A recent report (go here for information) outlines ways that flagship public universities could raise more money in the wake of falling revenues. With states’ investment in public universities having sharply declined
since 2000, Birgeneau and Mary Sue Coleman, a former chancellor of the
University of Michigan, urged the adoption of new funding methods that
rely less on tuition revenue and more on a combination of private,
federal and state resources. ..... The report recommended that states reverse the deep cuts to their higher
education budgets and, together with the federal government, create tax
incentives for businesses to encourage donations to scholarships. It
urged businesses to be more vocal about the importance of fiscally
healthy public colleges, and to contribute money to their scholarships
and endowments. It had a longer list of proposals for public research
universities, including making public yearly financial targets,
increasing alliances with other colleges to forge reductions in
expenses, and simplifying the process for businesses to use important
university research.....
But businesses are not philanthropy; their investments must show a return. How involved should a business be in determining the fate of America's universities?
Colleges need to be run like a business and not a charity. Anything collected from philanthropy should only be icing on the cake.
ReplyDeleteGetting a loan for college is one of the easiest forms of debt anyone can get. That with the combination of the cultural belief that everyone needs to go to college to succeed has fueled significant demand for college. When demand rises, prices rise with it. This is especially true when supply is fixed. It would be interesting to see different forms of education after high school compete with four year college degrees. This could be technical degrees or shorter programs that focus on specific subjects.
Unfortunately, businesses that hire require one to have these degrees to begin with. The college debt bubble needs to pop to encourage the creation of this type of alternative education. In theory, you could limit college loans to decrease demand which would force colleges to lower their prices to compete.
I don't think it's a bad idea to get businesses more involved in helping out America's universities, but there would definitely have to be some big tax incentives to get them to do so. As Birgeneau mentions within the article, CEOs would have a hard time explaining to the shareholders why a large amount of profit was given away as a donation. Once again, I don't think there's any problem with getting businesses more involved, but since they are businesses, you'd really have to sell it somehow.
ReplyDeleteI also don't think it is a bad idea to get businesses involved in helping out the universities. These companies are going to help out the future leaders of this country as well as possible future members of their business.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be more programs like the Kalamazoo Promise in low-income cities. The Kalamazoo Promise has done great things for the Kalamazoo Community by increasing the amount of students who attend college.
These types of programs will really encourage education and help with those pesky student loans. I think that these types of programs are more beneficial than scholarships because scholarships are hard to win and people often get discouraged.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2015/07/kalamazoo-college-upjohn-hershbein