[Retroit]

Originally Posted by MittenDweller82

....(UM's endowment fund was valued at 8 billion dollars in 2010)...

Wow! Makes me wonder why a state with a $1.8 billion deficit is funding a school with an $8 billion surplus.

[djmilf]

Originally Posted by TaylorRothschild

I see that the Wolverine football coaching staff takes about $4 million a year, for instance. Now I realize there is tv revenue, ticket sales, etc. But my point is, I'm not in the sports industry. Why should my income support such folly?

The Wolverine football program makes so much money it pretty much funds ALL of the athletic programs at U of M. The men's basketball program also is a money maker. So it's not costing the tax payers anything while providing free advertising for the university.

The same can be said for the football and basketball programs at Michigan State.

I don't know enough about the other state funded universities with football programs (Central Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Wayne State University) to know about the revenues for their football programs.

[djmilf]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Wow! Makes me wonder why a state with a $1.8 billion deficit is funding a school with an $8 billion surplus.

U of M's endowment for 2010 is only $6.6 billion. And it's not like the endowment can be spent - it's used for generating investment income for the university. That income is running about $300 million to $400 millon each year.

But there's no doubt that it's by far the best funded university that also receives state financial support.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

Originally Posted by TaylorRothschild

And my issues don't end there. I see that the Wolverine football coaching staff takes about $4 million a year, for instance. Now I realize there is tv revenue, ticket sales, etc. But my point is, I'm not in the sports industry. Why should my income support such folly? I don't mind supporting the Lions because I realize if I buy a ticket or a jersey some of that money funds the team. But some working man in Marquette partially funding the Wolverines lady soccer program? This is pure redistribution, for the sake of. . . . gamesmanship? lol

If I don't have kids, why should I have to partially fund little Billy Jensen's medical degree? If Billy is worthy of an education he will either earn one, or quickly pay one off once he enters the workforce. And if Billy wants to study something that doesn't pay? That risk should be on him, not me.

You have a good point about certain majors that "don't pay". If little Billy chooses a major that does not have a great return on the dollar (very few job opportunities) then perhaps he should have a greater part in funding that outside of the public dollars. It may or may not be difficult to set the criteria for this. There's hundreds of studies that track jobs, job placements and % of graduates placed, etc. I'm just not sold on the idea that higher education is a magic cure-all for society's ills nor the best option for EVERY kid.

Regarding college sports. I believe only U-M and MSU can self-fund their athletic depts., the rest in this state are a net loss to the university.

[Bhaalspawn]

Originally Posted by ForStarters

Rep. Genetski: Closing one or two state colleges ‘a very real possibility' - Crain's Detroit Business - Detroit News and Information

To me, this seems like a pretty drastic solution to balancing the budget.

I am sick of hearing that we don't have money for schools when our government spends billions on wasteful things here in Michigan and wastes trillions of dollars building schools and infrastructure in foreign lands. What is happening to us?

It actually would make sense to close a college or university since our nation is already producing a huge oversupply of college graduates and has been doing so for years. It would save some people from the financial ravages of student loans when they cannot find jobs that require college education due to the glut of people with college degrees. Here's an article that may be of interest. From Wall Street to Wal-Mart: Why College Graduates Are Not Getting Good Jobs

http://www.centerforcollegeaffordabi...o_Wal-Mart.pdf

[Bhaalspawn]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Something just occurred ot me about scholarships. They should offer state scholarships only with conditions. If you stay in Michigan for at least 5 years after graduation, it is simply a scholarship. If you leave Michigan, you have to pay it back. Bacisally we woudl be paying exemplary students to stay in Michigan. Might be a solution to the propbelm of all of them leaving upon graduation so we are paying for the educations of people who go off and benefit some other state.

What good does it do the state to have highly-educated unemployed and underemployed people? After all, that's the reason why people are leaving the state. If some sort of knowledge-based job goes wanting, an employer can simply advertise it or try recruiting at Michigan colleges. There is a huge oversupply of college-educated labor nationwide with as many as 17 million people with college degrees working jobs that don't make use of a college degree. We might lose a Michigan-educated student to another state, but if need be we can gain college graduates from other states when they relocate to fill any open jobs.

All of this concern about Michigan graduates leaving the state obscures the real problem. The real problem is a lack of jobs for them. If the state's economy can be fixed, Michigan graduates will have a reason to settle in the state. I don't buy for a minute the notion that businesses don't want to locate to Michigan because of a lack of college educated labor. Businessmen know damned well that they can easily recruit new graduates from the state's colleges or recruit them nationwide.

[Bhaalspawn]

Originally Posted by JimmyInGreatLakes

You have a good point about certain majors that "don't pay". If little Billy chooses a major that does not have a great return on the dollar (very few job opportunities) then perhaps he should have a greater part in funding that outside of the public dollars. It may or may not be difficult to set the criteria for this. There's hundreds of studies that track jobs, job placements and % of graduates placed, etc. I'm just not sold on the idea that higher education is a magic cure-all for society's ills nor the best option for EVERY kid.

Broaching the subject of whether or not too many people are going to college and whether we are obtaining a proper return on our investment is almost taboo. That concept is unthinkable to most people, including many college-educated people.

Often you'll hear people who believe in the general dogma agree that Women's Studies and Art History degrees don't have much value. However, what they fail to realize is that the solution is not to increase the number of people in useful fields. (That would just result in a dramatic increase in the number of college graduates in those fields, resulting in larger gluts in those fields.) Rather, the solution is for our society to grow up and acknowledge the reality that only a small percentage of jobs objectively require or make actual use of a college degree and that resources spent on excess and unneeded higher education could be better spent elsewhere.

I do think that the media, politicians, and the public will have to consider this issue one day--when unemployed and underemployed "educated indentured servants" begin defaulting on their student loans in mass or when they end up getting discharged through the new Income Based Repayment plan for federal student loans. Right now student loan debt is larger than credit card debt and the bubble will have to burst eventually.

[Ann_Arbor]

I think closing a few schools could do this state a lot of good.

[JimmyInGreatLakes]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Broaching the subject of whether or not too many people are going to college and whether we are obtaining a proper return on our investment is almost taboo. That concept is unthinkable to most people, including many college-educated people.

Often you'll hear people who believe in the general dogma agree that Women's Studies and Art History degrees don't have much value. However, what they fail to realize is that the solution is not to increase the number of people in useful fields. (That would just result in a dramatic increase in the number of college graduates in those fields, resulting in larger gluts in those fields.) Rather, the solution is for our society to grow up and acknowledge the reality that only a small percentage of jobs objectively require or make actual use of a college degree and that resources spent on excess and unneeded higher education could be better spent elsewhere.

I do think that the media, politicians, and the public will have to consider this issue one day--when unemployed and underemployed "educated indentured servants" begin defaulting on their student loans in mass or when they end up getting discharged through the new Income Based Repayment plan for federal student loans. Right now student loan debt is larger than credit card debt and the bubble will have to burst eventually.

I hear you on that. The amount of money being spent on college degrees is staggering yet no one will do a cost/benefit study, or if they have, it's getting pummelled because "we need an educated society"....well, that all assumes everyone is getting educated in what society NEEDS. There are a lot of tenured professors, support personnel, construction workers, etc. that like the status quo and would like everyone to believe a college degree, no matter what it is in, is the path to bigger and better things, the actual market notwithstanding!

[AlohaHuey]

People are already stupid. Most need all the education they can get.