07-03-2023, 04:11 PM
Interestingly, and this happens often, the current episode of a podcast I was listening too was talking about schools and tuitions and such...unrelated to the court decision.
Now this particular host has had other episodes about how schools if higher learning are not particularly honest or worth the cost. But this was just an aside which I think fits this discussion.
Princeton has an endowment of (as of 2022) $35.8 BILLION with a growth of 11% over the last twenty years.
And they use disbursements to cover about 2/3 of the operating budget.
An operating budget of $2 Billion.
10% of that budget is for...financial aid.
Meanwhile the entirety of Princeton...including paying for ALL tuition could be paid for from the investment returns from their endowment.
Instead they still require students to find a way to pay to go. Often with loans.
Now one could argue that no one has to go to Princeton. True.
One could also argue that if it were free to go their costs would rise with the number of students. Also True.
But this is just one example of a school making so much money from gifts alone that they COULD be free...and yet never will be.
Instead we have a system where students who want a good, or the best, education must drive themselves into debt to do while those same institutions rake in money from graduates and stock it away for...something.
Free college in the US is probably a pipe dream...I mean its only worked in a lot of other places, how could the greatest country ever do it?!?!
All of this goes back to the fact the entire system needs reworked...and no one will do it because there is too much money being made the way it is.
Now this particular host has had other episodes about how schools if higher learning are not particularly honest or worth the cost. But this was just an aside which I think fits this discussion.
Princeton has an endowment of (as of 2022) $35.8 BILLION with a growth of 11% over the last twenty years.
And they use disbursements to cover about 2/3 of the operating budget.
Quote:Endowment distributions and other investment income represent 66% of the University’s operating revenue annually. This percentage has steadily increased as the endowment has grown. In 1997, only 33% of the University’s operating revenue was funded by endowment earnings.
An operating budget of $2 Billion.
10% of that budget is for...financial aid.
Meanwhile the entirety of Princeton...including paying for ALL tuition could be paid for from the investment returns from their endowment.
Instead they still require students to find a way to pay to go. Often with loans.
Now one could argue that no one has to go to Princeton. True.
One could also argue that if it were free to go their costs would rise with the number of students. Also True.
But this is just one example of a school making so much money from gifts alone that they COULD be free...and yet never will be.
Instead we have a system where students who want a good, or the best, education must drive themselves into debt to do while those same institutions rake in money from graduates and stock it away for...something.
Free college in the US is probably a pipe dream...I mean its only worked in a lot of other places, how could the greatest country ever do it?!?!
All of this goes back to the fact the entire system needs reworked...and no one will do it because there is too much money being made the way it is.
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media0.giphy.com/media/1kwsTjL8BNqlszNtnCE/giphy.gif)
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
