Coming Soon to a Commencement Near You - The Rolling Stones !

$140K per Hour and She'd be Underpaid !!

The cost of a college degree in the United States has increased "12 fold" over the past 30 years, far outpacing the price inflation of consumer goods, medical expenses and food.

According to Bloomberg, college tuition and fees have increased 1,120 percent since records began in 1978.

The average debt owed by New Jersey college graduates in 2012 was $29,287, according to the Project on Student Debt 2012. That’s up from an average of $27,610 in 2011 and $23,792 in 2010.

Most of New Jersey’s public colleges and universities do not pay their commencement speakers, though they often cover their travel expenses. Rutgers recently began paying speakers $30,000 to $35,000 in a bid to attract bigger names to its ceremony. The money comes from donations to the university’s foundation, not tuition or state funding, Rutgers officials said.*

Rice was scheduled to receive $35,000 for her Rutgers speech before she bowed out. (The speech was planned for 15 minutes - that's $140,000 per hour.) Kean, her replacement, has turned down the fee and Rutgers has not said if LeGrand will be paid for his remarks.

Kean University has also paid its speakers in recent years. Musician John Legend earned $25,000 in 2011 for a 15-minute speech and the performance of two songs. In 2006, Kean paid filmmaker Spike Lee $25,000 for a 10-minute graduation address (that's $150,000 per hour).

New Jersey colleges seem to want to give away over two years of tuition for a typical undergraduate student so as to have a "Big Name" commencement speaker? I think this shows the height of  arrogance and total disregard for the students who struggle to pay the exorbitant tuitions and fees these school demand.

*Should such donations be used to line the pockets of "Big Name" fifteen minute speakers? I certainly think it would be better used to help lower tuition costs if even just an iota! They say that university foundations pay the speaker fees?  Does that mean that when I get phone calls for contributions to Rutger's Foundations I  was being asked to contribute to this pompous folly.? I had no idea that might be the case!

Had I known I surely would not have contributed as I have done over the past fifteen years. The next time I am called I will be sure to ask if any of my money will be eligible for the "Big Name" speaker program? If  the answer is "yes" - I will just simply hang up the phone!

RU Athletic Absurdity

RU has the second highest in-state tuition of all public universities in the U.S. Will the expected "financial bonanza" from joining the Big Ten result in lowered tuition rates? 

Will future athletic costs include million dollar payouts because a coach "bullied" a six foot five, two hundred and twenty pound, twenty-two year old by throwing a ball at him and pushing him into position (Couldn't he have just quit the team if he felt so threatened)?

Will future athletic budgets include the outrageous legal fees incurred (and on going) by new "bullying" incidents?

PS

I've done some soul searching during these long, cold winter days.

Why do I write this blog and why am I so concerned about all these education isssues? I've been out of the loop for ten years now! Maybe it's because, when people ask me what I did with my life, I would like  to say "I was a teacher" with pride and head held high?

With all the disdain for public education and teachers which continually fills the media day after day, it makes it hard for me to utter those words without a downward gaze. I would like to see the day when I can speak about my life's work without even a hint of  apology.

But every time I write one of these diatribes, I say to myself it should be my last!  

I should resolve to stop being so compulsive about commenting on the constant criticisms, teacher bashings and failed schemes proposed by education "experts" and politicians because it seems nothing I can do will ever change it. It only gets worse!

Then, the next day, when I pick up the paper or turn on the radio I immediately read or hear the kind of stuff that drives me back to this computer. I guess I just lack the self discipline required to control myself but I will continue to try, I promise. 

Wish me luck.

A Friend Just Sent This Email to Me

A friend just sent this email to me and I replied and thought that maybe you might be interested too -

BTW - What's your opinion ??

Email 

Walt,

What do you think of the proposal for the state to take part of your income in exchange for paying for your education.

Reply

C______,

It’s good to hear from you.

I’m flattered that you ask for my opinion.

As to my feelings about the current plan, it’s just another mechanism to avoid confronting the real issue, “Why is college so expensive?”

When you and I went to school the tuition was but a fraction of what it is today. You might say “Sure but everything was cheaper too” but so were incomes and so that’s not a good excuse.

(See my previous article - Monday, August 12, 2013  - The College Loan Bubble - Toil and Trouble).

Back to the question you asked about the currently proposed scheme – any plan that indentures people for a lifetime to pay outlandish college costs, whether it be upfront or back door, doesn’t appeal to me at all !

All this will do, as the student loan program has done, is to encourage even higher tuitions and fees. The whole thing is similar to credit cards, which certainly have induced even more spending by consumers and allowed

prices to rise even more than the would have without them.

Thanks again for asking.

Walt

The College Loan Bubble - Toil and Trouble

Let me add a little personal, anecdotal history about college tuition in New Jersey.
In the early 60s when I graduated from high school I had no money for college. Consequently, I got a job as a carpenter's assistant for $1.25 per hour. When I finally accumulated enough money I applied to Montclair State College and was accepted.
The tuition rate was $75 per semester and I don't remember any additional fees being involved.
The reason I applied to MSC was because of the lower tuition, RU was somewhat higher but still not exorbitant by comparison. At the end of my four years, the tuition rate had not changed.
Many of my peers at MSC had applied for and received the State Scholarship which covered all their tuition costs. Since I did not enter college immediately after high school I did not qualify and never received its advantage.
But that is not my point.
How is it that now tuition rates throughout the state (and everywhere) are sky high ?
Why are students now required to saddle themselves with tens of thousands of dollars of debt ?
Who could work their way through college today ?
Why is the national Student Loan debt over a trillion dollars ?
I guess you might say inflation, things are much more expensive today but of course wages are much higher too so it all kind of evens out.
Well, I'm not so sure !
The average minimal wage in the early 60s was about what I was paid, maybe a bit higher, $1.50 - $1.75 per hour, Let's say today that wage is $10 per hour. This means it has increased roughly sevenfold. Certainly, seven times $150 (the yearly tuition at State schools in the 1960s) does not come close to today's rates and fees at these schools.
Am I saying that tuition today should be $1050 ? No, but it surely shouldn't be $10,000 either !
Now, how about the student loan situation ?
The recent furor over loan rates being raised resulted in their being capped (to some extent anyway) and people cheered. Not me !
I think the conversation should have been directed at why tuitions are so high and how they should be lowered. Instead, loan rates where lowered (I mean not raised as much) which simply encourages more borrowing.
To add insult to injury not only have the costs increased to dramatic heights, at the same time the school year has been sharply reduced.
In the 60s and before, the first semester started at the beginning of September and extended to mid January with a one week Christmas break. After the first semester was completed there was a one week intermission and the second semester began. The last day of the school year occurred the second week in June.
I've done some calculations and I find that today's college four year education is actually a full year short of that of the 1960s.
The bottom line -  lots less for lots more !
Another math exercise I did was to figure out the cost per hour of class time. At RU it is over $30 per hour (in state students). A ticket to a Broadway show which lasts for two and a half hours is about $75 (a reasonably good seat). You do the math !
And to make things even worse, many classes consist of hundreds of students, all herded into an auditorium with the professor appearing the size of a dime below. Questions from the students, I don't think so. Questions are reserved for the TAs, low cost graduate students trying to pay their own tuition bills.
My own college experience consisted of class sizes of twenty and less with student questions handled by the professor during class time. (And the professor was always available after class for more questions).
Is college today a scam on the middle class or is it just my cynicism showing through as usual ?