Where Does the Money Go?
I have been a student for a long time (much too long, but that’s another story), and have attended three colleges. So when I read an article like the one in today’s New York Times about post-secondary students paying more but getting less, I think, tell me something I don’t know. The same can be said of nearly every aspect of life today. Everything costs more, but we have less to show for it. I don’t mind paying higher tuition, since I acknowledge that my course fees could not possible cover the cost of my professors’ salaries, maintenance of the buildings and grounds, electricity, and the free healthcare I receive as a student at the University of Florida. But I am troubled at how cheap my school is becoming. Teachers cannot make copies of their syllabi or assignments; class sizes in upper-division English literature courses regularly exceed 35 students; graduate students are teaching courses they are not qualified to teach; instructors are leaving and not being replaced. It is a scandal.
Filed under: Cost of Living, School on January 15th, 2009
Did you hear the announcement that depts now need to figure out how to strip 10%? I wonder if part of the problem isn’t the notion of survival of the fittest units. Will the athletics or the Shands clinics cut staff? Should profitability select educational offerings? Are we an institution or a collection of specialty schools…
Since 2000, UF has built or renovated the following structures: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium; Hume Hall; Rinker Hall; Gerson Hall; the Steinbrenner Band Building; Library West; Pugh Hall; the Nanotechnology Building; the Cancer Center; the Nursing Building; the new ER center on Archer Road; the Hub; the Reitz Union; the Dance Pavillion; and probably more I cannot think of off the top of my head. I can’t begin to guess how many millions of dollars have been spent. New buildings are nice, but how can departments be asked to cut budgets again, and lay off more people, when several new structures are going up this very minute?