Obama warns colleges: Rein in tuition or risk aid

[Dave_Berry]

"President Barack Obama fired a warning shot at the nation’s colleges and universities on Friday, threatening to strip their federal aid if they 'jack up tuition' every year and to give the money instead to schools showing restraint and value.

... 'We are putting colleges on notice,' Obama told an arena packed with students at the University of Michigan.

'You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down.'

... Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, said schools should be challenged to find ways to restrain costs, but they can’t continue to make up for state cuts. Money for state universities in Michigan dropped by 15 percent in this year’s state budget, and many — including the University of Michigan — raised tuition to help make up for the lost support."

Obama warns colleges: Rein in tuition or risk aid | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

[turbo93]

Am I the only one seeing the irony of delivering this message to students of one of the most expensive public universities in the US?

[nysmile]

He was simply pandering to the audience. It's all about getting the votes.

[sk8rmom]

There have been rumblings of change coming in federal campus-based programs and I wouldn't be surprised if colleges will have to compete for funds or at least meet new standards to receive them. That seems to be the general idea:

Everything You Need to Know About President Obama's Blueprint for College Affordability | The White House

[xiggi]

He was simply pandering to the audience. It's all about getting the votes.

O-blah-blah. Yada. Yadda. Yadda! Never abandoned his "educator's" mentality where talking "good" is the game, and the doing never important nor necessary.

The Obamas' record on educational matters has been a disaster since Day 1, starting with the hypocrisy-oozing position on the Washington Voucher program. On the one hand, suborning the continuing support of the unions, and on the other hand, having the Mrs. sitting among poor DC children and singing Kumbaya between exotic adventures abroad with the little Friends. The educational stimuli plans are nothing else than a huge waste that simply delayed much needed reform.

The saddest part is that it will last for another 1/2 a decade.

[LongPrime]

Why are you so bitter?

[xiggi]

Address the issue. Not the posters via ad hominem.

[parent1986]

NCLB ruined the schools. Who implemented NCLB?

[xiggi]

Blood pressure meters create hypertension. Thermometers cause fever.

Sixty years of spinelessly abdicating our education decisions to the service providers and their leadership gave us the abysmal state we are in. Generations of corrupt and vile politicians from both sides of the aisle ruined our schools.

[turbo93]

Wait a second there...

In my birth country the system is one size fits all, one curriculum, set of books, national entrance exams, the works. Sucks wind.

In the US, you can CHOOSE where your kids will go to school by moving to the right places. Free market and all that jazz... Are you worried about others achieving their educational goals, are you stuck in a bad school district, or do you object to public education out of principle?

The school system my kids attend(ed) is #1 in our large, industrialized fly-over state, and I really like it. All you have to do is to move into our fair city of 100,000 or so and it's free - who would have thunk. Our kids ace the state and national tests, we send a bunch of kids to the top 20 schools every year, and everyone is happy. We do this with some of the lowest per student cost in our state.

Exactly what is wrong 'at the national level', especially given the fact that the 'national level' is merely a figurehead?

[kelsmom]

Maybe it's just me, but I see absolutely nothing in the Blueprint for Education that helps make college more affordable. Nothing. It is more rhetoric ... just another political piece of c**p that means absolutely nothing (although mandates like scorecards are bound to add some more regulations to be followed, increasing the administrative burden on schools). I am so very tired of empty speeches that serve to rile people up without offering anything concrete.

Tuition is too high. Funding is too low. People keep paying more than they can afford, borrowing to do so.

[emeraldkity4]

& legislatures keep cutting education funding.

State funds for higher education fell by 7.6% in 2011-12 | Inside Higher Ed

[kelsmom]

Our state has been cutting for a few years ... there is just no money in our state. We don't have much in the way of state grant money, as that is limited to a small amount & just for a small number of students. UM is our state flagship, and it is expensive ... but S went to a 3rd tier public freshman year that wasn't much less (although they had better merit aid than UM). Tuition hikes are ridiculous.

How on earth did things get so out of hand? And how do we get them back on track?

[turbo93]

In Michigan, a lot of people may try to point out that public university administration employees were unionized - at least that was the prevailing idea when Mrs. Turbo attended a public university in the Detroit metro area. I did, too, and found that the tuition was quite astronomical by my previous standards... And true enough, the admin staff at the university were unionized.

But, the place ran like the German railroad. Any kind of paper, information, whatever, was handled well and proficiently and professionally (unlike Cajun State which was run by student aides). Lots of new buildings, good faculty / student ratio, etc.

Nonetheless, many of my coworkers sent their kids OOS (my officemate's son went to Virginia Tech, a lot cheaper OOS back then than U of M instate). I had a few friends at U of M and visited them once in a while, and the place is very nice, top notch education, but, to my mind at least, built under the 'the sky's the limit' budgetary option. Awesome school and if my kids got in I'd sell a kidney and send them there, but expensive...

How did we get there? people willing to pay I guess.

[emeraldkity4]

Probably a lot of places where we could save if we had common sense.
Public workers' time-buying costs states ? USATODAY.com