NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
1–10 of 65 posts
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#2I'm not sure I agree with all the scandal. To me it's more a legal technicality.
Schools should be allowed to pay whatever market salaries they must to keep their heads. If students don't like it, they can choose to apply to other schools. If alums don't like it, they don't need to donate. If faculty are jealous, they can work elsewhere.
The argument only breaks down when these schools get non-profit benefits. So why not just be done with it and take away the non-profit status? And then perhaps spread the big research dollars to true non-profits. But - unshackle the schools.
To me the bigger scandal is how much the head coaches get paid. That's truly the sign of a for-profit enterprise, and the athletes frequently are required to go to college to get to the pros.
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#3I'm not sure I agree with all the scandal. To me it's more a legal technicality. Schools should be allowed to pay whatever market salaries they must to keep their heads. If students don't like it, they can choose to apply to other schools. If alums don't like it, they don't need to donate. If faculty are jealous, they can work elsewhere. The argument only breaks down when these schools get non-profit benefits. So why…
The NCAA is pretty scummy: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-sham... but what pro sport requires a college degree?
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#4I'm not sure I agree with all the scandal. To me it's more a legal technicality. Schools should be allowed to pay whatever market salaries they must to keep their heads. If students don't like it, they can choose to apply to other schools. If alums don't like it, they don't need to donate. If faculty are jealous, they can work elsewhere. The argument only breaks down when these schools get non-profit benefits. So why…
There is a scandal in the sense that the people running the schools earn significant benefits at the expense of the students: they charge the students substantial tuition rates, leaving the students with horrible debt, and a low probability that their education can be applied to cover the debt (more likely, the students' own tenacity will help them overcome the debt). You might argue that the students willingly walk into the trap, but I'd argue that the university has a duty and responsibility to guide the students towards a successful life path, and these days, that would legitimately mean advising their students to attend other schools.
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#5I'm not sure I agree with all the scandal. To me it's more a legal technicality. Schools should be allowed to pay whatever market salaries they must to keep their heads. If students don't like it, they can choose to apply to other schools. If alums don't like it, they don't need to donate. If faculty are jealous, they can work elsewhere. The argument only breaks down when these schools get non-profit benefits. So why…
The NCAA is pretty scummy: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-sham... but what pro sport requires a college degree?
The NFL does not require a degree, but does have an age requirement which occasionally comes up as a hot debate point:
"The NFL Eligibility Requirements
NFL rule requires a player to either be out of high school for three years or have finished three college football seasons before joining the league. (Lupica, M. 2004) The NFL is the only major professional sport that prohibits the drafting of players who have not completed three college seasons or who are not three years removed from high school graduation (Gehring, 2004; Nieporent 2004). The NFL claims that this rule is in the athlete's best interest. The NFL argues that this rule protects player’s physical safety. However, the NFL and the NCAA benefit by capitalizing on amateur athletes."
http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/age-requirement-profe...
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#6 > building itself less like a university and more like a for-profit corporation
"The way we think about charity is dead wrong" http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about...
Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential http://www.amazon.com/dp/1584659556/
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#7NYU is a school for rich kids. It's a vacation for students who want college fun, but prefer it to be in an urban setting like NYC (and the best part of NY, to be sure), rather than in a small college town with its frat parties and beer pong. IMO, it's not the ideal place to study at all. Too many distractions. If you're a liberal arts student you can probably take advantage of all the events, museums, intellectual stuff surrounding you, but there's no way I would want to study pre-med or engineering or the like there (even if disregarding the costs).
If you go to a $50,000 per year university for four years in the most expensive area of the most expensive city in the country and come out surprised by all the student debt you have, then you're an idiot and your degree should be withdrawn.
Shame on the federal government for providing easy credit for those wanting a luxurious four year vacation.
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#8As a general rule, I think there is an counter-productive reaction among people to the idea of paying high salaries to people working in non-profits. At the end of the day, good people are willing to take a pay cut to work at an organization they perceive to be socially beneficial, but only so much of one. Their kids still have to go to college, after all. And if the organization can raise the money, why object to its paying what it needs to attract good people? After all, NYU is in a location where you just can't buy a reasonable apartment on a professor's salary. That's why it goes to such lengths to offer housing options to professors (it's the largest land owner in lower Manhattan, IIRC).
Now, the problem in this particular case, however, is that there is a massive market distortion in play: federal student loans. Because federal student loans are guaranteed up to the cost of attendance with almost no credit check, schools can raise prices to whatever they want with almost zero impact on demand. If students could only get loans based on parental credit, tuitions at places like NYU would collapse.
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#9Any government backed student loan should have a simple repayment schedule -- a maximum of 15% of your earnings for 10 years following graduation. At the end of 10 years, the loan is considered fully paid and any balance, if remaining, forgiven. The institution eats the cost of forgiving the balance.
So if you're an institution providing an expensive but worthless education, you aren't going to get paid for it.
Let's treat universities the same way we treat teachers -- let's assess the results.
Re: NYU Neatly Embodies Everything Wrong With Higher Education in America
#10NYU is a school for rich kids. It's a vacation for students who want college fun, but prefer it to be in an urban setting like NYC (and the best part of NY, to be sure), rather than in a small college town with its frat parties and beer pong. IMO, it's not the ideal place to study at all. Too many distractions. If you're a liberal arts student you can probably take advantage of all the events, museums, intellectual s…
Did you go to NYU, or are you just out to insult those who did?
I went to NYU. I credit it with developing a lot of the skills that have gotten me to where I am today. This comes with a very clear understanding that my degree, while not directly related to what I do for a living, is still hugely useful in my day-to-day life.
I have a substantial amount of debt; most college kids do, anyhow. I credit NYU with giving me the opportunity to leave rural Pennsylvania and helping me into a salary bracket five times higher than my parents ever were in. For me, the cost of 3 years (after scholarships) bought this opportunity.
NYU isn't a "luxurious four year vacation." It's one of the higher ranked schools in America. It has professors who are leaders in their fields. It is rigorous and challenging.