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Comment by pm24601 | Hacker News Reader

> most universities have moved to act more and more like for-profit entities.

At my alum mater, the state cut support to the state universities to practically nothing. Voters saw how much money the big universities were making on college football. They consistently voted to cut the money to the university system.

Only problem? Most state supported universities did not have a football program.

My university:

* turned to Chinese/Indian nationals (no financial aid/full price)

* raised everyone's tuition (went from low-cost school to higher-end)

* raised other fees

My university is in a part of the US that has low cost of living. So at the very least, the profs are unlikely to be homeless - yes even at the wages specified.

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You basically typed out what I would have typed, but got lazy and just said "reasons are complex."

There's something of a joke/quote in university circles about how universities went from "state funded to state supported to state located." When you get <= 5% of your budget from the state, the state support means nothing and this is the situation for most big state unis.

Also, you forgot the Saudi Arabian nationals whose govt fully funds their US education (though this program is becoming more restrictive in recent years with the Saudi govt selecting specific eligible degrees). I'm not trying to start a flame war here, but my personal experience is that many of these Saudi students struggled deeply, this fact was known by the administration, but the giant full-price checks were essential to keeping the lights on.

Other Fees: Yes, the rise of fees that are starting to rival tuition. Fees are a convenient way to lower the sticker shock of tuition while keeping the total cost the same. My former uni made a big promise about "freezing" tuition for years at a time, but all they ended up doing was jacking up the fees to compensate.

> My personal experience is that many of these Saudi students struggled deeply.

I'm just curious, could you elaborate on this? Are you referring to them not being able to cope up academically? Or the cultural difference or racism.

I've known a couple of these students back from my college and they seemed to be doing alright.

This sounds like something people could perceive about Clemson so I'll use them as an example.

In SC funding went down while tuition went up and lottery scholarships went up. The university budget is around $800 million / year and the athletic department across all sports is about $80 million / year. Of that budget, it's entirely self sustained but it's also almost entirely spent. It's performance has no impact on the rest of the university except for alumni engagement/excitement. Even if it were making a $20 million dollar profit it's still a drop in the bucket compared to the total university budget.

At the same time, applications are through the roof and there's not enough room to take everybody (but they are investing in new buildings to increase capacity). The ratio of in state to out of state has always remained close to 60/30 though.

Admin costs have increased but the prestige factor has gone up significantly as well. Clemson went from being the #70 something PUBLIC university to a top 20 in the span of 2 decades.

The cut in state support coincides with a successful propaganda campaign that turned the public against academics and science.

I didn't think of that ... but not surprising. The cuts in my state started in the Bush era under a Democratic governor.

Very sad that a Dem aided and abetted this.

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