Susan, et al. Thanks to Brian for starting this polemic. I've thought about this for a long time. There are many things (at least in North America) which are evident in regards to debt and higher education. -Probably under Reagan (it's late, some of the things I'll say are what I think are true, submitted in good faith, but I might be wrong on a couple segments) - Pell Grants got sliced back a lot. In the late 20th Century, US government has been defunding the colleges and universities strongly. -Conversely, the defunding has resulted in higher tuition rates, - Those rates have been funded now but increasingly privately held student loans (read: higher debts due to defunding on low-cost PRIVATE student loans) -Administrative salaries have been ballooning, creating more competition for higher paid execs. -Benefits have been slashed by hiring adjuncts.
What we need is : -More public funding to US higher ed, -Salary caps to School administrators, - Better student aid or public funding for all higher ed. - Revolt to the loan laws. - 10 year forgiveness ACROSS THE BOARD. There has been a radical increase of corporatization at my institution, and it isn't pleasant. Many institutions are performing "prioritizations" in order to realign logistics to a corporate model and to slash costs. At Columbia, out Adjunct ratio can be up to 20:1 Adjunct to FT. Academia in the US is in a bubble that needs to be attended to or it will probably be the next big crash in the economy, and I'm a very, very good trender. Patrick Lichty Assistant Professor, Interactive Arts & Media Columbia College Chicago 916/1000 S. Wabash Ave #104 Chicago, IL USA 60605 "Some distractions demand constant practice." _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
