Name the one thing you hope President Obama can push through in his second term.

not a private market if tuition is subsidized

university keeps upping the tuition, feds just up the subsidy, viscious cycle, profs get rich, taxpayer gets hosed

 

For getting your nipples hard, Nancy, any time.

 

Ticked off about that? Do you live in Texas? You going to school? Paying for a son or daughter going to college in state? Well, you should be ticked off, and do you know who to blame? How about a little information, free of charge. See, I know this stuff, and have good reason to know this stuff, so I'll lay some knowledge on you.


What is tuition deregulation? Prior to 2003, the Texas Legislature had the regulatory authority to set tuition rates, generally mandating that the same statutory and designated tuition rate be charged across the state. In 2003 the 78th Legislature passed HB 3015, amending TEC §54.0513 to allow governing boards of public universities to set different designated tuition rates. There is no upper limit on the amount of designated tuition that a university may charge and the amounts may vary by program, course level, and academic period. Tuition deregulation became effective September 1, 2003, and universities began increasing designated tuition in spring 2004.

www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1527.PDF


And here's some more, just so things will become clear in your mind.


Texas State Senate - 2003

Republican Party - 19
Democratic Party - 12

Texas State House of Representatives - 2003

Republican Party - 88
Democratic Party - 62

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventy-eighth_Texas_Legislature#Party_summary

So, do you understand now? Tuition deregulation in the State of Texas was passed over the opposition of the Democratic Party by the Republican Party, which had majorities in both the House and Senate.

Do you understand now who to blame? Your "blameless" Republican Party.

 

As someone with student loans from the late '90s and few more from the past two years I can somewhat empathize, Deckard; but if too few of the same people who benefit from fully accredited colleges -- middle class professionals and parents -- aren't willing to pay the taxes to fully support them, I don't know that I can blame legitimate schools for maxing out tuition rates. However manageable faculty/staff salaries and other expenses may be, these schools can't take a year off or shutter all of their less lucrative majors, colleges, student services or basic amenities for a year or two when it would suit them fiscally: cumulatively it'd almost be like a football program getting the death penalty.

 

The professors aren't the people getting rich.

 

You don't understand. The state of Texas used to support the state universities with funding, which kept tuition affordable for Texans and Texas families. The state quit doing that at an adequate level, cutting state funding, again and again. Why? Because the Republican Party cut revenue, although our tax rates were low, and then refused to raise revenue in order to continue that level of support, or anything like it, after the universities radically increased tuition. That's the Republican legislature that did that. They refused to maintain adequate state revenue to meet their obligations to higher education. Heck, education in general. Why? So the Republican Party could run as the party that "cuts taxes" and refuses to raise them. Well, that has consequences. This is one of them, and it has produced absolute hell for students and parents, who would have been fine with our already low taxes, before they were cut, had the reason for them been explained to the people. That would require leadership, leadership not forthcoming from the Republican majority and the Republican leadership.

 

I hope Obama can permanently inspire the 18-35 crowd for being politically aware and voting with high turnout, even for midterm elections which we saw in 2010 get hijacked by a narrow, older, and backward-thinking electorate.

This video captures that hope. Obama gets a little emotional here, and he seems sincere. I hope conservatives like this better since he has no teleprompter.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pBK2rfZt32g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

secession of texas.

 

wow- you're actually half-right about something. it's not the profs who are getting rich, though.

 

This.

Edit: Too many reps, thadeus. Sorry. Please don't have sex with my mother.

 

The reason they can get away with setting a high tuition is because they know the tuition will be subsidized.

Price controls and subsidies encourage bad behavior. The former causes a shortage, the latter an excess.

 

Agree with this (where you left staff out).

 

I'm a prof at a private school, but I've also worked in administration (shudder.) We are a non-profit, as are the great majority of universities.

Salaries are not very competitive in either case, compared to the private for-profit sector. I'll give you an example. When I was an admin, I was in charge of 80 full-time professors, 15 staff people, and 40 part-time employees. All direct reports. The salary was way, way below anything that would risk Obama's magic $250k. Not even 60% of that level. And prof salaries are mostly below the 40% level of the magic Obama line.

Sorry for the preamble, but who is getting rich at a university that can charge $35k or more for student tuition? Has to be somebody, right?

1. Nobody, believe it or not. What has happened is that the services delivered to and expected by students and their families have grown like crazy. In 1995, the university did not really have an IT division; now it has about 80 employees, with salaries and benefits. In 1995, we didn't have a "Student Life" division, which now has about 60 employees to offer all sorts of counseling, advising, and to be honest, just to deal with all the nutter students we have out there now.

So the non-faculty staff of most universities has just exploded in size over the last twenty years. It's not the salary levels at all, but rather the number of salaries. And the number of profs has not kept pace at all, since universities hire more and more part-timers to help balance out all the new staff hiring.

2. Also, universities give out more and more of their revenue as student aid, since students need more and more help. My university redistributes 40 cents on the tuition dollar to help needy students afford tuition, and that percentage is only going up since 2008 of course.

Sorry, I know: TMI! But maybe a few people would find it interesting.