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Who writes this kind of reality-free trash? The author talks about reducing administrative costs, but with today's universities you have no choice. You can th

Who writes this kind of reality-free trash? The author talks about reducing administrative costs, but with today's universities you have no choice. You can throw an upper-middle-class kid into university and he will do just fine. But first-generation students, non-traditional students, foreign students, students on athletic scholarships &c need support services, and access has been expanded so much that these things consume a substantial part of the budget. You have no choice but to offer them. Without them a substantial part of the student body would fail out quickly. And then the author talks about leaving campus open all year. When you ply faculty and teaching support staff at my university with sufficient alcohol they will eventually admit that Summer term is done for the extra tuition income. When you ply them with more they will also admit that soon they will add Winter classes for even more cash - not that anyone can learn anything substantial in these three weeks. And finally the author recommends to drop research and go back to teaching. In theory that sounds good. In practice, universities have been forced to fish for grant money because state support has been scaled back. Also, in my observation, the worst teaching is done by full professors in their Fifties, who have long checked out and are not keeping up with current practice. Maybe it's time to get rid of tenure and increase state support.

6stringmerc 11y ago
>And finally the author recommends to drop research and go back to teaching. That struck me as pretty disingenuous too, considering how lightly he glossed over the real-world problem of "labor as a cost of doing business" mentality that has shifted teaching toward adjunct staff members. It's almost like he doesn't care those starting out in their career, who would likely become the next generation of great teachers at a reasonable price are pretty much being shoved into poverty from the get-go. No intelligent, worthwhile teacher/professor can withstand that kind of lack of support all while being fed lines about how "we have to cut costs" like the examples mentioned.
Retric 11y ago
Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead. There are plenty of schools that are dysfunctional or pad their budget for various reasons, but done well this is really cheap. Universities spend ungodly amounts on things like recertification, advertising, internal busywork, fundraising, government requirements etc. Abstractly this stuff adds zero value for students, but good luck telling an auditor you have better things to do with your time. And internal politics is all about how someone changes things not how this pet project actually helps students.
- robotresearcher 11y ago
  > Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead. Do you have any evidence either way? Both sides are just claiming this as a fact. The actual numbers can decide this. (Even if the non-trad students do cost more, there may be good reasons to spend the money. I'm not arguing either way. I just want to see these opposing claims supported).
  - Retric 11y ago
    Community collages have historically surved this population and they have maintained lower administrative costs than Universities. It's hard to get exact numbers in large part because collages don't want them broken down and administators are the ones releasing statistics.
sideshowb 11y ago
Agreed on the research front: here in the UK research grants are so competitive that unless you have some university money to start your project before even asking for external funding, you're not likely to win the grant. And from the accounts of my colleages, teaching loads are on the rise here though I don't know about the US. On the admin front, I did hear about an anonymous university having a large and long meeting discussing the colour of their logo last year.

6stringmerc 11y ago

>And finally the author recommends to drop research and go back to teaching. That struck me as pretty disingenuous too, considering how lightly he glossed over the real-world problem of "labor as a cost of doing business" mentality that has shifted teaching toward adjunct staff members. It's almost like he doesn't care those starting out in their career, who would likely become the next generation of great teachers at a reasonable price are pretty much being shoved into poverty from the get-go. No intelligent, worthwhile teacher/professor can withstand that kind of lack of support all while being fed lines about how "we have to cut costs" like the examples mentioned.

Retric 11y ago

Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead. There are plenty of schools that are dysfunctional or pad their budget for various reasons, but done well this is really cheap. Universities spend ungodly amounts on things like recertification, advertising, internal busywork, fundraising, government requirements etc. Abstractly this stuff adds zero value for students, but good luck telling an auditor you have better things to do with your time. And internal politics is all about how someone changes things not how this pet project actually helps students.

robotresearcher 11y ago
> Nontraditional students add minimal administrative overhead. Do you have any evidence either way? Both sides are just claiming this as a fact. The actual numbers can decide this. (Even if the non-trad students do cost more, there may be good reasons to spend the money. I'm not arguing either way. I just want to see these opposing claims supported).
- Retric 11y ago
  Community collages have historically surved this population and they have maintained lower administrative costs than Universities. It's hard to get exact numbers in large part because collages don't want them broken down and administators are the ones releasing statistics.

sideshowb 11y ago

Agreed on the research front: here in the UK research grants are so competitive that unless you have some university money to start your project before even asking for external funding, you're not likely to win the grant. And from the accounts of my colleages, teaching loads are on the rise here though I don't know about the US. On the admin front, I did hear about an anonymous university having a large and long meeting discussing the colour of their logo last year.