The Higher Cost of Higher Education

[jerrybob]

Did you hear about the banker who was arrested for embezzling $100,000 to pay for his daughter's college education? As the policeman, who also had a daughter in college, was leading him away in handcuffs, he said to the banker, "I have just one question for you. Where were you going to get the rest of the money?"

 

[Sodo]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

I don't know about the rest of the states, but wages for state employees are below average here...at least for the average state employee. There are some scandals of late concerning agency heads who got huge raises, but it's been years since there have been merit raises.

 

[RoyJackson]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

I doubt the average worker makes more money then a private sector employee. But the pension plans not being funded...that's the elected government's fault.
Those pension plans in conjunction with the lower tax base (due to the decline in manufacturing in the US) are a lethal combination.

 

[smstonypoint]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

What is the prevailing wage for the president of a public university? The salary of a private university president? The salary of a for-profit university president? The salary of a president of a corporation with a comparable number of employees/sales/etc.?

From Public university presidents raking in higher pay - May. 12, 2013.

"The median pay package for public university presidents, including deferred compensation and other one-time payments, jumped 5% to $441,392 for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education analysis of 212 presidents at 191 institutions. Meanwhile, the median base salary rose 2% to $373,800."

The highest total compensation, $2.9M, went to Graham B. Spanier at Penn State before he was fired.

From University of Chicago president gets top pay among private colleges - Chicago Sun-Times

"Presidents at 42 private colleges scaled the $1 million annual mark in total pay and benefits in 2011.....Total median compensation was $410,523, or 3.2 percent more....The top earner in the survey was Robert J. Zimmer, the president of the University of Chicago. His base pay was $918,000, but his total compensation was $3.4 million. ... The analysis included a comparison of presidents salaries compared with the size of their colleges' budget. By that measure, the median pay was $5,466 per $1 million of expenses."

From Executives Collect $2 Billion Running U.S. For-Profit Colleges - Bloomberg

"Strayer Education Inc., a chain of for-profit colleges that receives three-quarters of its revenue from U.S. taxpayers, paid Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Silberman $41.9 million last year. ....

John G. Sperling, Apollo's 89-year-old founder and executive chairman, received $263.5 million from stock sales during the last seven years. Robert B. Knutson, retired CEO and chairman of Pittsburgh-based Education Management, the second- largest for-profit college chain by enrollment, got $132.4 million. Dennis Keller and Ronald Taylor, former co-CEOs of DeVry Inc., a Downers Grove, Illinois-based for-profit higher education company, together collected $110.4 million in stock proceeds."

I don't have the time (or the desire) to make a comparison of university presidents' salaries to corporate presidents' (CEOs') salaries, but I don't have reason to suspect that the university presidents are overpaid relative to corporate executives.

Some public university presidents are overpaid and some are underpaid relative to the values they add to their respective universities. As a faculty member, I never thought my university's president or other administrators were underpaid, but I could pick and choose who I had to deal with it on a day-to-day basis (for the most part). You couldn't pay me enough if I had to deal with some academics on a routine basis.

Steve

 

[Sodo]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

I guess I should have qualified that; referring to states that had both high taxes (and in some cases) bankruptcy. In WA state we are considered the 4th highest taxed citizens in the USA - and thats with NO state income tax. Every crisis requires a new tax added while 1 in every 5 Seattle city employees are paid 6 figures. The wages keep climbing and if the state needs some services then we add another tax.

Wages are off-limits for discussion but we sure can complain about taxes!

 

[jerrybob]

Wages are the single highest cost to state budgets and are bankrupting the states. There is no good reason for such a windfall. State employees should be paid prevailing wages.

And be put on production standards like private businesses. Many....go to work for the state or county because it's an easy job that is difficult to be fired from..plus many get free benefits and retirement. Cities do pretty much the same thing. Government workers for the most part are not encouraged to be innovative or look for less costly ways of doing business.......many never even receive a meaningful performance evaluation with improvement recommendations.....unions will not allow it.....god forbid....somebody steps outside the box and suggests an improved process.....never happens in government. Just last week, spoke to a local guy who is trying to get on with the county. When asked why.....he said good pay, great benefits and you don't have to work nearly as hard as you do out in the woods. He'll make a great government worker!!

 

[dave1949]

I don't even consider the majority of "for-profit" colleges as part of the real education picture. Those are primarily scams made possible by government loans IMO. Virtual education companies would like to penetrate the public K-12 market too, more than they already have. That's where the money is. They don't have much of an education track record, but the money rolls in where ever they can get their foot in the door.

But all of that is just part of why US education is under-performing. Paying stock dividends and fat salaries will not improve learning or graduation rates. It will suck needed financial resources out of the system though and leave behind very little to show for it.

I don't doubt that university presidents and CEO's are paid about the same for the size of the organization they head. Both are grossly over-paid IMO. The excesses of one should not excuse or justify those of the other. That's how we got to where we are now.

 

[Sodo]

That's how we got to where we are now.

Agreed, and there's no turning back.

It's been my experience that people on the public dole, or those who have it real good, complain MORE about how bad government is run. It's gotten to the point that whenever I hear a guy complaining about the gov't I become suspect of how he's currently sucking off the country's wealth, how much he's getting, and what he's attemping to retain for himself with this attitude.

They teach their kids the same thing. Good luck when you are old and these kids are running our government, fully entitled, as a tool for their own enrichment.

I remember talking to Nigerian students at college in the '80s, that's how they viewed their government. As a total loss, and the only hope was to get a government job; from that figure out how to squeeze other citizens or steal directly from the government to enrich themselves. At least they were candid about their intentions.

I don't have the answer though, and I'm not leader. I don't like to pay a guy $35/hr to lean on a shovel any more than paying out such high welfare that it's not worth getting a job. Germany had exactly that problem about 10 years ago, but they have found some answers somehow and are now a manufacturing powerhouse with very low unemployment and high public satisfaction.

 

[rsallen]

Welcome to the world of trickle down economics and the privatization of government (aka smaller government).
It's a brave new world heh?