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Where does the money go? If you got someone paying $50k a year tuition presumably in a class with say 20 people total that's $1,000,000 per year. I mean, wher

Where does the money go? If you got someone paying $50k a year tuition presumably in a class with say 20 people total that's $1,000,000 per year. I mean, where's that money going?

atlih 11y ago
to the shredder, read up on fractional reserve lending.
- branchless 11y ago
  No the money is simply created an enters the "economy". http://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-intermediaries-of-loanable-funds-and-why-this-matters/ http://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-interm...
sdrothrock 11y ago
I think the thought experiment kind of falls apart at a class of 20 people taking different courses; there's nowhere near enough money in there to pay for various professor salaries, physical plant, equipment, etc. > I mean, where's that money going? * Professor salary * Related support salary (secretaries, IT, administration) * Physical plant, upkeep, support salary for those * Advertising, student support (health, scholarships, extracurriculars) But if you think about a student body of 5,000 paying $50,000 a year (for a total of $250 million_yr), then it starts to seem more exorbitant, even after paying for salaries and buildings...
inthewoods 11y ago
This is always my question - also, remember that colleges and universities are moving more and more classes to adjunct professors (i.e. contractors without any tenure track), further reducing their costs. Why is it that education has been able to steadily increase their costs 7-8% per year forever? I get it when people say that the loans enable this - but my question is, like yours, "where is the money going?" I'd love to see a reporter do a complete audit of 10-20 educational institutions over a period of, say 5 years, to understand what the money is covering.
- ethanbond 11y ago
  The most expensive schools are research universities. That's where the money is going: research is getting more and more expensive. By definition, the only problems remaining are the most difficult ones. You used to be able to make great progress against a problem with a pen, paper, and a good mind. Now, to do anything notable, you'll need an observatory, a particle collider, a supercomputer, a top-tier bio lab, a chemical synthesis plant, etc. Also, good pamphlet material like beautiful dorms costs a lot, but I find this argument to be weak considering most of the really expensive schools don't have very amazing-looking facilities.
  - inthewoods 11y ago
    Great points - any data you can point to on it?
    - ethanbond 11y ago
      Fair point, and no. Someone might be able to find some, and I'd be glad to see anything you might find!
  - 1971genocide 11y ago
    I am not sure if research is getting more expensive. The biggest problem with particle colliders is not the experiments themselves but paying researchers money to slough through the data.
scotty79 11y ago
Sports team facilities and couch salary? ... probably not, that's some other cash that comes from exploitative media deals
branchless 11y ago
The answer is: into the economy. It's a mechanism for printing money. They set it as high as possible to push as much money as possible into the economy to get "growth". Also why are people asking "where does the money go". Are you suggesting that there is one-to-one between money creation and expended effort / energy? It's fiat money. There is no such link.
- atlih 11y ago
  I see you have been downvoted by people who have no idea what fiat money is. Grats

Where does the money go? If you got someone paying $50k a year tuition presumably in a class with say 20 people total that's $1,000,000 per year. I mean, where's that money going?

atlih 11y ago

to the shredder, read up on fractional reserve lending.

branchless 11y ago
No the money is simply created an enters the "economy". http://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-intermediaries-of-loanable-funds-and-why-this-matters/ http://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-interm...

sdrothrock 11y ago

I think the thought experiment kind of falls apart at a class of 20 people taking different courses; there's nowhere near enough money in there to pay for various professor salaries, physical plant, equipment, etc. > I mean, where's that money going? * Professor salary * Related support salary (secretaries, IT, administration) * Physical plant, upkeep, support salary for those * Advertising, student support (health, scholarships, extracurriculars) But if you think about a student body of 5,000 paying $50,000 a year (for a total of $250 million_yr), then it starts to seem more exorbitant, even after paying for salaries and buildings...

inthewoods 11y ago

This is always my question - also, remember that colleges and universities are moving more and more classes to adjunct professors (i.e. contractors without any tenure track), further reducing their costs. Why is it that education has been able to steadily increase their costs 7-8% per year forever? I get it when people say that the loans enable this - but my question is, like yours, "where is the money going?" I'd love to see a reporter do a complete audit of 10-20 educational institutions over a period of, say 5 years, to understand what the money is covering.

ethanbond 11y ago
The most expensive schools are research universities. That's where the money is going: research is getting more and more expensive. By definition, the only problems remaining are the most difficult ones. You used to be able to make great progress against a problem with a pen, paper, and a good mind. Now, to do anything notable, you'll need an observatory, a particle collider, a supercomputer, a top-tier bio lab, a chemical synthesis plant, etc. Also, good pamphlet material like beautiful dorms costs a lot, but I find this argument to be weak considering most of the really expensive schools don't have very amazing-looking facilities.
- inthewoods 11y ago
  Great points - any data you can point to on it?
  - ethanbond 11y ago
    Fair point, and no. Someone might be able to find some, and I'd be glad to see anything you might find!
- 1971genocide 11y ago
  I am not sure if research is getting more expensive. The biggest problem with particle colliders is not the experiments themselves but paying researchers money to slough through the data.

scotty79 11y ago

Sports team facilities and couch salary? ... probably not, that's some other cash that comes from exploitative media deals

branchless 11y ago

The answer is: into the economy. It's a mechanism for printing money. They set it as high as possible to push as much money as possible into the economy to get "growth". Also why are people asking "where does the money go". Are you suggesting that there is one-to-one between money creation and expended effort / energy? It's fiat money. There is no such link.

atlih 11y ago
I see you have been downvoted by people who have no idea what fiat money is. Grats