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> The push for more and more college is a huge wealth transfer from the middle and lower-middle class to the upper-middle class professorial caste. Hanlon begs

> The push for more and more college is a huge wealth transfer from the middle and lower-middle class to the upper-middle class professorial caste. Hanlon begs that we consider the possibility that a pedestrian understanding of basic statistics and market forces are the more likely culprit for public perception. Aside, you've also picked the wrong boogeyman. Outside of the elite institutions, where the .01% of rock-star professors MAYBE make as much as a typical software developer at a top software firm, professors come in nowhere near upper-middle class. At typical institutions, they make mid-5 figures, have no upward mobility in their professions, and are a favorite target for pot shots and threats of funding cuts because everyone loves to hate them. In all, it's a pretty unappealing job outside of the social capital with traditional types and the carrot of tenure (which isn't nearly as permanent as it's often perceived). The financial industry and university managers that are benefiting from peddling of useless college degrees, not professors.

rayiner 10y ago
You can throw administrators into "professorial caste" (though note that professors still dominate payroll at most places: http://data.richmond.com/salaries/2014/state/george-mason-university http://data.richmond.com/salaries/2014/state/george-mason-un...). And how is the financial industry benefitting from the peddling of useless college degrees? Private student loans only account for 8% of student loan debt (the federal government holds the rest).
- throwawaysocks 10y ago
  > You can throw administrators into "professorial caste" That makes about as much sense as throwing the C-suite of a manufacturing company into the "laborer caste". Administrators these days mostly aren't former professors and have very different jobs. > Here are the salaries of professors at George Mason First and most important, GMU falls into that "elite" class I mentioned earlier. It's atypical; as an R1 institutions, their professors are paid on average far better than professors at the huge majority of higher ed institutions in the US. Outside of places like GMU, professors make closer to mid five figures. Again, we don't have to speculate. Use Google if you don't believe me. Even then, you'll notice my point still stands -- the reporting you linked to just completely tops out around the typical base salary of top tech firms. If professors are benefiting, they aren't exactly getting rich. > The payroll is dominated by professors 1. "Dominated" is a bit of a stretch. The page you link lists 4,043 employees, and other GMU data states there are 1,263 full-time instructors (which will include non-professors, BTW). 2. GMU has an atypically small student:teacher ratio. 3. It doesn't follow that professors benefiting the most from this growth. 4. At a place like GA, professors are also typically bringing in more money into the university in the form of grants. > And how is the financial industry benefitting from the peddling of useless college degrees? > Private student loans only account for 8% of student loan debt So "only" 80,000,000,000. Not to mention handling endowments, etc. How much do you want to bet there are 0.01%ers who made their wealth off of higher ed? Because those people almost surely exist, and sure as hell weren't professors...
  - rayiner 10y ago
    > If professors are benefiting, they aren't exactly getting rich. I didn't say they were rich. I said they were upper middle class. The average salary for a full professor in the U.S. is $135,000: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/08/aaup-survey-finds-average-faculty-salary-increased-rate-inflation-last-year https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/08/aaup-survey-f.... Median personal income in that age bracket is about $40-50k. My point is that academic jobs are generally well-paying and secure, and they're paid-for by kids taking out huge debt to keep the whole show going. And the show keeps going because we tell fairy tales about the importance of a college education. > How much do you want to bet there are 0.01%ers who made their wealth off of higher ed? Because those people almost surely exist, and sure as hell weren't professors... First, a few people getting rich isn't as big of a concern as tens of thousands of moderately expensive people on payroll. The vast majority of the $500 billion spent on higher education each year isn't going to financiers. It's going to faculty, facilities, etc. Second, the financiers wouldn't be getting rich either if we went back to only sending 10% of the population to college.
    - throwawaysocks 10y ago
      > GMU is a commuter school ranked outside the top 100 GMU is R1. R1 unis compensate faculty unusually well compared to other institutions, regardless of other social prestige indicators. R1-level compensation is not typical of US universities, period. > The average salary for a full professor in the U.S. is $135,000 You've grossly mis-interpreted this data. Notice that the data breaks down salaries by the type of institution (phd-granding, masters-granding, bachelor-only) . The average for a full professor is far closer to $91,935 because the vast majority of faculty/instructors in the US work at non-Ph.D. granting institutions. Many professors never become full professors or become full professors very late in their career (55+). According to your data, the average for an Associate Professor is $70,334 - 88,306, which is a better comparison because most professors are not full professors for most of their career (especially at non-R1 schools, where budgets often trump professional competence considerations in terms of full professorship appointments). Also, many full-time instructional staff aren't professors. Instructors make average or below-average salaries (your data says $45-$57 average). > Median personal income in that age bracket is about $40-50k Unless we adjust for the fact that all professors have bachelors degrees, then we add 10-20k depending on your data source. So typical professors 10-20k above average and typical instructors make maybe a few k extra or below average. Oh, and note that this is all the upper tier of the tertiary education system. Instructors at community colleges are often doing so as a second job or scraping by on less than their students make in their first positions -- far more akin to high school teachers in terms of social status and earning power than anything else. Damn leeches... Upper middle class indeed... eye roll > a few people getting rich isn't as big of a concern as tens of thousands of moderately expensive people on payroll. It is a bigger concern because it's needless waste. We could slash instructors/professor's wages if we want to re-create our shitty secondary education system at the college level. But other than that, professors/instructors are the singular necessary input for providing higher education. Loan servicing is not necessary for providing education.

rayiner 10y ago

You can throw administrators into "professorial caste" (though note that professors still dominate payroll at most places: http://data.richmond.com/salaries/2014/state/george-mason-university http://data.richmond.com/salaries/2014/state/george-mason-un...). And how is the financial industry benefitting from the peddling of useless college degrees? Private student loans only account for 8% of student loan debt (the federal government holds the rest).

throwawaysocks 10y ago
> You can throw administrators into "professorial caste" That makes about as much sense as throwing the C-suite of a manufacturing company into the "laborer caste". Administrators these days mostly aren't former professors and have very different jobs. > Here are the salaries of professors at George Mason First and most important, GMU falls into that "elite" class I mentioned earlier. It's atypical; as an R1 institutions, their professors are paid on average far better than professors at the huge majority of higher ed institutions in the US. Outside of places like GMU, professors make closer to mid five figures. Again, we don't have to speculate. Use Google if you don't believe me. Even then, you'll notice my point still stands -- the reporting you linked to just completely tops out around the typical base salary of top tech firms. If professors are benefiting, they aren't exactly getting rich. > The payroll is dominated by professors 1. "Dominated" is a bit of a stretch. The page you link lists 4,043 employees, and other GMU data states there are 1,263 full-time instructors (which will include non-professors, BTW). 2. GMU has an atypically small student:teacher ratio. 3. It doesn't follow that professors benefiting the most from this growth. 4. At a place like GA, professors are also typically bringing in more money into the university in the form of grants. > And how is the financial industry benefitting from the peddling of useless college degrees? > Private student loans only account for 8% of student loan debt So "only" 80,000,000,000. Not to mention handling endowments, etc. How much do you want to bet there are 0.01%ers who made their wealth off of higher ed? Because those people almost surely exist, and sure as hell weren't professors...
- rayiner 10y ago
  > If professors are benefiting, they aren't exactly getting rich. I didn't say they were rich. I said they were upper middle class. The average salary for a full professor in the U.S. is $135,000: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/08/aaup-survey-finds-average-faculty-salary-increased-rate-inflation-last-year https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/08/aaup-survey-f.... Median personal income in that age bracket is about $40-50k. My point is that academic jobs are generally well-paying and secure, and they're paid-for by kids taking out huge debt to keep the whole show going. And the show keeps going because we tell fairy tales about the importance of a college education. > How much do you want to bet there are 0.01%ers who made their wealth off of higher ed? Because those people almost surely exist, and sure as hell weren't professors... First, a few people getting rich isn't as big of a concern as tens of thousands of moderately expensive people on payroll. The vast majority of the $500 billion spent on higher education each year isn't going to financiers. It's going to faculty, facilities, etc. Second, the financiers wouldn't be getting rich either if we went back to only sending 10% of the population to college.
  - throwawaysocks 10y ago
    > GMU is a commuter school ranked outside the top 100 GMU is R1. R1 unis compensate faculty unusually well compared to other institutions, regardless of other social prestige indicators. R1-level compensation is not typical of US universities, period. > The average salary for a full professor in the U.S. is $135,000 You've grossly mis-interpreted this data. Notice that the data breaks down salaries by the type of institution (phd-granding, masters-granding, bachelor-only) . The average for a full professor is far closer to $91,935 because the vast majority of faculty/instructors in the US work at non-Ph.D. granting institutions. Many professors never become full professors or become full professors very late in their career (55+). According to your data, the average for an Associate Professor is $70,334 - 88,306, which is a better comparison because most professors are not full professors for most of their career (especially at non-R1 schools, where budgets often trump professional competence considerations in terms of full professorship appointments). Also, many full-time instructional staff aren't professors. Instructors make average or below-average salaries (your data says $45-$57 average). > Median personal income in that age bracket is about $40-50k Unless we adjust for the fact that all professors have bachelors degrees, then we add 10-20k depending on your data source. So typical professors 10-20k above average and typical instructors make maybe a few k extra or below average. Oh, and note that this is all the upper tier of the tertiary education system. Instructors at community colleges are often doing so as a second job or scraping by on less than their students make in their first positions -- far more akin to high school teachers in terms of social status and earning power than anything else. Damn leeches... Upper middle class indeed... eye roll > a few people getting rich isn't as big of a concern as tens of thousands of moderately expensive people on payroll. It is a bigger concern because it's needless waste. We could slash instructors/professor's wages if we want to re-create our shitty secondary education system at the college level. But other than that, professors/instructors are the singular necessary input for providing higher education. Loan servicing is not necessary for providing education.