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The problem with this approach is that the private universities still get benefits of federal funding through student aids and research grants. If no federal mo
by ayakang31415 2y ago
The problem with this approach is that the private universities still get benefits of federal funding through student aids and research grants. If no federal money was used for the undergraduate students, I would have no problem with this. Private university can do whatever they want with their admission as long as no public money is spent on the admission process and the admitted students.
- throwup238 2y agoThe funding and grants mostly benefit the students and researchers though. The bigger problem is their endowments and tax exempt status. The amount of wealth going through top universities is insane, with schools like Stanford and Harvard becoming appendages to giant hedge funds.
- odo1242 2y agoTo add, a lot of universities will reimburse education/administrative/maintenance fees on top of research contracts, so about 30% of the money they get for research actually doesn’t go towards research. While this is old, there was a 1988 event where a Stanford administrator bought a yacht from research funds.
- ayakang31415 2y agoI don't care how the money is spent as long as it is their money. But the federal funding is not; it is tax payer's money. Tax money should be allocated based on decision made by the congress, which is the will of the people in the country. but to me it looks like the tax money the private universities get is spent on their terms, not the citizen.
- drawkward 2y agoWell, life sucks. Here in Ohio our tax dollars fund vouchers that can be used to pay tuition at religious schools.
- EasyMark 2y agoMeanwhile I bet those schools are exempt from standardized tests because they know the students (most) would flunk them. That’s the way it works here in Texas, there is no oversight or feedback that home schooled or private school kids actually meet any kind of standards at all. Now the governor wants the same type of vouchers and he was -heavily- “inspired” by money from charter school/religious school owning billionaires.
- seneca 2y agoHome schooled children out perform government schooled children across the board. That's not even a disputed point.
- rahimnathwani 2y agoThe feedback is provided by the market mechanism. Private schools and charter schools that don't do a good job would fail to retain and attract students, and shut down. For government-run schools, most of the students have little or no choice. Standardized tests (like SBAC) show poor results in California (most kids fail to meet grade level standards in the test), but parents have little ability to change how school districts are run.
- rahimnathwani 2y agoHere in San Francisco: - Our tax dollars fund government-run schools that cost an $26k per student per year. Fewer than half the students at those schools meet or exceed grade standards for Math and English. - The median cost of a religious school is about half the cost of government-run schools: https://x.com/RahimNathwani/status/1840965145604079997 https://x.com/RahimNathwani/status/1840965145604079997 - Parents who choose to send their children to non-government-run schools get no vouchers: we pay taxes to fund government employees, and then use what's left to pay for the schools our children need.
- ZeroGravitas 2y agoAre those other schools half the cost because they exclude anyone with disabilities or poor upbringings and just cream off the easy students? If so then you are enthusiastically cheering for kids to be thrown on the scrapheap to save you a few bucks. And using religion as a cover for it, which only makes it worse.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- int_19h 2y ago> The funding and grants mostly benefit the students and researchers though. The question is, which students and researchers should benefit from it? It's not like that money wouldn't be used for education; it would just go to more meritocratic institutions, and their students and researchers.
- nashashmi 2y agoWhy would you want to leverage federal programs that were set aside for certain purposes like research and student assistance to also manipulate college programs? It is sort of like you want to place colleges on similar to a terrorist list where no funding can reach them unless they get in line with the western world.
- ayakang31415 2y agoThe word "manipulate" is dysphemism for "audit" in my opinion. As I commented below, I don't care how the money is spent as long as it is THEIR money. The federal funding is tax payer's money, and it should be spent according to the will of the people in this country. If the tax money was spent to favor your family members because you are an alumni, I am sure other people would have problems with it.
- otteromkram 2y agoAlumni aren't taxpayers or people?
- ayakang31415 2y agoI don't think it is fair to accept Alumni as a sole recipient of lots of tax money for unfair admission.
- nashashmi 2y agoAlumni are not recipients of tax money. They are funding the university with their own tuition expenses.
- ayakang31415 2y agoOn average I guess alumni contribute more through donation than they receive through the financial aids. I don't know the numbers on this topic, so please pardon my ignorance.
- cryptonector 2y agoCrazy idea: stop with the federal funding. Every time federal loan guarantees and grants increase, so do higher education prices. Drastically cutting back on those loan guarantees and grants should lead to a drastic cut to higher education costs. > Private university can do whatever they want with their admission as long as no public money... We must distinguish "student loan guarantees" (or vouchers) from direct funding, otherwise there will never be such a thing as a "private school", only public schools masquerading as private.
- ayakang31415 2y agoI would very much like to get rid of federal funding for schools, and allow private student loan with the possibility of purging the borrowed money through bankruptcy procedures. I am not sure if such proposal is realistic.
- cryptonector 2y agoThat'd be nice.
- sokoloff 2y agoNearly every student will graduate owing vastly more than their personal assets. Declaring bankruptcy at that moment would be the optimal financial strategy if it wiped out the student debt.
- creole_wither 2y agoSolution, don't lend money. Sell education in exchange for a promise to pay x% of salary for y years. Students won't go unemployed just to avoid paying it back and it aligns incentives. If colleges want to make lots of money, they will have to make sure their students get good jobs upon graduation.
- frontalier 2y agocrazier idea: stop profiting off of education