Sunday's Doonesbury- Day Laborers

[tblue37]

28. Even as tuition increases at 2.5-3.0 times the rate of inflation, that money isn't going into

Last edited Sun Sep 6, 2015, 09:59 PM - Edit history (1)

instructional improvements or costs. About 75% of all undergraduate classes are taught by low paid, job insecure adjunct faculty or TAs. Believe it or not, TAs in some courses (mostly science lab or math courses) are sometimes only sophomores or juniors themselves!

One reason why costs at public colleges have skyrocketed is that states have drastically reduced support for public universities. Another is that more layers of well paid bureaucrats (+ support staff and office space and equipment) get added, and another is that the explosion of paperwork required by the increasingly burdernsome compliance regime makes even more administrators (+ support staff and office space and equipment) necessary.

Then there is the firece competition for students (or more precisely, their tuition dollars), which means heavy spending on elaborate amenities: athletic fields, gyms, etc., even beyond what is used for the schools' competitive teams; dorm suites that are much fancier than the tiny cinderblock rooms earlier generations lived in; IT support, computer labs, "media enabled" classrooms, wireless available everywhere on campus (these things are needed, no doubt, but not cheap); expensive marketing campaigns; high salaries to "star" professors who teach only a handful of students each year--etc.

Money also has to be spent on elaborate academic support systems for students who need reading, writing, and math remediation, as well as guidance and assistance to help them develop study skills and "life skills" that will prevent them from crashing and burning during their first year. Because high school is so undemanding in most cases, a majority of new students arrive on campus without the foundational knowledge and skills necessary for surviving the heavier work load and the more rigorous grading standards of college.

About 25% of all first year students either flunk out or drop out (often because they are about to flunk out) before completing their first year. If you include those who manage to complete their freshman year but do not return for their second year, that goes up to 30%. Even students who got high grades in high school (including quite a few valedictorians!) are at risk. Providing the necessary academic (and psychological) support systems adds to the cost of student services, which also gets passed along as increases in tuition and fees.

But since colleges and the individual departments depend on enrollment to maintain themselves, they must continue to aggressively market themselves to prospective students, even if job prospects are limited for those who get their undergraduate or graduate degrees.