Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Cuts at WVU

community.wvu.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 110 posts

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#51

Post by ecshafer »

agar wrote: post #44

Speaking as a parent, the state of higher education is shocking. Costs of $300,000 for a 4-year degree ($75K/year for tuition, fees, and housing) is not just possible, it's essentially the norm for many schools that aren't even top-tier. Even state schools will run about $200,000, all-in. God forbid you have more than one child. Universities tout their need-based financial aid, but the cut off is often far below the…

In 2008 the “expensive universities” were $40-45k a year all in. Now they are $80k a year all in. Outside of computer science, high finance, and management consulting… who is paying enough to warrant a $320k degree? And even then it’s pushing it…

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#52

Post by tssva »

deaddodo wrote: post #50
tssva wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are in a budget crunch. They likely don't have money to do both.

They are in a budget crunch . So they should close one of the departments that pays for itself and others ? I'm having a hard time processing your logic here.

If they feel they can bring in even more revenue from investing that money elsewhere then yes.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#53

Post by nemo44x »

kstrauser wrote: post #48
nemo44x wrote: post #31

As it turns out, middle and working class people finally figured out it isn’t worth paying $100k for book club. One of the mistaken beliefs of many Americans is that class isn’t a big thing here. And with this mistaken belief, millions have bought the lie that they too could do book club or art club and the associated lifestyle of young adult daycare and actually end up in a better place. Naive parents stood in front…

> If you’re middle class or less and not exceptionally academically able then the only acceptable outcome is you exit an affordable college with a useful degree. The other crap is for rich kids that can study botany You roll your eyes at kids in “book clubs”, then use a freaking STEM program as your example. Botanists, the people studying plants so they can make healthier crops among other things, are your example of…

I think you missed the entire point. Botany is great and important for some exceptionally talented person. The kind of kid that gets scholarship to a top university because they’re super smart and conscientious. These people will make a difference.

It’s pointless for a middle class kid of average or even slightly above average ability with nothing to fall back on. These people need to make a living.

Once you’re earning a living then there’s nothing stopping you from exploring botany. The internet is full of resources. Your local college will probably let you sit in for free. Do that.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#54

Post by [deleted] »

slaymaker1907 wrote: post #33
bsder wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A school full of nothing but overpaid administrators Um, exactly? The budget crisis is, in fact, easy to solve. Start by laying off administrators in order of highest salary (starting with the University President as he has clearly failed at his job) and continue down the path until you have 25% budget surplus.

Yep, as highlighted in the article, cutting successful academic programs (which the linguistics program seems to have been since it generated 800k in profits) is selling the golden goose.

[deleted]

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#55

Post by ethbr1 »

icegreentea2 wrote: post #34
codemac wrote: post #21

EDIT: Others have commented that this is just that the # of students taking courses vs. the # of students in the major. The phrase "program enrollment" meant something different to me. This would make the 800k profit make sense. Can someone help me clarify how they're getting to $800k in profit? When I look at their actual numbers, his comments don't make sense. https://provost.wvu.edu/files/d/bf3ef02f-e90a-4e43-a316…

Enrollment is for programs, but course credits are tabulated by subject code (not program). It's possible that students at the university taking foreign languages as actual courses (and not just transferring high school credits) count towards the credit (and revenue) total. You can see similar things in other programs (look at geography/geology) where'd you might expect a lot of non-major's to take a course in. EDIT:…

And that was the thinking at the engineering school I went to. We offered an English major.

Why?

Because engineers should take a fair number of English courses as part of their major, and you attract the best teaching talent if you have an actual program, even if you only have a few explicitly-majoring students.

Eliminating foreign language requirements seems insane to me, though. How much of the world is missing to you without a second language?

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#56

Post by ecshafer »

failrate wrote: post #40
sgustard wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"For example, Mining Engineering has experienced a decline in enrollment, yet this area is critical to the state and the region, and there is unmet occupational demand. Also experiencing similar challenges is the Petroleum and Natural Gas program" Very interesting. The politicians of West Virginia want to prop up the oil and mining industries. Young people do not want careers that destroy the planet. So the solution…

Yes, learning other languages will increase empathy. Reduced empathy makes it easier to work in the fossil fuel industry.

How does learning other language increase empathy? Can you give a specific mechanism or metric for that? This sounds like a feel good idea, but I’ve taken foreign languages in a formal setting with 3 different languages; I never felt more empathetic afterwards.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#57

Post by orochimaaru »

I completely sympathize with the author and his colleagues. However, I would respectfully say given the state of the university, please do not contemplate staying back.

It seems most of the authors’ colleagues have external funding sources which they can take with them.

Make a clean break. The relationship right now is broken. I wouldn’t try to mend it. It’ll just cause more stress as time goes on.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#58

Post by pge »

LeanderK wrote: post #42

Can you fire tenured faculty? I thought that was not possible (and what tenure was about)?

Tenure prevents you from being fired individually but does not protect you if your whole department is axed. That may be why the cuts are structured the way they are (entire departments) rather than culling specific faculty in departments that are over staffed relative to enrollment.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#59

Post by deaddodo »

tssva wrote: post #52
deaddodo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are in a budget crunch . So they should close one of the departments that pays for itself and others ? I'm having a hard time processing your logic here.

If they feel they can bring in even more revenue from investing that money elsewhere then yes.

I can only imagine that you are trolling, at this point. You understand the concept of profit, right?

Let's just do numbers here:

* Option A: you have 1mUSD to invest into Department X.

* Option B: you have 1.2mUSD to invest into Department X and you get Department Y for free.

Option A makes zero sense, logically.

Re: The Cuts at WVU

#60

Post by AlbertCory »

> operating profits of more than $800,000 in each of the last three years

while I'm sympathetic to their plight, the notion of "profit" for an individual department of a university is probably laughable to a real accountant (which I'm not).

College finances are indeed a disaster, though, and it's mostly their own fault:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37090403

Post reply on HN