The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
**JANUARY 10, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
Student Debt Relief and Academic Bloat
Let's provide debt relief, but tie it to reversing the costly
proliferation of executives in favor of rewarding teachers.
The ever-increasing burden of student debt cries out for relief.
President Biden, who had acted on two occasions to suspend debt
payments, has the power to cancel all student debt held by the federal
government (most debt) or to cancel some amount that would relieve most
debtors. But as our colleague David Dayen recently reported
,
the Biden administration is divided on this issue.
Two arguments against debt relief are that the average student debtor is
better off than the general population (most young people do not have
college degrees); and that more federal support for higher education
only leads to higher tuitions and proliferation of expenses.
The first argument is easily answered. College grads are better off,
**on average**. But in terms of generational upward mobility, it is
precisely those without affluent parents to pay tuition who get burdened
with debt. It's possible to target debt relief by capping it at
something like $50,000, so that we don't end up subsidizing doctors,
lawyers, and business school grads who will make plenty of income to pay
off six-figure debts.
The second argument must be taken seriously. One result of financial
support via on-demand student loans is ever-rising tuitions. Worse,
these increased university budgets have gone mostly not to instruction,
but to academic bloat: proliferation of executives who do not engage in
teaching, as this research report
documents.
And while offices of diversity, equity, and inclusion have expanded,
they are not the primary driver of costs. Admission offices have been
converted into offices of "enrollment management" aimed at optimizing
the mix of students whose families can pay full freight and those with
very high board scores who need financial aid, in order to game the
**U.S. News** rankings.
Increasingly, more and more universities operate like hedge funds,
looking to maximize profit centers. And with executive salaries to
match. Harvard has 13 people with the title vice president
.
What has suffered is teaching. The number of actual professors has
scarcely grown. What has grown is armies of adjuncts, often not even
making minimum wage.
Executive bloat has gone hand in hand with the usurpation of the
historical role of the faculty as the university's governing body, in
favor of a corporate model. When father was a lad, there were far fewer
executives and the faculty governed democratically.
How to reform this and tie reform to federal aid? Herewith, the Kuttner
amendment:
All universities that get any federal funding, including debt relief for
their alums, must be in compliance with set ratios (these can be
determined by a research study): The ratio of non-instructional outlays
to spending on teaching cannot exceed X. The ratio of median pay of
tenured professors to adjuncts cannot exceed Y.
Federal aid to students and student debtors should serve education, not
academic bloat and the university-as-hedge fund.
****
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.Â
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.
[link removed]
Rollups: The Emerging Magic Mushroom Monopoly
Compass Pathways has been aggressively using patent claims to corner the
market on psychedelic-assisted treatments. BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN
Biden Regulators Take Action on Hidden Pharma Monopolies
A proposed rule would eliminate the ability of pharmacy benefit
managers to extract profits after a prescription drug is sold. BY DAVID
DAYEN
The NLRB Looks at the 'Independent Contractor' Scam
It's inviting arguments and looking at cases that could enable it to
turn such misclassified 'contractors' into what they actually are:
employees. BY HAROLD MEYERSON
[link removed]
Â
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
The American Prospect, Inc.
1225 I Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States
Copyright (c) 2022 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
.
