Seeing the Problem

For John, BLUF:  zthe cost of a college education has gone up dramatically since 2970.  Are there alternatives?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Curtailing University Graft Can Prevent Student Debt Debacle

From The Lid Blog, by Writer Ari Kaufman, 13 July 2023.

Here is the lede plus two:

Conservatives and common-sense Americans cheered last month when the Supreme Court correctly ruled that Joe Biden’s abominable attempt to “forgive” $430 billion in college debt for over 25 million borrowers was unlawful.

The White House plan was purely unconstitutional and insulting to Americans.  Legislation that Congress designed for a small number of military members in the wake of 9/11 should not be applied to a large portion of the population two decades later.

It was also regressive, robbing blue-collar workers who saved their money and giving to wealthier doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Biden engaged in left-wing class warfare on behalf of the affluent.  Or, as Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said, a way for Biden to “pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families.”

I have wondered about the debt issue, comparing it to college education costs in California in the 1960s and 1970s.  In those days my Father would complain about the several hundred dollars it would cost for tuition, fees and books each semester.

The writer gets to this point in the article:

What have colleges done with this influx of cash? Start with Harvard and Yale.

In the last 35 years, Harvard’s tuition has seen a 90% increase in adjusted dollars.  Has the school grown its faculty and course offerings to match that increase? No.  It dramatically expanded its population of administrators.  Harvard now employs over 7,000 full-time administrators.  That’s more people than the school’s entire undergraduate population and three times the number of faculty members.

Most administrators take large salaries and benefits while contributing little, especially in the odious DEI realm.

Over at Yale in the last two decades, they went from five vice presidents to an astounding 31, while many administrative units during that same time saw a 150% increase in size, with surging salaries.

If Secretary of the Department of Education, the Honorable Miguel Angel Cardona, wants to reduce the cost of higher education he should move to reduce the Administrative Overhang in colleges.  It requires us to decide if at 18 years of age students are grown up, ready to drive and vote and live away from home, or if they are still fragile children, who need coddling.  And what do we think of those who graduate from High School, but don't go on to college.  Do they need a special collection of social workers to protect them from life?  I hope not.

Here is a chart of Heritage's sense of the situation:

Let us find other work for these added Administrators.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff