That area isn't Sunnyside. It's mostly industrial with decent-to-nice apartments. There are a few Section 8's, but it's mostly good apartments and decent neighborhoods until you get farther south. Sunnyside is far worse. This complex would be great for Houston. And I'm for anything that betters Houston.
Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Stanford etc are all over 100 years old as well. I don't see Bill Gates or Warren Buffet starting universities either.
Carnegie and Rockefeller had an obscene amount of wealth as well. In today's dollars they had a net worth of close to $400 billion. The Waltons combined are only at $200 billion. Now the question is would you rather go to Walmart University or The University of Arkansas?
Look at all the apologists. Vasser did not have an "obscene" amount of money and he still managed to found a college. I'd chalk the lack of such institutions today to lack of imagination.
Corporate community investment in Houston has been terrible as a whole for a while. Sadly Enron was the last company in Houston that really made an attempt to invest and support the city and its community.
I bet Ryan Mallett is wishing he had entered the stock room management program at Walmart University now that his career is over.
I would feel better about this announcement if the state didn't have a history of treating UH as a red headed step child. Rice will take very good care of itself, regardless.
Instead of starting new universities they just give money to existing schools, hence booth school of business or mccombs school of business. Higher education is also more established as compared to 100 years ago so its harder for new entrants into the market.
Not saying Texas needs them, but, Texas does not - to my knowledge - have any well known or reputable liberal arts schools. Besides, schools such as UT, A&M, and even UH have monster student bodies. I think a smaller university or college could offer a more focused environment for budding young adults.
It's all about making money. But Sunnyside welcomes you, new customers for wings and rice. There's also dice. You'll learn about that. I actually love Sunnyside. I know great working-class people that live there, making it a better place. They don't knock on your window with "What you want" anymore. Working there late for many years gave me some perspective on H-town. It's probably a really great area to buy in right now.
Probably just be a bunch of certificate programs with the words "leadership" or "counseling" in them. Cheap enough to get the local firms reimbursing middle-managers, but not too expensive to require any accreditation or scrutiny.
What a waste of money. 4-year public universities in the Houston area. UH, TSU, UH-Downtown, and UH-Clear Lake, which have a combined 75,000 students. The state of Texas and city of Houston would be better served if the Texas cut the BS and started shifting funding from PUF universities and spread the wealth. UT is going to throw hundreds of millions into this pet project and the ROI won't be realized for decades, if ever. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Houston area schools will actually educate 75,000+ students each year with meager funding state funding on a per student basis. It is absolutely atrocious and inequitable for public funds to be used in this manner.
I agree that this method maybe not the best, as Texas seems to be emulating University of California (UC) system with the wrinkle of a duo (UT and TAMU). I'd prefer, like you said, to make funding more equitable per system per region. However, we need to take action, one way or the other, with higher education and our booming population.
