Education
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In Defense of a Liberal Arts Education
I was recently in a Twitter conversation with someone who claimed that no way would his kids be going to college for some generic arts & sciences or business degree. That college just was not worth it. He would rather spend the money just setting them up in a business and let them learn that way. Now, I do not know this person, though I have the impression that his kids are not even school age yet, let alone anywhere near going to college, so there is a lot of time for his opinion to change regarding the value of a college education (based on either his experience as a…
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College and University Funding Models part 3 – Return to the 70s
The second of my proposed funding models is also my preferred funding model, and in the end, the hardest one, in my opinion, to achieve. Because achieving it will take a whole lot more than the states just willing to throw more money at higher education. Honestly, I think the best funding model for state universities would be a return to the funding levels the states had in the 1970s. This was the time period when students could afford to pay for their tuition by working part time during the school year, maybe full time during the summer, at minimum wage jobs. Maybe they take out some small student loans…
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College & University Funding Models part 2- Public Education
As mentioned last week, the first of the alternate funding models I live for universities is the public education option. First, let me be clear that I am only talking about public universities, those that are already funded via state budgets. Private and religious universities, like Harvard and Notre Dame would not fall under this, and would need to figure out their own new funding model, if it came to that. What are the benefits of the public education option? Well, that makes post-secondary education, up to the Bachelor’s degree level, free for everyone in the state, not just the economically disadvantaged. Because middle class families have difficulties paying for…
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College and University Funding Models (part 1)
If you have been reading this blog and paying attention to the pictures I post, you have probably figured out that I work at a major public university in Washington state. In fact, I am a department administrator, meaning I handle finance and human resources for an academic unit at the University. It also means that University funding models are something I spend a lot of time thinking about. And not just me, at the professional conference I was at last week, one of our keynote talks was on the future of funding of public institutions of higher learning, and what models we might want to look at, as state…
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The Nationwide College Admissions Scam
I work in higher education, so naturally, I have been following the recent bombshell of the indictments in the nationwide college admissions scam. But let me be very clear, the bombshell, at least for me, is that people are actually being indicted and charged. The history of higher education in this country is not a history of meritocracy. It is a history of the haves over the have nots. College education is expensive, and not generally considered part of public education, because it originally was not something that most, or even many, people were expected to get, need, or even want. It was something for the idle rich, someplace for…
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You Are NOT Paying 35% in Federal Taxes
On April 15, 2015, a guy named Mitch Wade posted a series of pictures on Facebook regarding taxes, and how much the government steals from the ordinary person. I did not see it in 2015, but it has made its way around my wall this tax season. And let me be honest, it is a TERRIBLE infographic. It just is. Mostly because it is misleading enough that it might as well be lies. I used to write a personal finance blog. Financial literacy is something that is incredibly important to me. I honestly believe that as a country, we would be in infinitely better shape if we got rid of…
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Instead of College, Can We Talk About Daycare?
Let me say that I appreciate that Sanders has pushed the conversation to the left. No matter who the eventual Democratic nominee for the President is, the conversation has been better because he has been part of it. At the same time, I realized the other day that I am mad at him. Not for being in the race, but for pushing the conversation toward universal college education, and forcing Clinton to respond specifically to that. As I have said before, I am not against universal college education. In fact, as a parent of a 6th grader, I am likely to benefit from it. But what if the conversation had…
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We Have the Money, We Need a Plan
Both of the Democratic candidates for President have put forward the idea of free college for America’s youth. Next year, Oregon will have very low cost ($50/term) for all community college students. Tennessee and Kentucky are both working on free community college for their residents, too. As a parent (and particularly as a parent who will only have half the time most parents do to save for college), I am a fan for free college – community college or a four year program. And I have seen the studies that say the plans put forward to pay for the program work. The money is there. I do not doubt that.…
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Math is Hard (and that’s ok)
Sixth grade math is hard. I say this as a person who took calculus in high school and started college with plans to be a math teacher. I say this as a person whose husband has a BS in Math. Sixth grade math is hard. But before you tell me I should not say such a thing, that I am perpetuating stereotypes that girls cannot do math, that I need to think of my daughter, let me say that my daughter is exactly who I am thinking about when I say this. The math she is learning is hard. It is algebra without calling it algebra. Tonight, it was basic…
