By Steven Brill - Reuters
How high are universities flying?
I was amazed to see this sentence in the piece the New York Times’s ever-amazing Jo Becker wrote last week
about all the goodies outgoing Penn State football coach Joe Paterno
negotiated in a new contract even as the Jerry Sandusky scandal was
imploding around him: “He would also have the use of the university’s
private plane…”
Penn State has a private plane? Sure, the school probably charters a
jet when the team travels. But do the university executives have their
own jet? How many other universities have perks like this?
As this article from Bloomberg.com
documents, the relentless rise in higher education tuition and other
costs has trapped students in debt from readily available student loans
backed by us taxpayers. It is fast becoming a national scandal akin to
the mortgage crisis. Which means we need some tough, fresh reporting
finally holding university leaders accountable for spending and
management efficiency.
According to news reports
Penn State trustees raised tuition on the main campus last week by 2.9
percent. University officials bragged that this was the “lowest
percentage tuition boost in 45 years and one of the smallest in the
nation.” However, that raise followed a 4.9 percent increase the year
before, and it exceeded the pace of inflation in any event. Sure, state
aid to the school was cut, but a check of the university’s website
reveals that the overall expense budget for the coming school year is
still up $131 million, or 3.2 percent, over the year before, again
outpacing inflation and despite those cuts in state aid. The overriding
reality is that higher education remains a gold mine for reporters
looking for waste and lack of accountability.
Air Paterno may be a good hook to get people interested. Which other schools have planes?
No comments:
Post a Comment