Would you be willing to see a lowering, or a freeze,

[hyphenate]

on college professor and college administration salaries in order to see the cost of tuitions go down? As someone who never graduated because of the high cost of tuition, I definitely would like to see the salaries go down, especially at colleges beyond the state college level, preferably at colleges where tuition costs can be as high as the cost of a house. I do believe that tuition should be subject to a sliding scale, but one that gives the middle class families a greater deal--lower class pupils who prove themselves academically are entitled to a wider variety of scholarships and grants, but middle class students are the ones who end up with enormous student loans. I would like to see a greater chance of worthy students going to Ivy League colleges instead of just those who go on legacies or only on scholarships. In a way, even if you're a worthy student, it makes going to someplace like Yale look like you're a legacy student like Bush, and not there on the merits of your grades.

In the end, however, colleges have gotten to be so fucking expensive that many students can only afford a tech school or a 2 year program, and going for a 4 year program--or more--seems like an impossiblw dream for most.

[Warpy]

1. I don't think faculty salaries are the largest cost

Think about the physical upkeep of the place, heating and cooling, maintenance of all sorts of lab equipment from languages through computer science and hard sciences, the administrative functions that keep the whole business running, including campaigns to hit alumni up for donations to help defray costs. Faculty salaries are chump change compared to the rest of it.

What we need are increased WAGES at the bottom. The only way to do that is to scrape it off the top and recirculate it. People can't afford college because their wages and their parents' wages have been kept artificially low over the past 38 years.

Too much of what we need has become unaffordable for most of us because our wages have been kept low and we've been offered debt as a substitute. That can't last forever. Either we resign ourselves to becoming a third world country, or we return to the fiscal policies that restrained the greedy and allowed everyone else a fair shake.

[napi21]

2. Professor salaries might be part of it, but I think the biggest problem

is ADMIN salariesway too many assistants! It's similar to the problem in many of our elementary and high schools. The Admins make LOTS of $$, and they all have assistants, and redundency of duties, and the actual people who do the work don't get enough!

Corporate America logic has filtered into the education system too!

[Eric J in MN]

3. Al Franken said the main reason tuition goes up is health care costs.

Not just health care for faculty, but everyone employed by a college.

Franken is running for Senate and visited colleges in MN this week.

He was on "The Mark Heaney" radio show on "Air America Minnesota" tonight.

[Selatius]

4. The problem is the federal government doesn't want to spend money on universities

The result is universities have had to solicit more and more money from private donors, giving big business even more influence on campus. In addition, they've had to jack up tuition to make up for the short-falls in funding as well.

Ultimately, I think students should be organized into tuition pools. Why? To invoke collective bargaining power in setting the price of tuition and room/board. A student alone would be laughed out of the school if he tried to negotiate tuition rates with said school, but if the students got together and sent forth a representative to negotiate with the school, the school would be hard pressed to ignore said person without pissing off the student body.

[lovuian]

5. I think the government needs to provide public universities

that are reasonably priced for students

if they need to be given more money give them more but keep tuition down

[aquart]

6. Administrator salaries, you betcha.

My eyes bugged out when I saw what the head of Columbia makes.