fall of 1978 I started at Kansas State Univ. That was their last year for a flat fee of $348.00 for a full-time load per semester. The Reagan Revolution started in 1980 and the cost of college has since soared!
I paid 300$ for my bachelor's and masters education (free) in India and then came to MIT Media Lab as a visiting scientist for free to do research! Irony is Sudar Pichai CEO of google also studied almost for free and then these people come and lead people who have paid over 100k sometimes 500k USD in debt.
I’m happy for you . Wishing you the best
It is absolutely ridiculous. I attended the Univ of Baltimore in the spring of 1993. I can still remember, 12 credits, books and all was absolutely no more than $1,500. And you could pay in 2 installments. More than fair. I checked into going to grad school recently now that I have some time....but they school went nuts. 9 credits. $8,000. They've lost their minds.
I feel like Ms Korn is being polite about the numbers of Deans. It has gotten out of hand.
There can be no equity until education for ages 1-5 are fully funded. This is the most important time in a person's life.
A well-researched piece by Melissa who also addressed Walter's questions with clarity and caution. We need more reporting of this calibre.
Right, even his questions were relevant and incisive. They are pros.
Unfortunately it will not matter
They talk a lot about amenities, but she just said that staffing is he biggest expense. I see criticism here, not really a solution. My wife works at a university, the administration is kind of a money sponge, the board and regents also have no clue how money is spent.
Do the take of lot of junkets to exotic locations?
Want to save money on your d=college education? Take your first two years at your local community college and live at home with your parents. Class size is smaller and additional help readily available if you need it and tuition is virtually free. Transfer to a state college or university in-state for lower tuition and work as much part-time (instead of partying) as you can to minimize the amount you may have to borrow.
Wait Ron....that actually makes sense! Why would anyone want to do that when Mom and Dad will foot the bill for the 4 year gravy train. I agree with the interviewer- let students be responsible for themselves and quit tying their income to that of their parents...In my view Reagan completely destroyed our education system when he hamstrung students to always be tied to their parents. It's great if your folks are either destitute or rich as heck but it absolutely screwed the rest of us- me specifically entering college as I did in 1984. I hustled and had a free ride and work study from my private university. They yanked it all my junior year because my Dad failed to file his taxes. Denied my degree, I have muddled through without one ever since and frankly I have just as much expertise in my chosen field as any grad of any level from any school.
Watched to very end.
I have a higher education from a university, but with the knowledge and income I've gained outside of my degree I'd never spend a cent on college again if I could relive my life. A total waste of money.
I can't believe what is passing for dorms these days. They're nicer than where I stay at age 50. Back in the 90s we just had essentially a semi-clean semi-comfortable hole to stay in that we shared with a complete stranger.
My daughter got an academic scholarship to a fine liberal arts college but of course the tuition and fees outstrip the grants and she’s being saddled with enormous debt. The college is not known for sports but they spend millions to grow it and make wasteful expenditure that doesn’t benefit the students at large and segregates the athletic students in the new ugly corporate dining facility. They dismantle places the students like to use and build spaces that are repulsive.
7:09 foreign students are better because they pay more and no financial aid headaches, it’s cash!
having started my undergrad in 2003 and finished my master's degree in 2018, the difference was PALPABLE. you would be lucky to even meet any americans in your program who had similar interests because they are so few and far between.
as usual, no mention of adjunct faculty.
From what I'm hearing a lot of universities are using adjunct faculty because they don't have to pay them much.
Student loans only serve to increase demand, thus freeing colleges to raise tuition. If congress really wanted to make school affordable they would increase the supply of schools that serve the needs of students. It's similar to the way food stamps assist Walmart in keeping wages low.
We have heated sidewalks at Univ. Idaho.
Wow! Seriously?
In fairness, it is Because the hot water pipes are running right below.
@@ThePongProfessor Which seems to imply that in winter, the heated water would be cooled a bit which seems costly. But let's assume it has been thoroughly thought out.
Colleges often spend 100s of millions on new buildings that are architectural show pieces when they are unnecessary for a good education. Many, especially in larger cities could provide just as good if not better education by using nearby existing building for classrooms and use the saved money on actual education. Seems like many large universities are more like flashy expensive Potemkin villages than places of higher education
Glad this is finally being discussed. Many aspects combine to screw over students who feel they have no choice but to go to college, or have no future.
Admin overhead is huge
State funding is plummeting
Facilities are far too expensive
Sports are a massive drain, only justified as marketing tools.
Intentional scarcity from not expanding student acceptance rates.
Just like with healthcare, cost pressures should have forced reorganization decades ago, but market conditions mean students have very little influence over price, and the nature of loans is that you don't realize how expensive it is until you're out and stuck with the bill
Not once have I been asked about my 4 year degree in a job interview. I never thought about how colleges spent money. But my entire 4 years, not one improvement was made for the students.
Flowing into lawyers, business, and sports.
Scandalous, unacceptable
I worked all through school and am still struggling to pay student debt in my late thirties. It is going to be like this for about ten more years. At this rate I have no idea if I will ever be able to retire or even have a real home. And not going to school would have been even worse.
The federally-insured student loan program is the reason for high cost of tuition and growth at the colleges all across the country.
Recent SDSU graduate student here. I can confirm they spend like drunken sailors with little to show for it in terms of quality of education. I was overall extremely disappointed with the quality of education, level of engagement with students for job placement and learning outcomes, and overall malaise with the bloated administration that seem like they're only there for the paycheck. They couldn't find a new dean for almost 2 years during Covid and you could feel the pitiful coordination between departments. Lots of money for unnecessary new admin positions and woke virtue signaling programs and no new investment in faculty. The result, a graduate student who would never recommend anyone send their kids there or other professionals waste their money if they're thinking about pursuing a graduate degree. The level of entitlement of the administration I dealt with in my 3 year program was appalling.
Well said and unfortunately I believe every word is true. Thanks for the comment.
Teachers at big colleges and universities dream of getting out of the classroom and getting into Admin. It is like winning the lottery
It seems to be common. From co-workers, I heard the same thing at Montana State, University of Iowa, FSU
The community that I attended has declared the largest building built in 1960 an earthquake hazard to tear it down and build a new one.
There is one item I think colleges should spend more on: Better food. One reason I kind of had a hard time was because I did not eat much because the food was so bad. I often had to spend my own money to eat fast food that was much better. This is something the colleges can easily solve.
Fordham had good vegan food.
I saw dorm food and it is far better than when I went to school. It is really good.
I remember a sermon by the clergy of an Episcopal student mission at a major university, in which he said a large part of what they needed to provide was food for students. School was so expensive that students had hardly any money left to buy food.
6:49 my observation of business/government budgeting is “use it or lose it”.
Each budget item : under the total budget categories of expected expenses by quarter. If you don’t use your budget by 3rd/4th quarter- they will cut next years budget assuming you didn’t need it. So, you spend it on whatever you can so you can beg for more money next year instead.
All major organizations and institutions need to adjust and update.
The more you fleece people and deny them the ability to even seek out certain career fields, the more dire and empty those fields will become. And all of a sudden society is going to find itself in a population crisis for people in those jobs that we need
College Presidents and their VP cronies SHOULD NOT be getting more than $100k salaries, especially if they side-hustle at paid speaking engagements. (Worked at a college for 3 years, saw all kind of grift at the expense of students and faculty, so I speak from experience.)
when i visited the campus of one of the state mega universities where i attended, i was shocked/awed by the number of new buildings. An entire new part of the campus was developed. The football stadium was even larger.
Yes, frequent tuition raises, and donations. Also, funding advertisement and recruitment, lots of printing and postage cost. A lot of waste. Sometimes, personnel abuse the system by adding their own personal mail to outgoing mail, adding to postage expenses. Behind the scenes, pay, and pensions for board members and former presidents.
Chico State and perhaps the city of Chico - they had a rash of Embezzlers….. might look there no matter where you are!
My daughter at school lived in a dorm a few years ago, it certainly hadn’t changed since the 1990’s. The money doesn’t always go into dorms, I suspect it went into assembling a bureaucracy at her school.
California state colleges were just granted 6% annual tuition increases for the next four years. Why are colleges not held accountable for their spending?
The amenities are what attracts the students/families. The state flagship public university is competing against the top private schools which cost 3 times ? The public schools. So those families in the top 10% can afford to send their kids to out of state schools or private schools at full cost. It is a shame that most kids cannot afford the state schools.
On new gyms and libraries, from what I’ve seen in my college experience right now.
This guy is a great interviewer!
He’s a world class writer.
My Freshman dormitory at Georgia Tech was furnished with surplus World War II Army boot camp furniture. We slept in bunk beds. Each student had one Army metal cabinet to store all clothing and personal belongs. We had no air conditioning. There were two pay telephones per hall and one massive bath room per hall. Twenty guys showered together and peed together at a time. It was not a whole lot difference from an Army boot camp barracks. I survived, but got into a fraternity house ASAP. LOL
I still have the receipt from my first semester in college in 1977: it was $230. It's over ten times that now.
Stop College Cost from Rising. Rising college cost and student debt are a national tragedy.
This is a good report. The ultimate dilemma is that to cut costs will most likely lead to cutting staff which means more people unemployed. Is that a price colleges are willing to pay? Idk.
the University of Illinois still has dorms without air conditioning! Bad. Especially with heat waves of 107 degrees! Room and board at these dorms, without air conditioning and without elevators (try carrying a fridge up 3 flights of stairs) cost upwards of $12,000.00 per school year. This money evidently is not going towards infrastructure upgrades.
More than half of college faculty are adjuncts, earning below the poverty line with no benefits. College administrators are increasing. College costs are outrageous.
Colleges and universities have been on a building spree for the last 25 years, erecting everything from campus buildings to stadiums while cutting programs in Liberal Arts.
I've been waiting for this conversation for years. We have to change the crazy culture surrounding colleges and the race they're in to 'recruit the best.' Young adults would be better served with modest accommodations like we had in the '80s and early '90s, and actually want to GRADUATE in order to live comfortably rather than have the best accommodations that loans can buy.
Dorms with granite countertops? In the poorest state in the country?!!
I'm glad that the WSJ reporter Melissa Korn confirmed that university tuition increases are not all caused by reduced government funding-- which is the facile response one often gets when one complains about the rising costs of university. Instead, university administration is completely unaccountable, and has become bloated, with grandiose expansionist plans that are being paid for by current students who do not benefit from those plans. In 2022, the University of Michigan had 126 staff exclusively devoted to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), which was something that did not even exist when I went to college. If I were a student today and I had to take on student debt in part to pay the DEI staff's salaries, I would feel ill. There really needs to be a government crackdown on these out-of-control universities, forcing them back on track to their original purpose of educating students, and not becoming some fiefdom. Congressional investigations and public audits-- now. Or I suppose we could just continue to pay for everything by duping 18-year-olds into making irreversible debt decisions that will set them back decades compared to previous generations.
In order to matriculate in my community college, I had to take Chemistry, Algebra and English Composition. While I could understand the English Composition course being a requirement (the need to read and write is essential to any success and conducive in protecting your best self interests), Chemisty and Algebra for ? Never used algebra or chemistry for work in my life. Math - yes. Algebra, no. So I spent at least $1200.00 (or more) for 'credits' that I never needed, and another at least $450 in text books, for an education that is of no use to me. And the college closed at some time during my education, because the main water pipe busted and flooded it. The same year they paid $4000 on dishes for the conference building.
Not to mention some private schools own a ton of real estate properties including not only student housing but also hotels and all sorts… I am not sure that any universities need to own a hotel or a golf course out there particularly the public universities…
All that construction means BIG contracts for some PRIVATE company/companies. So public funds are ending up in private hands. The colleges and universities are merely a vehicle to transport those funds to where they are intended to go. Public learning institutions should not be concerned with competition! That is the concern of the private sector! Unfortunately, this country has become very confused about the difference over the past 3-4 decades. The privatization of public education is a strategy for ending public education!
Ah, the good old days. When cooling down 30 kids in a class room meant opening the windows, at a 100 plus degree weather outside, and hoping a small breeze of warm air would come in. If you refused a public education you might still be able to build-character.
Too much administration is the issue based on my experience.
The extra money is going to feed the educational administration complex.
As an adjunct as well as a spouse of a department head, I can attest the extra money does not go to faculty and staff....at all. Otherwise we wouldn't have side gigs.
Students pay high fees because they're willing to incur debt and the federal government makes it easy to do so. And because students are attracted to the nice facilities, amenities, and sports culture. Parents pay high fees for their kids because they're convinced their kids' opportunities are tied to the prestige of the school and alumni connections. So what do people get wrong? The insidious nature of consumption debt for starters (and a lot of higher ed debt falls into the bucket of consumption). They also overestimate the value of supposed prestige and grossly undervalue the traits of the student and graduate. Who you are and what you do is far more important than where you go. As for state schools in particular, I blame the state legislatures. They are the ones with the power to mandate a quality education at an affordable cost for their citizens. By allowing their institutions to increase prices at such a rapid pace, they did what often do: ignore those on the bottom rungs of the socioeconomic ladder and prioritize those with the means. But perhaps it's because that's what garners votes. So maybe nothing will change so long as someone is willing to foot the bill.
It seems to me that there is an untapped, and I expect quite large, market for a no frills college (i.e. a regular college before the 90's). A college that proudly says to parents - your kid isn't going to live in an apartment they won't be able to afford once they graduate, they gym is going to be basic, the food is going to be basic, we are going to keep our administrative costs down (in part by eliminating things like DEI administrators), we are going to have full time PhD'd professors who's only task is to teach your child, and we are going to do it for 30% less than the average college. The place will be clean and in repair, but it isn't going to be gold plated.
How do you sell that to an 18 year old who has no concept of money?
@@Kuzyapso You sell it to their parents. Plus, I suspect that everybody going to college these days has to at least be aware of the people before them demanding that the government pay off their loans. Either the government pays off their loans and all future generations decide that they will never have to pay off their loans, or the government doesn't pay off their loans and all of a sudden they know that they will have to pay off their loans, so better to have little or no loans.
In the public middle school/high school system , teach students self directed independent learning with online instruction. Next offer many university courses as online courses so students do not need expensive dormitories, lecture halls, etc. This could lead to a massive reduction in the cost of higher education.
The reduce the cost but not the PRICE according to an undergrad I know.
They have increased because of poor funding by state and federal government. For example, our community college use to be funded, and students paid a third. Now, attending a community college in our state costs over 5000 instead of 3000.
As a faculty in a public university for the last 7 years, the moment she said that tuition increases turn into faculty raises, I knew immediately her research is bogus and stopped watching.
The philosophy of the university I worked for is best summed up by, to quote ed abbey, "growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell" and I worry that it will turn out to have a similar long term cost. The percent of that money spent on improving outcomes and quality of instruction was miniscule. Whatever they claimed otherwise.
I wonder if the construction companies for the fancy campuses are run by friends of the college administrators and/or state departments of education. In other words, could some of these insane expenses be plain old corruption.
You wonder? I think you nailed it! Public/Private means- job for the brother in law. I'm from Chicago- it's known as "the machine". Public/Private is almost always a boondoggle as you have pointed out. The entire charter school movement thrives on this model. It is truly sickening. Really appreciate the comment.
There was a big scandal where that was part of the corruption at that University. I think the brother in law owned the construction company as a front for the president of the school. I think one was Albion college and one was the southern big University that had a corruption scandal with a famous ex football jock.
Can't swing a dead cat at a university without hitting a VP or Director of Student XXXXX
The bells and whistles of a college education should be access to resources, libraries, and great professors
to me the crazy salaries of these deans like CEO's is syphoning off the wealth and monies of today's institutions be it education or a business. Mr. Isaacson's questions were from a different era, certainly not today's , maybe it's time to retire so a younger person with a student loan vs. you who probably never had one can get a good job with possibilities for advancement...it's time..these boomers Jesus
Walter Isaacson is the Leonard Lauder Professor of American History and Values at Tulane. He could have done a better job with the questions and I'm a huge fan of his. This interview was disappointing and he almost never disappoints.
A frustrating story for me in that a potentially bad actor is discussed along with multiple vague references made of “flagship” schools, and yet no example of a single school doing their management well is mentioned. It is particularly striking that the oldest currently public college in the country is not mentioned as their financials should be of great interest to this story line.
Interesting. And yet student enrollment is dropping at several colleges and universities (too many to mention here) while faculty and staff positions are being eliminated. More often than not, the administration is top-heavy to begin with.
Saw pics of "bells & whistles" + brand new "architectral" buildings at m old statui& cud not believe it: turned into a vacation hot spot. Was perfectly adequate before (80's) with all neesary basic amenities all properly maintaied. Very good departments & facultty, what matters...
State university
None of this spending is going to increase the quality of education. New shiny buildings. Old decaying curriculums.
The only big salaries are for administrators and a few football coaches. The people who do all the teaching are underpaid. Plus, no person with the power to spend has any incentive to spend less.
The educational quality of colleges has gone down drastically. There are way too many new admin jobs and other money wasters. The curricula have been gutted.
Too many indirect, PC and circuitous answers by Melissa. Like, she doesn't want to offend anybody. She never talked about obscene salaries at these universities.
Anything and everything.... wonder why debt would be growing while actual learning is not?
Has anyone thought to looking at how much these universities have in their endowment accounts? They have billions of dollars stored away in tax free money while they jack up tuition and fees on students, on top of charging for everything including parking, to students and staff and requiring books that in some cases are just as expensive as the courses the students are taking. These endowment funds holding billions of dollars need to be taxed and something needs to be done to lower tuition with that money. Enough is enough. These universities are acting like for-profit companies and getting massive tax breaks because they are so-called educational institutions that are nonprofit. Enough.
Think of the local university as a jobs engine. Benefits in the community in ways not always acknowledged.
Why we can't have federal code of what type of facility need to be build on campus.Eliminate vacuous title with empty works more than DEI or offices of counseling. It is administrative body that cost most....restauration ,lubrarians,dormitories ,and student offices staff,too much financial officer and academic advisor
Educational industrial complex.
College is an overpriced, bloated waste of money and not because everyone is getting degrees in "Middle Eastern women's studies" or "basket weaving". It's because they force American students to go to school for FOUR years for a degree that can be accomplished in TWO years. I have a coworker from Norway who is an electrical engineer. He went to college for 2 years, no "general requirements " that had nothing to do with becoming an electrical engineer and it was a fraction of what it costs in the U.S. Worthless administration that does almost nothing is paid millions, only the sports programs matter. Our higher education system in America is a joke and the country is being set up for the vast majority to fail financially and a very few to succeed financially. It's a vertical dive that the rest of the world is watching closely, waiting for us to hit the ground so they can come in and grab up the pieces. There's developing countries that put more effort into making education affordable than us. It's disgusting, discouraging and fucking pathetic.