Hmmm... My father earned enough as a junior faculty member to support a wife and three kids. My junior colleagues certainly cannot, at least in California.
Sent from my iPhone On Dec 28, 2011, at 6:49 PM, "Judith S. Weis" <[email protected]> wrote: > Another element is that now faculty earn a reasonable living wage, while > several decades ago they didn't. > > >> One element in the increase in college costs, not just research, is >> accountability. Congress has passed laws that had good objectives >> (protecting human subjects, protecting animals, ensuring occupational >> safety, reducing campus crime, ensuring no discrimination on campus, >> ensuring fair value for federal student loans, etc etc.). Laws become >> rules and regulations which are monitored and enforced by federal agencies >> that have no real need to restrain themselves, so they add more >> regulations, the better to enforce the intent of the law. Universities >> meanwhile, trying to stay in compliance, add senior administrators and >> assistants and assistants to assistants to deal with the regulations. >> These bureaucracies (well any bureaucracy) protect themselves and the best >> way to be protected is to jump through every hoop the agencies put in >> place. Because the university might get in trouble, compliance gets handed >> what is often essentially a blank check. >> >> >> Whole industries have developed around animal care, human subjects, >> college accreditation etc. These classes and consultants don't tell the >> universities how to maximize compliance at minimal cost, instead they >> suggest ever better and more expensive ways to be in compliance, selling >> something the compliance bureaucrats are more than happy to buy. Even >> more senior administrators are brought on board and again, they need more >> support staff. >> >> >> For research, the more the university spends on compliance, the higher the >> indirect cost it can charge the federal government, thus providing even >> more money for compliance. Unless the funder is NIH, higher indirect means >> the amount the researcher actually gets is smaller, so research loses. And >> so it goes. With federal funds in short supply, the agencies should be >> taking a look at compliance, but then they have their own compliance >> empires to support. >> >> >> Is the compliance industry the only cause of increased tuition costs? No. >> As one of the articles mentioned, higher tuition makes a college more >> attractive (never mind that like hotel room rates the list price is not >> necessarily what you end up paying). State and federal governments no >> longer feel education is so important so they have decreased support. This >> is in stunning contrast to after World War II when the GI Bill jump >> started American prosperity through essentially free higher education for >> returning vets. Too many Americans, politicians and administrators now >> seem to regard universities as factories that produce degrees, learning >> being incidental. In that case, climbing walls and Jacuzzis make sense, >> making one factory/college more competitive than another. So does hiring >> of 'rock star' professors that, like professional athletes, lend their >> names but not always their teaching skills to the university's "brand", >> while driving up faculty salaries. >> >> >> More and more people are telling universities to jump and fewer and fewer >> universities are bothering to ask why before they do. Until faculty and >> students start asking why, the universities won't so things will continue >> as they are, or get worse. >> >> >> That's the way it is. Happy New Year. >> >> >> David Duffy >> >> >> >> >> >> David Cameron Duffy Ph.D. >> Professor/PCSU Unit Leader/CESU Director >> PCSU/CESU/Department of Botany >> University of Hawaii Manoa >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Martin Meiss <[email protected]> >> Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 8:10 am >> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv ies'in fiscal >> peril >> To: [email protected] >> >>> Hi, Rick, >>> I don't think the answer is that >>> simple. I went to a small, private, >>> liberal arts college from 1970 through 1974 and it cost my >>> father about >>> $3,000 per year for room, board, and tuition. Now it would >>> cost about >>> $42,000, about a 14-fold increase. Inflation, which I'm >>> guessing has been >>> about three-fold since then, obviously only accounts for a small >>> part of >>> that, and since it is a private school, declining government >>> subsidies are >>> not the reason. The professors haven't all become >>> millionaires. The >>> campus hasn't been plated with gold. The students aren't >>> getting an >>> education that is ten times better than what I got. This >>> is a general >>> trend, not just a phenomenon of my alma mater, and I really do >>> want to know >>> what the hell is going on. My father had a bachelor's >>> degree, and my >>> annual college costs were about on fifth of his annual >>> income. I have a >>> PhD and the costs for my kids would be well over half of my >>> annual income. >>> >>> Can someone out there tell my why higher education is becoming >>> somethingonly for the rich? >>> >>> Martin M. Meiss >>> >>> >>> 2011/12/28 Rick Lindroth <[email protected]> >>> >>>> The answer is simple and (nearly) universal: states' support >>> for higher >>>> education has declined precipitously over recent decades, >>> especially in >>>> recent years. In essence, states are transfering the financial >>> burden of >>>> higher education from the general public to individuals >>> (students and >>>> parents). >>>> >>>> Although tuition increases have been high, they cannot close >>> the gap; >>>> hence the fiscal peril that public research institutions now find >>>> themselves in. >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Richard L. Lindroth, Ph.D. >>>> Professor of Ecology, Associate Dean for Research, and >>>> Associate Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station >>>> University of Wisconsin-Madison >>>> Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A. >>>> >>>> >>>>> -----Original Message----- >>>>> From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news >>> [mailto:ECOLOG- >>>>> [email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Cherubini >>>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 6:29 PM >>>>> To: [email protected] >>>>> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] UC-Berkeley and other 'public Iv >>> ies'in fiscal >>>> peril >>>>> >>>>>> The University of California at Berkeley subsists now in >>>>>> perpetual austerity. Star faculty take mandatory furloughs. >>>>>> Classes grow perceptibly larger each year. Roofs leak; >>>>>> e-mail crashes. One employee mows the entire campus. >>>>>> Wastebaskets are emptied once a week. Some >>>>>> professors lack telephones. >>>>> >>>>> If all of the above is true, then can someone please >>>>> explain why for 20+ years the annual increase in the >>>>> cost of college tuition has far outpaced the consumer >>>>> price index, heath care, energy costs, etc. >>>>> >>>>> http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doc_id=1450 >>>>> http://tinyurl.com/6xq6hv >>>>> >>>>> Paul Cherubini >>>>> El Dorado, Calif. >>>> >>
