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It's not like universities are just lining their pockets. I'm a humanities professor at a small liberal arts college with a high tuition, and we struggle to pay

It's not like universities are just lining their pockets. I'm a humanities professor at a small liberal arts college with a high tuition, and we struggle to pay professors fair wages (when compared to peer institutions, which doesn't even account for differences in cost of living, and we're in an HCOL city). I do not fully understand the economics of higher education—they're complex and often opaque—but a few things to keep in mind: 1. Tuition seems absurd, but very few students pay the sticker price. At my institution, average cost after aid is 39% of average cost before aid, and less than some of the private K-12 schools in this city. 2. "These institutions" are not a monolith. See above—especially when it comes to prestigious schools, many students aren't paying close to sticker price. 3. Families and students expect much more from colleges than they did a few decades ago, both in terms of facilities and staffing. I don't know if anyone's done a study of student wellness center staff sizes, but I wouldn't be surprised if they doubled over the past two years. 4. The sciences (and things like conservatories) are particularly expensive because of equipment/lab costs. Someone has to pay for all this. I think more should come from the corporate America (not sure how), which benefits greatly from these programs, but I'd venture to guess most comes from tuition and government grants.

lvl102 4y ago
Here’s my counter argument: public high schools do it for far less. Outside of maybe 40 research institutes in the US, the rest offer about the same education as a good public high school. It’s really not unheard of to hear college grads say they got better education at their high schools vs college. Secondly, these schools are TAX EXEMPT. They use endowments to basically buy buildings all the time. A great example of this is NYU. Really a mediocre school but happens to be the biggest real estate player in one of the most expensive markets in the world.
cwmoreiras 4y ago
Normally I wouldn't nitpick, but since you posted that 39% as a hard number, how much of the 61% remaining (the "aid") takes the form of grants, and how much of it is loans? I disagree with most financial aid and admissions offices, who seem to regard loans as "aid"

lvl102 4y ago

Here’s my counter argument: public high schools do it for far less. Outside of maybe 40 research institutes in the US, the rest offer about the same education as a good public high school. It’s really not unheard of to hear college grads say they got better education at their high schools vs college. Secondly, these schools are TAX EXEMPT. They use endowments to basically buy buildings all the time. A great example of this is NYU. Really a mediocre school but happens to be the biggest real estate player in one of the most expensive markets in the world.

cwmoreiras 4y ago

Normally I wouldn't nitpick, but since you posted that 39% as a hard number, how much of the 61% remaining (the "aid") takes the form of grants, and how much of it is loans? I disagree with most financial aid and admissions offices, who seem to regard loans as "aid"