Your State University Doesn't Want You

theodp writes "According to a new survey of college admissions directors by Inside Higher Ed, the admissions strategy judged most important is the recruitment of more out-of-state and international students, who can pay significantly more at public institutions. Ten percent of those surveyed also reported admitting full-pay students with lower grades and test scores than other admitted applicants, and a majority of schools either use or plan to use controversial commission-paid agents to recruit foreign students (commission-based recruitment is barred in the U.S.). 'This isn't about globalization or increased educational diversity,' asserts USC's Jerome A. Lucido. 'They need the money.' So, should employees of a public university where the President's annual compensation exceeds $1 million receive a full state-funded pension for educating 16,000+ out-of-state students?"

Comments

I don't think my state university wants ANYONE

[elrous0]

Considering how much tuition has increased at my local state schools over the last decade or so, I'm not sure they want *anyone*. I really feel sorry for kids today. It wasn't that long ago that I went to college. And tuition has almost tripled at my old school since then (while incomes have barely budged). If I had to do it over again today, there is no way I would have been able to afford it without crippling student loan debt. Sadly this rise has happened in a time when it has become almost essential to get a college degree if you want any kind of decent job.

There was an excellent article on this a couple of years ago in the NY Times.

Re:I don't think my state university wants ANYONE

[claus.wilke]

It is important to mention that throughout the US, tuition has gone up at least partially in a response to declining state funding. If states are not willing to fund their state schools, then the state schools have little option other than operating just like the private schools.

Re:Costs of education?

[afidel]

Largely for state schools it's coming from reduced income from the states general budget. Somewhere along the line we bought into both "everyone needs a college degree" and "government shouldn't do anything" and so we have an entire generation that is going to be saddled by mountains of debt just to be able to get a job. It's kind of the company store all over but at a macro level instead of just in small towns.

Re:Quit Blaming Capitalism

[betterunixthanunix]

I am working at a "state school" right now, which receives a whopping 5% of its budget from the state. Do not be so quick to assume that "state school" means "paid for by the state government."

Re:Costs of education?

[bluefoxlucid]

It often IS Liberal Brainwashing. I had a professor that would stop teaching to non-sequitur into other shit. Statistics, wine consumption per country, what does this show ... shows correlation between consumption of wine and reduced heart disease. WRONG BITCH: ALCOHOL, 'CAUSE I SAID SO. We argued he was wrong...

Yeah, bad teacher. Bad teacher continues, starts talking about marriage ... and goes into a tirade about gay marriage, and how it's wrong, starts talking about sex with animals. One day he started on how family planning was important and abortion should be legal, something about statistics at first but then just a big opinion filabuster. About 80% of his gibberish was liberal party line typical shit.

I've had plenty of college teachers that taught subjects--MATH, particularly--and didn't wander out of their territory. I also had teachers that asserted conservative politics were best--with proof (political science teacher), and actually pretty decent because he was arguing a decent political theory that wasn't available in the US (it wasn't US Democrat or US Republican, or tied to any issues like Global Warming or Abortion or whatnot; mostly fiscal stuff). I've also had teachers that liked to filabuster about their particular partyline politics. I've also had teachers that slant their material to include partyline stuff, or like to lead irrelevant conversation that way and then jump back into class topics (often the moment they're challenged).

Overwhelmingly, though, the ones that are bleeding their shit into our education are liberals. Some of these people are damn smart; others are simply "educated" to the point that the topic they have major degrees in is all dogma (i.e. people explaining computers to me are WRONG, and I've made complete embarrassments of them when they challenged me in class on how computers actually worked, to the point that they went out to do independent research and came back shamed and, I hope, enlightened). It takes all kinds; bright people are both GOP and DNC, dumb assholes are both GOP and DNC. The flavor of their inane raving changes, but it's still inane raving.

And the truth is... that particular job segment attracts liberals. Education is particularly idealistic anyway, and the ideals slant a certain way. You touch so many peoples' lives that it's hard to justify anything, you start thinking everyone is working so hard, the world is just unfair if anyone fails, and you can't let them fail ... then you become a liberal, and start talking about how poor people should get paid by very rich people just because rich people don't need all that money, and what nonsense.

Obviously, extremely biased administration can build a school where the professors are overwhelmingly GOP sluts; same problem, different flavor. It does happen.