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Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

nytimes.com

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Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#81

Post by kristianp »

yelloweyes wrote: post #32
kristianp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is just insane that 1.8B should be spent on just Johns Hopkins. This doesn't sound like anywhere near the most efficient way to help the most students who are missing out on places because the institution looks at their ability to pay. Does Bloomberg have an alterior motive to limit his donations to just his Alma Mater? Does he just want a wing of the library named after him or something? I'm frustrated reading th…

1.8B is not that much, really. at 50k tuition, that's only 36k people.

There's only 5407 undergraduates at JHU[1] (for all years). If 10% of those qualify for aid that's 541 in total. Nowhere near 36k people. If we assume a degree takes 4 years, then 137 per year of intake, then those 36k people would be spread over 263 years.

[1] https://apply.jhu.edu/discover-jhu/get-the-facts/

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#82

Post by yesenadam »

born_a_beetle wrote: post #71
bytematic wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money will go to a school which likely could not possibly go bankrupt based on their current endowment. It could be much better spent across hundreds of state schools who do not have the same liberty or vaults.

Public schools shouldn't be dependent on the whims of philanthropic billionaires. They should be supported by the state. It goes against everything they were set up as.

Is anyone arguing that "Public schools should be dependent on the whims of philanthropic billionaires"?

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#84

Post by artursapek »

liftbigweights wrote: post #69
spikels wrote: post #33

Actual Reason: Bloomberg is planning to announce his presidential candidacy soon.

Agreed. Bloomberg rejoined the democratic party this year. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/michael-bloo... He also expressed his interest in running for president in 2020. This is obviously a PR move to win favor amongst the college age people and to gauge his prospects. I'm sure his team is going to poll people, especially students to see how this PR stunt goes and if the numbers look good, he'll dec…

There are plenty of people who donate money like this anonymously. Perhaps not quite this amount, but for example my kid's Waldorf school recently got a large anonymous donation of several millions of dollars from "a member of the community." Bloomberg is definitely looking to get something back here, though. Why else would he brag about this in the NYT?

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#85

Post by Apocryphon »

gammateam wrote: post #48
gesman wrote: post #18

" ... The Credit Suisse report has an entire chapter devoted to “the unlucky Millennials” who have been hit by rising debt and poorer job prospects. And it’s true. Recent reports from the Treasury Department show that the US government owns nearly $1.5 trillion in student loans. That’s pretty sad when you think about it: the US government’s #1 financial asset is debt owed by tens of millions of its young people for u…

The US has always been addicted to serfdom.

This country was built by indentured servants before it was built by slaves.

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#86

Post by addicted »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #79
wernercd wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A truly liberal (in the John Stuart Mill / Enlightenment sense of the word) education gives you the tools you need to engage with the world. But the current education system doesn't give you either. You don't get tools to be useful - IE STEM related, engineering, math, etc. You also don't get the tools to "engage" with the world. Blocking traffic, needing safe places and being triggered by anything you disagree wit…

Your view of college seems to be very media influenced. Just like 99.9% of Arabic people aren't terrorists, 99.9% of college students aren't 'safe space triggered social justice warriors'. Maybe you should grab a statistics class at a nearby college. ;). The media has really painted college students in a bad light. There's such a wide variety of students and personalities. It's a great place to share ideas and form n…

As the spouse of someone who suffers from depression and suicidal thinking the outrage against “trigger warnings” really pisses me off.

Trigger warnings are just that. Warnings.

We watched A Star is Born, and having my spouse go back on almost a years worth of progress and treatment when a single “trigger warning” could have avoided that is beyond enraging.

And what’s most hypocritical is the people who are complaining about trigger warnings are people who are complaining that a little paragraph of text describing certain known triggers may be contained in the text or movie before. So people who suffer from a variety of potentially harmful diseases such as depression and PTSD are pussies because they need a trigger warning to help them avoid media that may be harmful to them, but you’re a strong reasonable and logical person to protest the inclusion of a minor warning that you are under no obligation to read and can easily skip.

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#87

Post by manigandham »

bytematic wrote: post #67
akulbe wrote: post #63

I realize I'm likely going to be a dissenting opinion here… but I'm not sure this is a good investment. Unless you're going to enter a field that requires the pedigree that starts with college (i.e. medicine, law, engineering), it's arguable that college isn't even worth the tuition you pay for it. Like another commenter says, they have no incentive to do anything that will reduce costs. The quality of the education…

re: quality declining Source? I don't see this at all. re: sjws This is just a vocal minority demonized by certain political groups to stir up anger. Sad to see it's convincing people.

Considering academia is vastly one-sided politically, influences the minds of entire graduating generations, and there has been fallout in major companies and even laws passed, the issues around "social justice" are in fact real and much bigger than you may think.

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#88

Post by boomboomsubban »

mmanfrin wrote: post #40
spikels wrote: post #33

Actual Reason: Bloomberg is planning to announce his presidential candidacy soon.

The cynical part of me is in complete agreement. I hate that I assume ulterior motive to charity, but Bloomberg wants to be in politics, and this is a big move at the very beginning of the primary races.

You don't need to be overly cynical to question this. He did write a New York Times editorial about the three billion dollars he has donated to one university.

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#89

Post by manoah »

artursapek wrote: post #84
liftbigweights wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Bloomberg rejoined the democratic party this year. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/michael-bloo... He also expressed his interest in running for president in 2020. This is obviously a PR move to win favor amongst the college age people and to gauge his prospects. I'm sure his team is going to poll people, especially students to see how this PR stunt goes and if the numbers look good, he'll dec…

There are plenty of people who donate money like this anonymously. Perhaps not quite this amount, but for example my kid's Waldorf school recently got a large anonymous donation of several millions of dollars from "a member of the community." Bloomberg is definitely looking to get something back here, though. Why else would he brag about this in the NYT?

It's hard to donate $1.8billion anonymously, especially to your alma mater (I imagine there are only so many Hopkins alumni capable of that kind of donation and they're all on speed dial on the school's chief fundraiser's phone)

Re: Why I’m Giving $1.8B for College Financial Aid

#90

Post by maxxxxx »

born_a_beetle wrote: post #53
kristianp wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is just insane that 1.8B should be spent on just Johns Hopkins. This doesn't sound like anywhere near the most efficient way to help the most students who are missing out on places because the institution looks at their ability to pay. Does Bloomberg have an alterior motive to limit his donations to just his Alma Mater? Does he just want a wing of the library named after him or something? I'm frustrated reading th…

I disagree. Good behavior starts at the top. When all the best universities go need-blind and start offering only need-based scholarships, the bad actors in the education system will be left out on their own and we can start dealing with them separately.

I feel it will more cement the status of the best universities. Most of them already have huge endowments. They don't need the money.
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