<story><title>The Looming Decline of the Public Research University</title><url>https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober-2017/the-looming-decline-of-the-public-research-university/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baron816</author><text>Your point about rising tuition driving out less well off families is also a result of reduced government funding.&lt;p&gt;Research should never be funded by tuition anyway. That research is a public good, the burden for funding it should not be placed on the backs of the nations youth, who have to in turn finance that tuition with debt.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a shame that one political party in this country has taken to believing that all of the world&amp;#x27;s problems can be solved with lower taxes (not low taxes, lowER taxes). Externalities and public goods do not exist.</text></item><item><author>mhneu</author><text>Think of this article as describing the canary in the coal mine.  The effect it describes is absolutely real.  Universities in the US are facing serious issues.&lt;p&gt;The university system in the US is the envy of the world right now.  But US universities are degrading on several fronts, some internal (rising tuition which drives out smart students from less well off families, most evident now in law schools) and some external (cuts in government funding, most evident in Wisconsin GOP donor attacks on universities and public education more generally[1].)&lt;p&gt;There are some posts below from students who say they don&amp;#x27;t see much going wrong.  Yes, they don&amp;#x27;t see much going wrong &lt;i&gt;yet&lt;/i&gt;.  But the underpinnings of universities are being eroded.&lt;p&gt;Research funding is harder to get.  NIH and NSF budgets are down 20-30% in real dollars in the past two decades.  Meanwhile schools are expanding and hiring more faculty and staff that are supposed to obtain their salaries from NIH and NSF.  At the same time the long-held commitment to educating the best students is fading [2].&lt;p&gt;[1] &amp;quot;Hacked records show Bradley Foundation taking its conservative Wisconsin model national&amp;quot; 
 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;projects.jsonline.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;hacked-records-show-bradley-foundation-taking-wisconsin-model-national.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;projects.jsonline.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;hacked-records-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;opinions&amp;#x2F;book-review-failing-law-schools-by-brian-z-tamanaha&amp;#x2F;2012&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;e7054c9c-c6df-11e1-916d-a4bc61efcad8_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;opinions&amp;#x2F;book-review-failing-...&lt;/a&gt;
&amp;quot;If you think those claims sting, consider Tamanaha’s argument that law school effectively transfers money from students to relatively well-to-do professors, via student-loan debt — much of which is ultimately guaranteed by federal taxpayers who are generally not as well-off as the typical law professor.&lt;p&gt;Law school faculties are also bastions of liberal politics, and this irony is not lost on Tamanaha, who accuses the professoriate of not only enriching itself but also erecting de facto barriers to upward social mobility and true public-service law practice, all in the name of “academic freedom” and other abstractions.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pragmatic12</author><text>It seems clear that easy money (anyone can get student loans) is the primary driver of rising tuition costs (driving out less well off families) not reduced government funding. &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;images.mic.com&amp;#x2F;gcnmd1o6fihnkyh0kgimslfoombvuel882tmhohvkeevifezxnbckipfamtbpvvx.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;images.mic.com&amp;#x2F;gcnmd1o6fihnkyh0kgimslfoombvuel882tmho...&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.google.com&amp;#x2F;search?q=rising+education+costs&amp;amp;source=lnms&amp;amp;tbm=isch&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;ved=0ahUKEwi_tPTMufvWAhUnllQKHdJCAxgQ_AUICigB&amp;amp;biw=1920&amp;amp;bih=940#imgrc=FXR8HQljRmAnaM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.google.com&amp;#x2F;search?q=rising+education+costs&amp;amp;sourc...&lt;/a&gt;:</text></comment>
<story><title>The Looming Decline of the Public Research University</title><url>https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober-2017/the-looming-decline-of-the-public-research-university/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baron816</author><text>Your point about rising tuition driving out less well off families is also a result of reduced government funding.&lt;p&gt;Research should never be funded by tuition anyway. That research is a public good, the burden for funding it should not be placed on the backs of the nations youth, who have to in turn finance that tuition with debt.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a shame that one political party in this country has taken to believing that all of the world&amp;#x27;s problems can be solved with lower taxes (not low taxes, lowER taxes). Externalities and public goods do not exist.</text></item><item><author>mhneu</author><text>Think of this article as describing the canary in the coal mine.  The effect it describes is absolutely real.  Universities in the US are facing serious issues.&lt;p&gt;The university system in the US is the envy of the world right now.  But US universities are degrading on several fronts, some internal (rising tuition which drives out smart students from less well off families, most evident now in law schools) and some external (cuts in government funding, most evident in Wisconsin GOP donor attacks on universities and public education more generally[1].)&lt;p&gt;There are some posts below from students who say they don&amp;#x27;t see much going wrong.  Yes, they don&amp;#x27;t see much going wrong &lt;i&gt;yet&lt;/i&gt;.  But the underpinnings of universities are being eroded.&lt;p&gt;Research funding is harder to get.  NIH and NSF budgets are down 20-30% in real dollars in the past two decades.  Meanwhile schools are expanding and hiring more faculty and staff that are supposed to obtain their salaries from NIH and NSF.  At the same time the long-held commitment to educating the best students is fading [2].&lt;p&gt;[1] &amp;quot;Hacked records show Bradley Foundation taking its conservative Wisconsin model national&amp;quot; 
 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;projects.jsonline.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;hacked-records-show-bradley-foundation-taking-wisconsin-model-national.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;projects.jsonline.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;5&amp;#x2F;hacked-records-s...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;opinions&amp;#x2F;book-review-failing-law-schools-by-brian-z-tamanaha&amp;#x2F;2012&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;e7054c9c-c6df-11e1-916d-a4bc61efcad8_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;opinions&amp;#x2F;book-review-failing-...&lt;/a&gt;
&amp;quot;If you think those claims sting, consider Tamanaha’s argument that law school effectively transfers money from students to relatively well-to-do professors, via student-loan debt — much of which is ultimately guaranteed by federal taxpayers who are generally not as well-off as the typical law professor.&lt;p&gt;Law school faculties are also bastions of liberal politics, and this irony is not lost on Tamanaha, who accuses the professoriate of not only enriching itself but also erecting de facto barriers to upward social mobility and true public-service law practice, all in the name of “academic freedom” and other abstractions.&amp;quot;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Chathamization</author><text>&amp;gt; Research should never be funded by tuition anyway.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t even think research should be coupled to the universities the way it currently is. From what I&amp;#x27;ve seen it ends up being somewhat of a mess. Seeing what goes on there - for example, how grad students are treated - has made me doubt the ability of most universities to effectively manage and oversee research labs.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also adds one more thing to the odd stitched together thing we end up calling a university. It&amp;#x27;s a certification program&amp;#x2F;4-year summer camp&amp;#x2F;undergrad education center&amp;#x2F;research institute&amp;#x2F;cultural center&amp;#x2F;professional training center&amp;#x2F;sports franchise&amp;#x2F;etc.</text></comment>