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Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it. Prediction: The most customer-unfriendly trimming will c

by pbreit 7y ago

Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it. Prediction: The most customer-unfriendly trimming will come first.

save_ferris 7y ago
Cutting the budget by 41% just isn't responsible, no matter how you slice it. The governor is explicitly making this cut in order to increase the oil revenue dividend for residents to $3K per year.
- pbreit 7y ago
  It wasn't the budget that was cut by 41%, just the government's contribution. There's still tuition, bonds, etc.
  - scifi6546 7y ago
    That is still a huge cut to UA. The quality of education and research will be severely hurt by that cut. Many of the education programs do not make money and that is fine because they provide an important service to the state. That is creating smart people who work in AK rather than leaving AK forever
rayiner 7y ago
There is a lot of fat to cut. The US spends almost twice as much per student on tertiary education per student, and about 2.6% of GDP in tertiary education, compared to the OECD average of 1.5%. Not to mention that tertiary education funding is regressive. It tends to help those who are already relatively well off.
uptown 7y ago
"Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it." What makes that an opinion? Seems like conjecture more than anything.
- vpribish 7y ago
  it's an idiom
LorenPechtel 7y ago
Budget cutting is almost completely ineffective at fat cutting. If you want to cut fat you have to identify it first.
- pbreit 7y ago
  I'm not sure I believe that. All evidence points to businesses and people becoming very effective at cost-cutting following a drop in income.
scifi6546 7y ago
That is unfortunatly true but with that cut it will not only be the fat that is cut but also a lot of the meat. UA is already struggling and it needs help. The way to fix is that is not to cut funding from it. A better solution that I heard would be to hold a mass audit of some kind to figure out what people are actually useful. UA provides an essential service to the state which is basically making and keeping smart people in AK. without UA there would be a severe brain drain and that would really hurt the economy. One final point UA is NOT a for profit institution and that effects the dynamics of the university. There is not as much pressure to nickel and dime people as one would think.

by pbreit 7y ago

Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it. Prediction: The most customer-unfriendly trimming will come first.

save_ferris 7y ago

Cutting the budget by 41% just isn't responsible, no matter how you slice it. The governor is explicitly making this cut in order to increase the oil revenue dividend for residents to $3K per year.

pbreit 7y ago
It wasn't the budget that was cut by 41%, just the government's contribution. There's still tuition, bonds, etc.
- scifi6546 7y ago
  That is still a huge cut to UA. The quality of education and research will be severely hurt by that cut. Many of the education programs do not make money and that is fine because they provide an important service to the state. That is creating smart people who work in AK rather than leaving AK forever

rayiner 7y ago

There is a lot of fat to cut. The US spends almost twice as much per student on tertiary education per student, and about 2.6% of GDP in tertiary education, compared to the OECD average of 1.5%. Not to mention that tertiary education funding is regressive. It tends to help those who are already relatively well off.

uptown 7y ago

"Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it." What makes that an opinion? Seems like conjecture more than anything.

vpribish 7y ago
it's an idiom

LorenPechtel 7y ago

Budget cutting is almost completely ineffective at fat cutting. If you want to cut fat you have to identify it first.

pbreit 7y ago
I'm not sure I believe that. All evidence points to businesses and people becoming very effective at cost-cutting following a drop in income.

scifi6546 7y ago

That is unfortunatly true but with that cut it will not only be the fat that is cut but also a lot of the meat. UA is already struggling and it needs help. The way to fix is that is not to cut funding from it. A better solution that I heard would be to hold a mass audit of some kind to figure out what people are actually useful. UA provides an essential service to the state which is basically making and keeping smart people in AK. without UA there would be a severe brain drain and that would really hurt the economy. One final point UA is NOT a for profit institution and that effects the dynamics of the university. There is not as much pressure to nickel and dime people as one would think.