Joe Biden Presidency thread *Please read OP - Threadbanned Users Added 4/5/21*

So there's no 'evidence' in the released affidavit?

"For someone like that one would expect a big funeral"

Maybe there was. How do you know there was not?

And for the taliban to come out and say there was no body just adds to it like..

Ah yes. Those renowned pillars of truth... the *checks notes* taliban??

So you think he wasn't killed? What evidence have you to support this?

It must be something about Trump supporters believing that dead people aren't dead (see JFK junior coming back on the 4th July for example)

It is not all inclusive, I said the money should be there for state schools, as in they should fund them.

Similarly, my opinion is based on personal experience also. If you walk into a us campus for example or attend a ceremony, they clearly spend big on appearances, they are a business and there marketing relies on the notion of exclusivity and prestige, as well as the idea that the connection and networking opportunities available there, justify the price tag. We live in a age of free information on the internet. I don't need a field's medal recipient to teach me linear algebra 1 and 2. In terms of undergraduate education, a guy with a math degree in grad school making 20k a year can teach the basics just as well(probably better actually). It is only when you get to maybe post doctoral research that its good to have superstars with unlimited funding and a lot of those are imported. If the goal is to get students out who are highly competent, you dont need to spend big. And then you have the vanity projects, the sports teams, packing out 90k stadiums does not seem in any way related to academic achievement. The US schools have enormous revenue and huge expenditures but I would imagine, from personal experience, that most is not spent on lab equipment and the salaries of actual teaching professors and support staff.

From personal experience, for example, I attended tcd many moons ago for a masters in the math department. So now I work for a US fund based in NYC. I work with some american grads as well as multiple other nationalities. They don't have any extra knowledge, understanding or competence but they paid 4x for the equivalent education. Why pay? Well for the name of course and the networking!

My opinion is that the US higher-education industry is a weird capitalist venture. Enormous salaries and compensation are paid out to professors and administrators, with little or no balance versus the outcomes of that spending. Not a lot different from US corporations where reaching the C level is a lot like pulling the brass ring in the circus. And as you rightly point out, there are a lot of 'side' ventures like sports, which are good revenue producers for the school, for the NCAA, for the TV networks, for the coaching staffs where head US football coaches can make extraordinary amounts of money. But, is any degree worth $120,000 in debt, which won't be solved by this 'loan relief' that's just been decided? And is $120,000 of debt to the University of Whatever as good an investment as the same for a degree from Yale?

Don't underestimate the various scams around 'teaching.' There's a lot of very cheap to do online teaching, where professors record classes at some point and they're replayed. Also, US universities graduate way too many graduate students versus professorship openings, the result is that most classes at your typical public or private uni are taught by adjuncts who are low paid and are 'gamed' by the universities to work cheap. One good summary of adjunct experiences is "Ghost in the Classroom," which just covers some of the scams pulled by Unis.

Making it 'free' is probably impossible - students need places to live, textbooks (another scam where they're reissued with little or no change but the prof insists on the latest version in order to bank the $$, and you can't find them used), room and board, etc. You might be able to reduce tuition is all.

Particularly scummy are the 'junior colleges/community colleges' that bill themselves as 'just as good as a full-time/4 year.' Summary: They're not. They started out, as providing technical training for those that wanted skills appropriate to the era of manufacturing as the dominant industry. That's long since over, and those skills are probably better acquired at technical colleges/vo-techs as we used to call them. But, going into debt at a JC for a degree in Mesopotamian history is absurd, especially since there's no jobs and if there were one, the Harvard grad would get it long before the JC grad had a chance.

Biden's campaign promise to forgive some of the debt's been met. It's grandstanding and probably accomplishes nothing, there'll be no structural change at the Uni's or JC's, the gravy train there is well oiled and full steam ahead, and now, a bit more money from the USG. What's not to like?

I thought this was common knowledge

This is the lobby for the Clemson University Football training facility

I don't have an IRL right on hand, it's in my camera roll somewhere though. This place exists. It's real.

This is the Chapel. It serves no academic function either

This is one of several Starbucks on campus

This LED wall with no academic purpose

I could go on... Some colleges have a Lazy River. Here is Missouri State's Aquatic Center

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/opinion/trustees-tuition-lazy-rivers.html

Oh I'm pretty sure the White House posted the receipts...

Take a read.....

I do not believe I indicated that I had spent the time to create a complete review of all academic institutions, nor did I indicate that I have authority on the subject. I am not sure such a study even exists that encompasses all higher level education in the US, nor do I believe there would be motivation for such an introspective study from within these institutions. Nevertheless we can form opinions and discuss it based on partial information and our own personal experience., this is not an academic forum after all. I have provided anecdotal evidence of what I believe to be 'fluff' or expenditure that has no material impact on the competence of the student.

Now compare their pay to private sector CEOs…

And still manage to grate me when they take the university private jet to go galavanting and "networking"

Anyway, here's Jim Clements. https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/news/clemson-presidents-contract-renewed-until-2026-annual-salary-nears-1-million/article_442a5806-22d7-11ec-953f-57d55f47d7d6.html#:~:text=Clements%20will%20also%20receive%20a,for%20him%20and%20his%20family.

May or may not be relevant...