(From the textbook discussion)
I am astounded at the price of a University education. I went to a University, and did not really enjoy the experience. I found it to be somewhat of a ripoff. Today, I would like to know why University education costs so damn much.
I looked up the website of the University of Idaho. I picked University of Idaho (or U of I) because it is a regualr four year University in a regular state in flyover country. I guess Idaho has some rich people in it (Sun Valley?) but most people there seem middle class. Probably because U and I has a cool nickname, Go Vandals!
The U of I’s state tuition per year is **$14,070 **per year. This is tuition, room and board and books. Nothing about “activity fees” and other hidden costs. But $14,000 a year is **$56,000 **for four years. That’s a lot of money.
I decided to break down the costs. What are the real costs? Most of my figures, especially about College professors is a bit of an exaggeration. I tried to find out how much an average professor makes and his teaching hours, but I was mostly unsuccessful. If you know, please tell.
*A class has very little overhead. What does a class need?
*A building.. A lot of buildings you see on the major campuses are very old but sturdy. The oldest building on my campus is the main adminstrative building, built in 1848. Most buildings even today were built back in the Great Depression, or later in the 50’s and 60’s. These buildings have long been paid for. but serve no useful purpose besides being a school building. Most new buildings were built either because of an endowment, a rich alumni, or through grants.
*The classroom. Other than possibly a computer, there is nothing expensive. Tables, chairs, blackboard. Other than the computer, things haven’t changed in classrooms in literally centuries. There are labs and equipment that costs money and thus, the student has to bear some of that cost.
***College professor. **Many times in Freshman courses, they will have a grad student teaching the class, which is kind of a rip, since we pay for PhD quality professors. It is also a rip to have to take what amounts to 13th Grade lit class when my major is not English, or even writing.
Let’s say the college professor makes $100,000 a year teaching.
The professor is teaching in the classroom for 25 hours a week. I know that most professors do not make $100K a year, but there are possibly some who make more than this, like possible law and medical professors at leading institutions.
This is 1300 hours per year. (Note, this is a 52 week year, not the holidays) Dividing pay/hours, or $100,000/1300=$77. (well 76.923077) per hour.
You have this professor for one hour, but you share him/her with 25 other students. At that rate, professor per student would cost $3.07 an hour, for a teacher making 100K a year for 25 hours a week. Multiply 15 hours a week, this would be $46.05 a week. Multiply that by 36 weeks (which are 2, 18 week semesters) and this comes out to be about $1660 dollars per year.
Note, I understand that a professor does other work besides teaching in a classroom. But this does not matter with the student.
The course needs to be paid for. Fair enough. The University is selling a service. What is a fair price. Double the professor’s salary divided by the mean number of students? So let’s say $3400 for the classes, again for a year.
There are other costs:
The Bursar/Records department. They are the ones who keep the records and take the tuition. They do the bulk of the administrative, accounting, and other mundane duties of a State U.
Let’s say 200 people worked there, all making a salary of $30K a year. That is $6 million dollars a year. If your school has 20,000 students, their pay would cost each student **$300 **(6 million / 20,000)
Campus Police. (Who basically is there to write tickets and collect fines for the University, especially from illegal parking. This is the reason, commuter students why there is never a parking space on campus unless you get there at 6 AM.) Let’s call it 100 cops, or 1 cop for 200 students. Each cop makes about 30K a year, or 3,000,000/20k students is $150a year. Cars, uniforms etc. would be another $50 a student, so**$200**
Administration. Usually the bloated University administrators with their salares, offices and PhD’s cost more than what they are worth. My University has, for example, a Dean of Students. Well, gee. Do we really need one? My Uni’s Dean of Students was someone named Sparky (dude is still there, what’s my University?) who has a PhD but who has never left that campus. he went to undergrad, Grad school, PhD school, and a job. Basically he keeps the fraternities and soroities in line. That’s Dr. Sparky’s job. I think one would be honestly shocked to see how many high salaried employees in Unis are redundant and not really needed.
Let’s say 20 top people, the Chancellor, Dean of Departments, other bigwigs making $150,000 a year, again, 3 million dollars or **$150 **a year (including Sparky.)
Custodial staff. They keep the place clean. Although there the building is paid for
there is maintenance, but that is not a major cost. Toilets, sinks and pipes need to be fixed. The building gets painted every couple of years. 100 people, making $20K a year, $2,000,000 $100 a year.
University health plan. How much does are several on campus doctors and several nurses? Lets say 5 doctors making 100K a year, and 5 nurses making 50K a year. That $750,000 per year. Or $37.50 per student a year. Considering that most college students only go there either because they are ill, hungover, or pregnant. If someone is really hurt, they will go to the hospital.
**Books. **Books are an outrageous cost in University bookstores. I started to post on the textbook thread, but my post went beyond that. On the subject of why books are so expensive, it because of suppily and demand, and also because the store runs a monopoly, or a near monopoly. Most teenage college students who’s parents have money are not going to give a shit about saving them money (I didn’t).
I remember having to take about 6 classes in my 14-16 class hour week. In my mind, no new, average sized textbook should cost more than $25. Anything more than that is anal rape without vasoline. But I, the college dean guy wants to make a profit, so I will sell the books for $50 dollars, and even buy it back for $10 bucks.(:mad: hey, I run the bookstore, I am a dick. So that’s $40 bucks a book times 10 classes a year, so $400 bucks a year)
Well, let’s get a rundown.
Per year, per student
15 hours of Class: 3400
Bursar and Admin. 300
Security/Cops 200
General Maintenance 100
Gen. Health Care 38
Books (10 books a yr.) 500 (including suppilies and shit)
$4,538 for a year.
Of course, my math is flawed, but how?
I think another thing that makes University expensive is how many non-degree specific courses one must take for a degree. Many business students for example took a class called Art History. Worthless class totally. The school claims it is a part of a “well rounded education” but that is bullshit.
Another thing was the “activity fee” that all students had to pay for mostly bullshit. Mostly arts, events, bands, shit like that. I knew a commuter student who never went and did this stuff or used any services, but he had to pay just the same.
Finally, food and housing…
How much does an office campus apartment cost in Moscow, Idaho? Just quickly glancing the ads, a one bedroom apartment that would rent to a college student would be about $500 a month, or about $6000 a year.
Food? Maybe $200-300 a month to eat like a human being. I don’t think food is such a big expense becuase people can go off campus to eat, also, a lot of espcecially fast food places have hit campus. It’s probably more expensive in the long road to basically eat campus food and cheap but high calorie foodstuffs than to live somewhere and have some real food in a real refreigerator.
Maybe since it is September, we can share our stories of angst and poverty dealing with the System of Higher Learning. My parents paid for mine, I wouldn’t of paid for it.
