the reason why it's a bubble is also what keeps it afloat
Federally guaranteed student loans.
[1] http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/money-trail/2010/06/17/s...
Federally guaranteed student loans.
[1] http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/money-trail/2010/06/17/s...
Seems its evil for the non-unionized to make money in education. The unions and the overpaid civil servants that manage them can rake in as much as possible without federal resistance, even if the product is marginal. I wonder if that came up when the unionized PBS did their expose.
Money that flows from DC has a way of wrecking things.
College professors are tenured, not unionized. And considering that most schools hire adjunct professors and slash benefits to the bone, it's hard to argue that teachers are bleeding the system dry.
On the other hand, the school where I just got my Master's from just built a brand new 177,000 square foot rec center, complete with 3 story climbing wall. And we've proudly paid good money to bring the guy/girl who invented Zumba to teach a few Zumba sessions. On top of this, programs that bring recognition to "joe consumer" (college football, basketball, etc) want for not.
Also, much of PBS is not unionized. It's kind of hard to unionize organizations that rely on member donations to keep afloat.
Many are both. At Rutgers, everyone is represented by the AAUP. At NYU, the TAs are represented by the UAW.
(I'm not cherrypicking Rutgers/NYU, I just worked at both.)
At least in America they rarely go on strike. My undergrad institution in suburban Toronto was infamous for strike-related class cancellations.
I'm in complete agreement with your point about non-academic expenditures, though. There's a large 'four-year party' market out there, and the fight for those students' tuition dollars has led to an arms race in campus luxury spending.