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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

#91

Post by Zungaron »

manigandham wrote: post #87
bytematic wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Maybe academia would be less politically one-sided if the other side hadn't built their brand on ignoring science in all its forms.

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

#92

Post by Retric »

evanelias wrote: post #30
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…

> Does he just want a wing of the library named after him or something No, as there are already numerous Hopkins things bearing Bloomberg's name for many years -- including a 7-story physics/astronomy building, and the entire graduate public health school. The new $1.8B is in addition to previous total gifts of $1.5B. Bloomberg previously established a scholarship program for high-achieving incoming undergrads, but i…

> it's Bloomberg's money

A large chunk of that money is subsidized by tax payers, as he would not keep the 1.8 Billion if he had bought a sports team or other vanity project that was not tax deductible.

I am not saying spending taxpayer money to promote giving is a bad idea, but it is an expensive one that’s generally forgotten about.

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

#93

Post by tfehring »

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…

>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.

I'm not sure why it makes sense to exclude those fields. Bloomberg's investment will help students from low- and middle-income backgrounds enter those fields, just as it will help others earn degrees that provide lower earnings potential.

Speaking of earnings potential, even those with degrees in arts, liberal arts, and the humanities - who only make up 13.4% of college graduates, by the way - have median earnings of $51k/year [0], compared to less than $35k/year for high school graduates [1]. An extra $16k/year in earnings - nearly a 50% increase - over a lifetime can justify a lot of upfront tuition and opportunity cost.

The only degrees that are arguably a bad financial investment for the individual are those in education [0], and teachers are important enough to society that I don't think it would be beneficial to discourage students from attaining those degrees. College degrees more generally also have positive spillover effects - see e.g. [2] and [3].

[0] https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/valueofcollegemajors/...

[1] https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/more-education-still-means...

[2] (PDF) https://eml.berkeley.edu//~moretti/socret.pdf

[3] (PDF) https://www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/publications/research...

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

#94

Post by wild_preference »

addicted wrote: post #86
nickthemagicman wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 complaini…

Doesn't really seem like the movie's place to create its own trigger warnings. There could be hundreds of warnings per movie. I've even seen tumblr fan fiction warnings that a story only contains CIS relationships. Not to mention, how do you identify and quantify triggers in a medium? It's not like it's some solved science and the patriarchy is just avoiding it. These are open ended questions without one size fits all solutions.

For example, if your wife has over a year of progress on the line, and there isn't a culture of mainstream trigger warnings, why did you play it so loose by wandering blindly into a movie?

And then you lash out at the world for when your gamble doesn't pay off?

I think this is what people roll their eyes at when they think of trigger warnings: the abolition of personal responsibility and effort, that you have any number of personal issues yet expect the world to read your mind instead of, say, watching a movie before your mentally diseased (your words) wife watches it to ensure her safety.

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

#95

Post by joemi »

Retric wrote: post #92
evanelias wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does he just want a wing of the library named after him or something No, as there are already numerous Hopkins things bearing Bloomberg's name for many years -- including a 7-story physics/astronomy building, and the entire graduate public health school. The new $1.8B is in addition to previous total gifts of $1.5B. Bloomberg previously established a scholarship program for high-achieving incoming undergrads, but i…

> it's Bloomberg's money A large chunk of that money is subsidized by tax payers, as he would not keep the 1.8 Billion if he had bought a sports team or other vanity project that was not tax deductible. I am not saying spending taxpayer money to promote giving is a bad idea, but it is an expensive one that’s generally forgotten about.

If I’m understanding you correctly, it should be noted that paying for something (or donating to something) that does not require you to pay taxes is not the same thing at all as using taxpayer money. It’s not subsidized, is it? It’s just not taxed. (Do correct me if I’m wrong though.)

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

#96

Post by jogjayr »

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?

> Why else would he brag about this in the NYT?

To inspire/shame others into doing the same?

Imagine if you had to "keep up with the Joneses" in charitable giving rather than size of house or car or boat.

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

#97

Post by jogjayr »

born_a_beetle wrote: post #52
intralizee wrote: post #47

I can't imagine if you have that kind of money, you wouldn't have had a team of people calculating and rationalizing every scenario for the action taken. The thing that bothers me is how universities keep raising the cost for students to have an education. Nothing seems to prevent it and everything seems like a joint effort in having the new generation be worse off by having no real spending power for years compared…

A lot of the top tier schools like Harvard provide a very fair financial aid package structure, so no, it isn't a joint effort. It is a myth that most students can't avoid high tuition costs. SUNY schools are very cheap for in state. There is always the route of spending 2 years in community college and then transferring to your state school. That is a very successful model in New Jersey. The problem is many kids wan…

> The problem is many kids want a luxurious college lifestyle where they do a little work, play a lot of beer pong, and live in nice dorms.

But which came first? Did colleges build the nice dorms because students demanded them, then raise the tuition to pay for them? Or did they build the nice dorms to justify the high tuition they were charging? Students have always wanted to play beer pong and have fun during college - this isn't exactly news. Leaving college with crippling debt seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon though.

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

#98

Post by jogjayr »

mcny wrote: post #42

I think the real answer is: 1. Higher income tax across the board 2. Decreased wages for college and University staff. Fewer executive and bureaucratic positions. Just at one CUNY college there are about one hundred positions at or above the level of a department chair. It has fewer than 17k students enrolled. 3. Eliminate all competitive sports across all schools and colleges. This is just noise that nobody needs. 4…

> 3. Eliminate all competitive sports across all schools and colleges. This is just noise that nobody needs.

I wouldn't eliminate college sports entirely - it's useful for brand building, keeping alumni (ergo donors) and the local community engaged, school spirit etc. But the "student-athlete" concept seems like complete nonsense. They should pay the players proper wages, give them good health insurance etc. Right now it's scandalous the amount of money everyone makes in college sports, but none goes to players or cheerleaders.

Ideally they'd license the college's image rights to a private organization that runs the team, and the players play on it full-time. Those who choose can study for a degree at the institution concurrently, or after they finish playing. Some players may get drafted into professional leagues and do so well they don't ever get their degree. The coaching staff are employees of the team's organization rather than the uni.

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

#99

Post by cycrutchfield »

wernercd wrote: post #72
schimmy_changa wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true (but is arguable) if you see college as nothing but a vocational school, training you to be the best worker which society could ask for. 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. How can you ever change society if you are only able to see the world in what makes money, and are never given the time and r…

> 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…

>You also don't get the tools to "engage" with the world. Blocking traffic, needing safe places and being triggered by anything you disagree with isn't "engaging" the world.

Are you of the opinion that this is the primary topic studied at American universities nowadays? I’m having a hard time squaring away your obviously propagandized portrayal with reality.

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

#100

Post by matt4077 »

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…

> This is obviously a PR move to win favor amongst the college age people and to gauge his prospects.

Yes... $1.8 billion is exactly what everyone pays to "gauge their prospects". It's not like it's like 3x times as much as Obama's entire 2012 campaign.

> It's no secret that the extremely wealthy tend to have sociopathic tendencies.

It's not a secret only in the way that it's not a secret that Elvis is alive.

> They don't do anything for charity or out of the goodness of their heart. They always have ulterior and selfish reasons.

Are we still talking about just "the wealthy" or is there any other specific group you had in mind writing this?

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