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LSU drafting 'academic bankruptcy' plan in response to state budget crisis

The bloated system is the entire higher education system:

View attachment 67183570

Your graph does not support your contention of "bloated" university costs. It shows how much more students are paying to attend college.

Reality is that almost every state has cut funding for colleges and universities below the rate of inflation and population growth. One consequence of rising costs has been a drop in college enrollment numbers, which means those institutions which had spent money using past growth rates now don't have the students to either pay for or utilise the expanded facilities.
 
What professors make 250 grand a year? Maybe at the very best law schools and business schools I suppose it might be possible some one makes that amount of money, but the average professor salary is very low. Especially now that tenured professors are becoming so rare, and adjuncts and assistant professors are picking up the slack. Adjuncts make a very small amount of money.

Otherwise I agree entirely. The administrators are probably the worst. They have administrators making millions, and what do we get out of it? And how can an academic establishment justify spending 7 million dollars a year on a football coach? It really is crazy.

here's a lil blurb on salaries.
Who were LSU's 25 highest-paid employees in 2013-14? | NOLA.com

the only defense for the football coach making so much money is that football program usually bring in a whole ****ton of money.... and winning coaches don't come cheap....

but when you're school is going broke... it's time to look at cutting costs, a bunch.... no sense in getting grid of 10 or 20 adjuncts/assistant professors when you can can 1 or 2 of the high priced superstars on campus and save the same amount of money.
 
here's a lil blurb on salaries.
Who were LSU's 25 highest-paid employees in 2013-14? | NOLA.com

the only defense for the football coach making so much money is that football program usually bring in a whole ****ton of money.... and winning coaches don't come cheap....

but when you're school is going broke... it's time to look at cutting costs, a bunch.... no sense in getting grid of 10 or 20 adjuncts/assistant professors when you can can 1 or 2 of the high priced superstars on campus and save the same amount of money.

That's possible, but without more information it's a lot like saying, well, Public Company Z lost money last year, so fire the CEO first - his $2 million salary is the same as 40 midlevel people!

It could be the best strategy, but if that 'superstar' brings in $500k/year and he's paid $200k, you're not winning much by firing him.

The top guy in at UW in econ - looked him up. He's got an endowed chair which pays some significant part of his salary and he's department chair, and as such is the one who (usually) is responsible for the fundraising. Depending on how he does, he could be bringing in 10 times his salary.
 
The bloated system is the entire higher education system:

View attachment 67183570

Here's a better graph for you:

rId13_image2.png


This shows that as state funding for public universities has decreased, tuition has increased proportionately. Because federal support of higher education mainly comes in the form of tuition assistance, while tuition rates have risen, the ability to access higher education hasn't decreased. This has led to an increase in the overall national student debt load.

In short, the majority of the increase in the student debt burden that the country faces is from a drastic reduction in state support with a federal promotion of student debt issuance. In order to reverse the process, the solution is to increase state support of public universities and decrease federal support of student debt issuance.
 
That's possible, but without more information it's a lot like saying, well, Public Company Z lost money last year, so fire the CEO first - his $2 million salary is the same as 40 midlevel people!

It could be the best strategy, but if that 'superstar' brings in $500k/year and he's paid $200k, you're not winning much by firing him.

The top guy in at UW in econ - looked him up. He's got an endowed chair which pays some significant part of his salary and he's department chair, and as such is the one who (usually) is responsible for the fundraising. Depending on how he does, he could be bringing in 10 times his salary.


LSU Football Revenues - $74,275,838.00

LSU Football Expenses - $25,822,228.00


Most Profitable College Football Programs: #5 LSU -


Not only does football and basketball bring in more than they spend, they support ALL of the sports that don't/can't support themselves AND kick back millions to the University's education and financial aid programs.

They're earners, not takers.
 
Here's a better graph for you:

rId13_image2.png


This shows that as state funding for public universities has decreased, tuition has increased proportionately. Because federal support of higher education mainly comes in the form of tuition assistance, while tuition rates have risen, the ability to access higher education hasn't decreased. This has led to an increase in the overall national student debt load.

In short, the majority of the increase in the student debt burden that the country faces is from a drastic reduction in state support with a federal promotion of student debt issuance. In order to reverse the process, the solution is to increase state support of public universities and decrease federal support of student debt issuance.
You still miss the forest for the TREES.
I'd point it out to you, but you cannot SEE.
You still are stuck in TRIVIALITY
Thinking all it takes is more MONEY.
 
You still miss the forest for the TREES.
I'd point it out to you, but you cannot SEE.
You still are stuck in TRIVIALITY
Thinking all it takes is more MONEY.

Actually an increase in state support and decrease in federal student debt support would net out to a decrease in funding.
 
LSU Football Revenues - $74,275,838.00

LSU Football Expenses - $25,822,228.00


Most Profitable College Football Programs: #5 LSU -


Not only does football and basketball bring in more than they spend, they support ALL of the sports that don't/can't support themselves AND kick back millions to the University's education and financial aid programs.

They're earners, not takers.

Based on what I know of UT's program, I'd be surprised if LSU wasn't using some creative accounting there - that's extraordinary, both on the revenue and expense side.

But the point is clear enough and I agree with it, especially for the big schools in the SEC. They're cash cows in a lot of places.
 
It's impossible to know without more information, but I've got some friends that are Professors, several in economics. The guys making the big money are often cash cows. One person in particular I know brings in a ton in consulting work that floats an entire research section, all of his salary, half the salary of several econ faculty, admin, plus an annual many $thousands transfer to technology for the rest of the department, and he teaches 1/2 class per year many years. There is no one making that kind of money just sitting around overseeing graduate students.

The other thing is most of the well paid folks, especially in the business fields, are endowed professors, so those examples in Wisconsin might be the (e.g.) Charles Koch Professor of Economics, with who knows ($100k?) of that salary paid for out of an endowed fund. Any decent school will have several of those for the most senior faculty in the business departments. It's also common for local businesses to make donations short of endowments to "augment" salaries for the areas they are most interested in, such as economics and accounting. So the money flows through the school, but is earmarked for higher salaries for the express purpose of attracting the big guys to campus - so accounting firms as a group might donate $200k/year to go to salary for senior accounting professors, etc.

The operative phrase is "consulting work." Engineering has lots of opportunities for consulting work, and the engineering departments attract corporate donations as well as partnerships.

From InsideJobs.com:

What is the average salary of a University Professor?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average salary of a University Professor was $58,830 annually as of May 2008. The lowest-paid 10 percent of all University Professors earn less than $28,870, while the highest-paid 10 percent are paid more than $121,850 per year. The middle 50 percent of all University Professors earn between $41,600 and $83,960, so chances are good that you’ll earn more than the average annual salary.

The American Association of University Professors reports that the salary of full-time faculty at private colleges and universities average $92,257, as compared to $77,009 for those teaching at public colleges and universities. And Professors working at four-year institutions, whether private or public, earn higher salaries than those employed at two-year schools. How Much Does A College Professor Make? | Inside Jobs
 
You have shown no basis for this statement.

Yes, you're totally right, it's all about evil Republicans trying to deny poor people opportunities by slashing needed funding of State collages. Carry on with that silliness, I really am not going to stop you.
 
Yes, you're totally right, it's all about evil Republicans trying to deny poor people opportunities by slashing needed funding of State collages. Carry on with that silliness, I really am not going to stop you.

And apparently have no interest in showing any basis for it.
 
They need to hire people with business acumen to run the University. When revenue falls you take measures to compensate. You reduce costs. You redouble efforts to get more donations from successful alumni. You don't whine and threaten. Life has its ups and downs. We all have to manage the downs the best we can.

If you are running a business, you don't intentionally cut your own revenue so your example flaws flat on that alone. If a business commits to providing a product or service, then it attempts to find the revenue to provide that product or service. If there is insufficient revenue then it gets out of the business of providing that product or service.
 
Tell that to the Legislature of Louisiana. The "S" in "LSU" is "State."
 
And apparently have no interest in showing any basis for it.

Basis for what? Common sense? You ask me to provide you something that you'll find a reason to disagree with and we'll still be RIGHT HERE, because you have an agenda and that must not be deviated from.

Why the Government is to Blame for High College Costs - US News

It's not crazy to talk about making student loans dischargeable again, or even capping the number of federally guaranteed loans so that private banks can compete for more borrowers. But the bigger challenge is reducing the cost of tuition in the first place. Tuitions are artificially high directly because of federal financial aid. "It's a vicious cycle," McCluskey recently explained in a speech. "Students tell the politicians, 'We don't want to pay this much for college,' and politicians respond by throwing more money at them, and colleges respond by increasing costs."

While critics charge that gradually cutting back on federal financial aid is "heartless," doing so would actually be one of the most compassionate things we can do in the long run for middle-class families. Going to college is a big part of the American Dream for many young people, but well-meaning "help" from the federal government is driving up costs, creating massive debt, and, in some cases, ruining lives.
 
They need to hire people with business acumen to run the University. When revenue falls you take measures to compensate. You reduce costs. You redouble efforts to get more donations from successful alumni. You don't whine and threaten. Life has its ups and downs. We all have to manage the downs the best we can.

Wow! That's quite a solution. You must have a broad background in funding and governance and university administration. :roll:
 
republicans care less about higher ed, despite most of the repubs in office went to colleges that were greatly funded by taxpayers, but the truth is that few dems are willing to raise taxes or prioritize higher ed either

In my state, the gutting of higher ed began years before the great recession (2002 ish). The dem governor canvassed voters and discovered that college was "the lowest priority" for them. Not surprising coming from a population where 80% never got a degree and even fewer currently rely on subsidized college. However, to make up for this (or as revenge), my public school has gone from 30% to 50% out of state enrollment. LSU will attempt this now, but with less success i'm sure.

At the same time, i have to question the academic mission of a place where 25% of its budget comes from football. Maybe if these fans donated the football ticket $ to i dunno, the *school* instead, this would be a total non issue. Let's see, $100 million from athletics, yep, pretty sure that will cover the loss in state revenue. It's like that's the only purpose for LSU existing or what?

All of the state's colleges will declare bankruptcy at once, to minimize the blow to enrollment, because no one goes to those colleges unless they have no other choice. The problem is that now they'll have to come up with $3000/year more to cover tuition, so this will indeed cripple enrollment as uneducated and unemployed beats uneducated (sorry but it is LSU), unemployed, and debt ridden

Please provide links. Or at least enumerate what state you're in so others can attempt to verify your story.
 
Oh ya. Just the GOP going after education. Here in CT, our all democrat run state just proposed this:



Malloy Defends Hundreds of Millions in Cuts | NBC Connecticut

And our local:

Higher education cut, local school aid flat in Malloy budget | The CT Mirror



Yup, just those damn Republicans.

He also is cutting funding to mental health which his commission said to increase when asked to help after Sandy Hook.
That's scary. So is there no party, only Elizabeth Warren, that cares about the cost of higher education? And yet, dems and repubs alike keep saying that no one can expect to "make it" without at least one college degree. WTF!!
 
I don't have much sympathy for the school.. sorry.

there's an awful lot of money floating around in terms of sports and merchandising...not to mention the tuition dollars that are already paid, exorbitant book prices, etc.

the salaries that are made by coaches, administrators and professors is just... damn...crazy.
300 grand a year to be a assistant crash.. or 250 grand a year to teach a class?... bull****...absolute bull****.
Do you have a link for those salaries?
 
As noted by Frodly (post #17) a "few outliers" doesn't really tell the whole story.

2014-2015 average professorial salaries - Univ of Wisconsin-Madison

Anyone who thinks "overseeing graduate students as they write their theses" is not to be regarded as "teaching", don't know **** about graduate level education.
One study did show a massive increase in administration and the costs that go with that.
Increased at a rapid rate compared to student- prof ratios from the 70's
 
LSU Football Revenues - $74,275,838.00

LSU Football Expenses - $25,822,228.00


Most Profitable College Football Programs: #5 LSU -


Not only does football and basketball bring in more than they spend, they support ALL of the sports that don't/can't support themselves AND kick back millions to the University's education and financial aid programs.

They're earners, not takers.

For Universities - Football pays big time.
 
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