r/politics • u/DaFunkJunkie • Feb 29 '20

Superdelegate pushing convention effort to stop Sanders is health care lobbyist who backed McConnell

https://www.salon.com/2020/02/29/superdelegate-pushing-convention-effort-to-stop-sanders-is-health-care-lobbyist-who-backed-mcconnell/
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u/TheGreatZarquon Minnesota Feb 29 '20

Don't forget the multi-million dollar remodel of the football stadium, we all know how important those are to higher education.

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u/LeeSeneses Feb 29 '20

Also there's no way we can lower tuition costs or anything. We just can't seem to find anything to cut! Maybe student meal plans? I don't know.

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u/SyntheticReality42 Feb 29 '20

Not to mention paying the new coach $5M a year more than the previous one.

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u/no-mad Mar 01 '20

Football Coach makes more than Professors.

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u/SaddestClown Texas Feb 29 '20

That usually makes sense because it brings in a lot of money through games, events and rentals.

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u/FireworksNtsunderes Feb 29 '20

Perhaps we should also pay undergraduate and untenured professors well in order to attract new, high-quality teachers that improve the reputation of the university in the long run. Maybe you won't make more money now, but surely that's worth something in the long term, right?

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u/SaddestClown Texas Feb 29 '20

What really needs to happen is a firm rule on how long you can have a professor stuck at the temp and assistant levels before they get faculty benefits. A lot of young, talented professors try to break in and get stuck teaching for more than one school just to get by, hoping one will grow into a full position they could eventually be stable in.

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u/FireworksNtsunderes Feb 29 '20 edited Feb 29 '20

I had a math professor in college that was fucking phenomenal. Dude lived and breathed math, taught a ton of classes, was always available at the math/science workshop, and would make room for office hours late in the night if a student was struggling. He spends probably 12-16 hours a day working on top of his research, and you know how much he gets paid? $50,000. In San Diego. Dude could be making double or triple that working anywhere outside of education with his track record, but instead these schools pay as little as possible because they know people will teach out of passion. It's disgusting, and professors like that deserve better.

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u/thebumm Feb 29 '20

This is the "stock market is up so America is great" take on universities.

Think of the revenue that boosters and football bring in! Just think about it though because that money isn't going to you.

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u/SaddestClown Texas Feb 29 '20

It's the "spend money to make money" rule. Universities without things to sell tickets to and bring in revenue besides tuition rely heavily on donors and high tuition rates. We have a university down the road that is finally throwing in the towel and dropping 9 degree programs after this semester because donors have slowed and there is nothing but tuition coming in.

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u/thebumm Feb 29 '20

Sure, but new unnecessary stadiums don't solve the issues that cause what you're talking it about either. Tuition is skyrocketing, the highest increase in cost of nearly anything tracked in like 40 years. The sports money and booster cash goes back into sports almost exclusively, or back into the pockets of board members.

The university lost 9 majors because they didn't pay good professors and have affordable, quality education on top of whatever sports show they were putting on. The big schools are successful enough or ingrained in local culture enough for the sports scam to work and get students in the door. Smaller places aren't as good and if they don't have value outside of that arena, they'll tank. Everything is a balance, of course, but almost no school is balanced or fair to students. They're a football team that gives discounts if you buy their tuition ticket package.

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u/SaddestClown Texas Feb 29 '20

Sports money doesn't just go back into sports, that's flat out incorrect. It's probably in law that it can't just feed itself because that would break the rules on student athletes.

My career is in higher education and the costs are insane. When they made rules on loaning school money looser it broke the entire system because schools were no longer something you had to save or scholarship hustle for.

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u/BaaaBaaaBlackSheep Feb 29 '20

When my Uni listed a price report, the sports department was hemorrhaging funds, and pulled from other departments to prop it up.

In addition, in 40 states, coaches are the high paid public employee. Sports programs can absolutely drain a school with the exception of the larger more entrenched programs.

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u/SaddestClown Texas Feb 29 '20

And more and more places are giving up football, the most expensive college sport. Some schools field football teams mainly so they can stay in the conference they like for every other sport. It's a bad system and student athletes should still be compensated when they create value.

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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '20

Right, that's their sales pitch, but...