An increase of over six times the rate of inflation! At a time when we in the real world are in the midst of a major recession facing budget cuts, both in the private and public sectors, the brilliant minds of higher education’s answer is to increase tuition. For me, I have difficulty following the logic.
Obviously the Board of Regents has not only lost touch with reality and their customers, students and parents, but their benefactors, the Georgia tax payer, as well. Exactly who are these people on the Board of Regents? The board consists of 18 non-elected members who are appointed by the governor to serve seven year terms. Who do they answer to? No one. There are four lawyers, seven corporate executives, four bank/finance executives, one doctor, one retired military and one newspaper executive on the board. I am confident politics had nothing to do with their appointments.
The time has come to reform “Big Education”. I have been to the University of Georgia campus which I am sure is representative of most, if not all, the other universities throughout the state. I have witnessed large gas/diesel guzzling University of Georgia buses traverse the campus picking up apparently invisible students every 30 minutes at every bus stop across campus. Of course it is not their money, so keep the buses running.
Don’t believe it? Go to the campus this summer and watch the buses run. Fewer students and less classes but the thought never occurs to our elite educators that perhaps we don’t need to run all of these buses as much as we do in the fall. This is just a casual observation. I wonder what other inefficiencies and waste is occurring at our sacred halls of higher learning. Do we really need four distinct departments within the Office of Intercultural Affairs; not to mention the entirely separate, but I am sure worthy of our tax dollars and tuition money, the Office of Institutional Diversity.
Just how much is this foolishness costing us? Can you name me one student who has achieved a more valuable education because we have these offices? If you cannot give me a specific name then I think I have found where maybe we do not have to raise tuition. The time has come to reform “Big Education” who is churning out college graduates who cannot find jobs and quickly become part of a statistic known collectively as 10% plus unemployment.
We have reached the point where we can no longer afford to ignore or look the other way. Stupid costs whether it is at the local grocery store, garage or a University. We cannot afford stupid anymore.
John M. Jones
taxpayer and tuition payer
