One thing that would help satisfy my curiosity would be to see two pie-charts showing where college fees go (or went), one for the early seventies and one for today. How much of the room/board/tuition goes to professors' salaries, administrators' salaries, non-teaching professionals' salaries, to janitors and buildings-and-grounds workers' salaries, etc. How much goes to new construction, to maintenance, to grounds keeping, to pensions, to fund raising, to compliance, to research, to scholarships, etc. Does anyone have the data that would go into making these pie charts? What shifts would we see? From what I've read in the previous posts on this thread, we might see increases of the pie slivers representing compliance, professors' salaries, administrators' salaries, and scholarships. Which pie slices will have gotten smaller to fund these increases?
Martin M. Meiss 2011/12/29 Dawn Stover <dsto...@hughes.net> > My experience is similar to Martin's, and I inquired about the high cost > at my last college reunion. I was told that the reason the price tag is so > high is because many students who have the academic credentials to qualify > for acceptance come from lower-income backgrounds than in earlier times. > The college wants to admit those students to maintain diversity within the > student body, so they give them financial aid and subsidize it by raising > the price for students who can afford to pay full freight. > > When you're calculating the cost of a college education, you have to > consider how many students at that college are receiving financial aid, and > how much they receive on average. At my alma mater, few students are paying > the full price. If they come from a middle-class or low-income family, they > typically receive financial-aid packages that can include grants, loans, > and on-campus jobs. > > One thing that has changed is that many liberal arts colleges no longer > can afford to admit 100 percent of their students on a "need-blind" basis > (i.e. based on their academic credentials alone). Now many private, liberal > arts colleges admit a small (but growing) percentage of students who are > slightly less qualified than needier applicants but have the ability to pay > the full price. > > Dawn Stover > > On Dec 28, 2011, at 10:05 AM, Martin Meiss wrote: > > > Hi, Rick, > > I don't think the answer is that simple. I went to a small, > private, > > liberal arts college from 1970 through 1974 and it cost my father about > > $3,000 per year for room, board, and tuition. Now it would cost about > > $42,000, about a 14-fold increase. Inflation, which I'm guessing has > been > > about three-fold since then, obviously only accounts for a small part of > > that, and since it is a private school, declining government subsidies > are > > not the reason. The professors haven't all become millionaires. The > > campus hasn't been plated with gold. The students aren't getting an > > education that is ten times better than what I got. This is a general > > trend, not just a phenomenon of my alma mater, and I really do want to > know > > what the hell is going on. My father had a bachelor's degree, and my > > annual college costs were about on fifth of his annual income. I have a > > PhD and the costs for my kids would be well over half of my annual > income. > > > > Can someone out there tell my why higher education is becoming something > > only for the rich? > > > > Martin M. Meiss > > > > > > 2011/12/28 Rick Lindroth <lindr...@wisc.edu> > > > >> The answer is simple and (nearly) universal: states' support for higher > >> education has declined precipitously over recent decades, especially in > >> recent years. In essence, states are transfering the financial burden of > >> higher education from the general public to individuals (students and > >> parents). > >> > >> Although tuition increases have been high, they cannot close the gap; > >> hence the fiscal peril that public research institutions now find > >> themselves in. > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Richard L. Lindroth, Ph.D. > >> Professor of Ecology, Associate Dean for Research, and > >> Associate Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station > >> University of Wisconsin-Madison > >> Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. > >> > >> > >>> -----Original Message----- > >>> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto: > ECOLOG- > >>> l...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Paul Cherubini > >>> Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 6:29 PM > >>> To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU > >>> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal > >> peril > >>> > >>>> The University of California at Berkeley subsists now in > >>>> perpetual austerity. Star faculty take mandatory furloughs. > >>>> Classes grow perceptibly larger each year. Roofs leak; > >>>> e-mail crashes. One employee mows the entire campus. > >>>> Wastebaskets are emptied once a week. Some > >>>> professors lack telephones. > >>> > >>> If all of the above is true, then can someone please > >>> explain why for 20+ years the annual increase in the > >>> cost of college tuition has far outpaced the consumer > >>> price index, heath care, energy costs, etc. > >>> > >>> http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doc_id=1450 > >>> http://tinyurl.com/6xq6hv > >>> > >>> Paul Cherubini > >>> El Dorado, Calif. > >> > >
