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The article is focused almost entirely on the Rust Belt and Midwest. Kept waiting for the article to expand to the rest of the US, but it could as well be title

The article is focused almost entirely on the Rust Belt and Midwest. Kept waiting for the article to expand to the rest of the US, but it could as well be titled: "The Looming Decline of the Midwestern Public Research University". In the South at a second tier university, it amazes me how alive everything seems and how useful the research coming out of there is. I don't really see the decline. The growth and construction and hiring just goes on and on. Wouldn't be shocked if the financial situation of some states (Illinois, hello) would cause some major difficulties with publicly financing education, but is that going on throughout the country? Certainly a danger going forward will be private companies that can far outpace anything academia offers in money, prestige, or mobility. The semi-closed, semi-open nature of the research teams at the bigger companies is confusing, in particular, but if they are disseminating that research, it's hard to argue the private route of research is especially worse than the public.

rconti 9y ago
It seems that, generally, public education and research funding is being cut nationwide. It's possible that the powerhouses on the coasts are able to make up for it with fundraising more than midwestern schools are. I can't speak to your experience in the south, but you might have similarly generous donors. Or maybe your state is a standout in public funding.
- aaron-lebo 9y ago
  I looked it up, and UT Dallas's most recent endowment numbers are $500 million. I know the state is really good about funding and the state isn't in an especially precarious situation, but "Wisconsin, and Illinois and Ohio State, which together enroll nearly 190,000 students, add up to about $11 billion" still puts UTD well below their mark and 76x less than Harvard's 38 billion. It's been constant growth for at least the last 10 years, so not sure where the funding differential is, what allows a smaller college to thrive, while bigger and more prestigious ones have financial concerns. To be fair, UTD does a fraction of the research of the bigger colleges, so maybe it doesn't come into play.
  - ZoeZoeBee 9y ago
    I'm not certain which small colleges you are describing, but nationwide small colleges are getting hammered and will continue to do so based on demographic trends. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/09/small-colleges-fight-to-survive-amid-warnings-of-shaky-finances/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/0... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/small-colleges-losing-market-share-struggle-to-keep-doors-open.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/small-colleges-losing-... http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/24/for-many-small-colleges-its-a-challenge-just-to-stay-open/ http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/24/for-many-small-colleg...
    - aaron-lebo 9y ago
      I was describing the college I cited which is thriving (which else?). I can't access the first link (paywall), but the second starts off describing Franklin Pierce University, a small private university, which isn't the topic of the article (public research universities).
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Fomite 9y ago
Faculty at a Pacific Northwest university, and prior to that at a university in the South. This article was eerily familiar. My personal favorite, about the medical school struggling to stay funded: "Well, why do we need a medical school?"...because we have a teaching hospital, and you can't really have a teaching and research hospital without a medical school. "Well, why do we need a hospital?" And this was about one of the best medical schools in the country.
dcre 9y ago
The same article, when published in The Atlantic, did in fact have a title referring specifically to the Midwest: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/midwestern-public-research-universities-funding/542889/?utm_source=feed https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/midwest...

rconti 9y ago

It seems that, generally, public education and research funding is being cut nationwide. It's possible that the powerhouses on the coasts are able to make up for it with fundraising more than midwestern schools are. I can't speak to your experience in the south, but you might have similarly generous donors. Or maybe your state is a standout in public funding.

aaron-lebo 9y ago
I looked it up, and UT Dallas's most recent endowment numbers are $500 million. I know the state is really good about funding and the state isn't in an especially precarious situation, but "Wisconsin, and Illinois and Ohio State, which together enroll nearly 190,000 students, add up to about $11 billion" still puts UTD well below their mark and 76x less than Harvard's 38 billion. It's been constant growth for at least the last 10 years, so not sure where the funding differential is, what allows a smaller college to thrive, while bigger and more prestigious ones have financial concerns. To be fair, UTD does a fraction of the research of the bigger colleges, so maybe it doesn't come into play.
- ZoeZoeBee 9y ago
  I'm not certain which small colleges you are describing, but nationwide small colleges are getting hammered and will continue to do so based on demographic trends. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/09/small-colleges-fight-to-survive-amid-warnings-of-shaky-finances/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/0... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/small-colleges-losing-market-share-struggle-to-keep-doors-open.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/30/us/small-colleges-losing-... http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/24/for-many-small-colleges-its-a-challenge-just-to-stay-open/ http://college.usatoday.com/2017/02/24/for-many-small-colleg...
  - aaron-lebo 9y ago
    I was describing the college I cited which is thriving (which else?). I can't access the first link (paywall), but the second starts off describing Franklin Pierce University, a small private university, which isn't the topic of the article (public research universities).

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Fomite 9y ago

Faculty at a Pacific Northwest university, and prior to that at a university in the South. This article was eerily familiar. My personal favorite, about the medical school struggling to stay funded: "Well, why do we need a medical school?"...because we have a teaching hospital, and you can't really have a teaching and research hospital without a medical school. "Well, why do we need a hospital?" And this was about one of the best medical schools in the country.

dcre 9y ago

The same article, when published in The Atlantic, did in fact have a title referring specifically to the Midwest: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/midwestern-public-research-universities-funding/542889/?utm_source=feed https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/midwest...