In fact some institutions like my alma mater, University of Michigan, are charging additional remote learning fees on top of the usual tuition increase.
What is the justification and are people accepting this increase
US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
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Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
These fees aren't for bloated admin. They support resources like the library, general student use fitness facilities, techology, and other student focused items. I get why students want to stop paying these fees during the pandemic since they can't use many of the resources. The issue is that most of the costs for these resources are fixed, mainly personnel and facilities. If you cut the fees, the university would ha…
Universities can still cut quite a few costs when facilities are underutilized without letting things decay. Buildings don’t need to be kept at room temperature without people. Most computers and lights can be kept off. Parking lots don’t need to be kept plowed and salted in the winter. Grounds can generally be less immaculate without long term issues. Bathrooms etc don’t need to be cleaned daily when not in use.
> Bathrooms etc don’t need to be cleaned daily when not in use.
The university can save some money because it use less soap and bleach, but I hope they are still paying the cleaning crew.
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#13What I don't understand about the whole education sector is these massive endowments.
If they're so big and managed so well, why is there a need to charge so much in the first place?
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#14Defund higher education.
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#15We should have strict price controls on university tuition and fees. Roll them back a couple decades, and cap compensation at $250k a year for all employees and contractors.
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#16In fact some institutions like my alma mater, University of Michigan, are charging additional remote learning fees on top of the usual tuition increase.
What is the justification and are people accepting this increase
Because remote classes have higher costs. It's always been that way.
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
These fees aren't for bloated admin. They support resources like the library, general student use fitness facilities, techology, and other student focused items. I get why students want to stop paying these fees during the pandemic since they can't use many of the resources. The issue is that most of the costs for these resources are fixed, mainly personnel and facilities. If you cut the fees, the university would ha…
Few would argue about fixed costs of libraries, but you be hard pressed to explain how libraries etc. are responsible for the cost of higher ed increasing far far faster than inflation to levels that are increasingly hard to justify. That has a lot more to do with the number of “Assistant Vice Provost of Underwater Basketweaving” type non-teaching non-research roles and positions that have developed over the years at…
See "Administrative Bloat and Academic Freedom"
https://www.thefire.org/administrative-bloat-and-academic-fr...
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#18The Pandora’s box here is that far too little of these “fees” actually went to in-person instruction vs. bloated admin and other things not directly linked to core educational activities. Unless universities slash those bloated admin and other costs then they’re not really in a position to be giving everyone a “remote learning” discount.
Not to be pedantic, but if anything it's probably the other way around. The fees are the things specifically for academic resources, and the core tuition is what's wasted on administrative bloat.
Indeed. The article uses “fees” to include tuition but yes usually it’s called “tuition and fees.”
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#19We should have strict price controls on university tuition and fees. Roll them back a couple decades, and cap compensation at $250k a year for all employees and contractors.
State universities — the bulk of public universities in the nation — are already subject to control by state legislatures. The problem is that this central planning capability is not in practice used to improve education and its affordability, but rather to enrich and empower the university staff (and occasionally faculty) as they siphon off public funds, loans, fees and tuition, in a classic illustration of the principal-agent problem. Even the retirement systems seek overtly political ends with their investments.
Unwinding this debacle will involve dealing with the entire university's staff, who will be dead set against it, and who will have contracts that are in place to protect them. The legislators who do so will face extensive public criticism from these highly paid, highly motivated people, who wish to protect their pay. Good luck with that!
(Private universities should of course be free to do as they wish in this regard, because who do you think you are; mind your own businesses.)
Re: US universities under pressure to cut fees because of remote learning
#20Defund higher education.
I would love to see a two-part program
1. No more government-backed Student Loans. (Tuition would drop like a rock.)
2. Build many more free/cheap community colleges and make that much more accessible to everyone.