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Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

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Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#251

Post by tanderson92 »

adminprof wrote: post #246
tanderson92 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's make sure to compare apples to apples, even when discounting the 9-month salary (no CS professor truly gets the summer off, that isn't how the academy functions): * Entry-level software engineers have 0 months experience. * Full professors in CS have 5 yrs of a Ph.D., and perhaps 2-4 years of postdoctoral experience, and 5-7 years of professorial work.

Totally agree the comparison isn't equal. But what I'm saying is that the 9-month salary is already way higher than an industry salary. If they worked the 3 summer months funded by a grant, it's like getting a 33% bonus on top of their 9-month salary.

Yes I grant you the point about a 9-month salary, that's what I meant by discounting: to take into account.

The main point remains, you cannot compare someone with 10-15 years post-college experience with a new hire. It's absurd.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#252

Post by limeyx »

mathattack wrote: post #235
chrisbennet wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who's annoyed?

Mostly their competitors, and perhaps people who would prefer more upscale shopping.

Or maybe people who like roads, firefighters, police ....?

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#253

Post by conceit »

chrisan wrote: post #195
jqgatsby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I walked out of MIT with $100K in student loans, because I had the combination of 'parents who make too much money' and 'parents who had five kids and did not adequately save for their children's education'. I'm all for soaking the rich, but how is that fair? I was apparently rich by association, and it was pretty upsetting to see kids who were ostensibly poorer than I was get a substantially easier start in life.

Technically you walked in to MIT knowing you would have $100K of debt and weighed the pros and cons and decided in the end that, yes $100K for a MIT education was worth it.

And its his decision alone that makes it worth it, indeed. Nothing to do with economic pressure.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#254

Post by TuringNYC »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #220
comicjk wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, not many families with HHI below $65k know that Harvard, Yale, etc are free for them. Instead they see the enormous sticker price and they hear on the news constantly that college is expensive. The guidance counselors who know enough to tell them are mostly at richer schools. If a news story went out tomorrow saying "Harvard is free," Harvard would get a lot more applicants from the <65k bracket. I ag…

That's what High School counselors are for?

My high school had 1 college counselor and 1 financial aid counselor for 812 graduating students. They just focused on the top 60 students.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#255

Post by ebfe »

ameen wrote: post #217
Grishnakh wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Republicans aren't as bad as you think. Trump has said (vague) things about providing health care for everyone. He's said a lot of things that are a big departure from standard Republican ideology, which is why a bunch of Republicans are calling him "not a real Republican" and the party as a whole is having a major shit-fit about him possibly getting the nomination. The guy isn't really a right-winger, he's a cen…

Bernie seems like the only sane person on there. Hillary is the worst of them, and I say this as a Muslim. Trump might hate me, but at least it's irrational unlike Hillary who is a first-class warmonger and only exists to sell multi-billion dollar weapons. The world could do a lot more with lesser wars, no unwanted migration, and no terrorism. The vicious cycle of violence killing innocents and following hate attacks…

What is irrational about blocking Muslim immigration? I could understand an argument that it's mean, racist, or a few other negative things, but from the position of a non-Muslim what about it is irrational?

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#256

Post by ameen »

ebfe wrote: post #255
ameen wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bernie seems like the only sane person on there. Hillary is the worst of them, and I say this as a Muslim. Trump might hate me, but at least it's irrational unlike Hillary who is a first-class warmonger and only exists to sell multi-billion dollar weapons. The world could do a lot more with lesser wars, no unwanted migration, and no terrorism. The vicious cycle of violence killing innocents and following hate attacks…

What is irrational about blocking Muslim immigration? I could understand an argument that it's mean, racist, or a few other negative things, but from the position of a non-Muslim what about it is irrational?

Because there's nothing else that's different about me from a non-Muslim. I'm a qualified Engineer, who pays taxes, abides by the rules, performs community service, a blood donor, etc.

I'm just an average guy looking to live my life, all Muslims are like that except those that have been brainwashed and are used for political reasons.

Why discriminate against me for my faith? Isn't the U.S. a secular country?

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#257

Post by ebfe »

ameen wrote: post #256
ebfe wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is irrational about blocking Muslim immigration? I could understand an argument that it's mean, racist, or a few other negative things, but from the position of a non-Muslim what about it is irrational?

Because there's nothing else that's different about me from a non-Muslim. I'm a qualified Engineer, who pays taxes, abides by the rules, performs community service, a blood donor, etc. I'm just an average guy looking to live my life, all Muslims are like that except those that have been brainwashed and are used for political reasons. Why discriminate against me for my faith? Isn't the U.S. a secular country?

For every Muslim immigrant who is a tax-paying engineer, there are a hundred who lack any sort of skill and will spend their entire life dependent on costly social programs. In Germany, for example, the average cost per refugee is 12,000 euros per year.

There's simply no reason to bring in populations that require more money to support than they contribute.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#258

Post by dang »

ebfe wrote: post #257
ameen wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there's nothing else that's different about me from a non-Muslim. I'm a qualified Engineer, who pays taxes, abides by the rules, performs community service, a blood donor, etc. I'm just an average guy looking to live my life, all Muslims are like that except those that have been brainwashed and are used for political reasons. Why discriminate against me for my faith? Isn't the U.S. a secular country?

For every Muslim immigrant who is a tax-paying engineer, there are a hundred who lack any sort of skill and will spend their entire life dependent on costly social programs. In Germany, for example, the average cost per refugee is 12,000 euros per year. There's simply no reason to bring in populations that require more money to support than they contribute.

This sort of generic, hand-wavey attack on an entire population crosses into religious flamewar, which is not allowed on HN. Please don't post like this here.

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#259

Post by timrpeterson »

adminprof wrote: post #247
timrpeterson wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Cmon man. You're being overly literal. I'm just starting as a professor in biomedical sciences, where you probably know the terribleness reaches its peak. I'm also nearing 40 so the duration of "training" required is also a total bullahit factor especially in my area. The general point is true: the financial incentives in academia are blatantly terrible. The quality of what's produced isn't much better. So this…

Okay, fair enough. Sorry for being a bit antagonistic. I guess I'm just a lot less pessimistic about academia, having worked in industry before as well. The financial part isn't as good as it could be for what we think we do, but I feel that it's a nice institution in many ways. A lot of lifetime academics don't appreciate the flexibility they get in terms of what they spend their time on, how they do their work, who…

Thanks for saying this. I agree the flexibility is huge. Pay for freedom! (Or rather don't get paid, :)

Re: Universities Are Becoming Billion-Dollar Hedge Funds with Schools Attached

#260

Post by jqgatsby »

vecter wrote: post #240
jon-wood wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably using the proceeds of the hedge fund they're running on the side.

Have you actually done the math to show this works out in the long run?

http://web.mit.edu/facts/financial.html

In 2015, tuition accounted for only 10% of MIT's yearly revenue (~$331M), so you have to cut the rest of the budget by 10% to give everyone free tuition.

One natural area to focus on is yearly administrative costs, which in 2015 were $763M.

If you gradually cut administrative costs by building fewer beautiful buildings for undergraduates to be indebted in or hiring fewer administrators, you can afford for every undergraduate to attend tuition free.

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