Read the whole article to get all the details, but here is a few key tidbits:
...the cost of providing math instruction at Virginia Tech has declined dramatically—as much as 75 percent for some courses. But the university’s tuition increased nearly 11 percent this year alone, and Virginia Tech math students are paying twice what they did eleven years ago, when the first Emporium course was offered. If Michael Williams is saving Virginia Tech hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and other colleges are realizing similar savings, why aren’t their students seeing a dime of that money?
For the most part, colleges would just rather spend it elsewhere. ...
...colleges also tend to be inefficient while spending a lot of money on nonacademic activities and general self-aggrandizement. The NCAA recently revealed that among 119 Division I-A universities, the typical athletic department lost $9.3 million in 2006. That’s up from $6.1 million in 2004, a 50 percent jump in just two years. The growing deficits have to be made up from other sources, like tuition. And construction spending is always popular; new libraries, buildings, and student centers with climbing walls are good for marketing purposes—and they create plenty of blank space on which to engrave the names of generous alumni.
...
Colleges have increased real-dollar spending on student financial aid by more than 50 percent since 2000. But those dollars are increasingly going to the wealthiest students. Sometimes colleges buy students with high SAT scores, a factor in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings. Colleges also use sophisticated pricing and behavioral models to attract undergrads who’ll net them the most money. A $2,000 scholarship can be enough to woo the academically marginal child of wealthy parents, who then proceed to pay full tuition and donate generously to the endowment.
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