Joe Biden fed the university beast

Over at RedState.com, Bonchie wrote about Joe Biden's deadbeat bailout in this article. What he didn't write about is how the university system is mismanaged. There was a time when I covered the university corruption/mismanagement beat as well as anyone in Minnesota.

That period of time gives me insight that few people have. It isn't that I want to destroy the university system. It's that I want the university system run efficiently. When I wrote about MnSCU hiring a high-priced consultant to come up with a new name for their system, I was outraged when they paid this high-priced consulting firm $2,300,000. Likewise, I was upset when a university spent almost $450,000 on a rebranding project.

Those memories rushed back when Joe Biden said that "The cost of education beyond high school has gone up significantly ... Many states have cut back support for their state universities, leaving students to pick up more of the tab." Actually, university systems are like a poorly-run business, at least if they're like the MnSCU Central Office. There's no incentive for them to be efficient.

Years ago, Dr. Richard Vedder predicted that the average university would have more people in the administration than in the classroom. That prediction has come true. That's why I got upset with Biden's statement on universities being underfunded. Some administration is essential. When a university has more administration than professors, that's a problem.

Frankly, Biden's statement is BS. Because universities have a built-in ATM, aka taxpayers, they frequently approve tuition hikes. First, here's what Biden said:

Biden: "The cost of education beyond high school has gone up significantly ... Many states have cut back support for their state universities, leaving students to pick up more of the tab." pic.twitter.com/JNx7T8A6EH

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 24, 2022

What's actually happened is that Biden is attempting to buy votes:

Back during the 2007 Minnesota State Legislature's budget session, Sen. Sandy Pappas, then the chair of the Senate Higher Education Division, was quoted as saying that a $296,000,000 increase in spending for Higher Education meant that Republicans were "starving Higher Ed" in Minnesota. That increase represented a 9.5% increase. I volunteered to accept the $296,000,000 over 2 years and accept the risk of starving. Nobody took me up on the offer.

When Joe Biden says that "states have cut back support" for universities, he's spinning what's actually happening. They're what happens with institutions that don't incentivize achievement. Universities don't incentivize accomplishments because they have a built-in ATM. You'd be amazed at how many junk programs taxpayers are paying for through their state's budgets. I went through the MnSCU budget back in 2009-2010. The amount of victimology degrees that we paid for is sickening. The number of junk programs like a masters degree program for Social Responsibility were maddening. If you made me ruler for a day, I could eliminate 25% or more of the programs in MnSCU and nobody would notice.

The universities, for the most part, are indoctrination stations. That's why Biden bailed them out. He can't afford to have these indoctrination stations reduced in size. Years ago, a professor told me something I've never forgotten. This professor said that a liberal could spend 4 years on a college campus and never have their world view challenged. A conservative in that same setting would have their worldview challenged daily. I agree with this professor.

This unconstitutional stunt should be seen as Biden's attempt to buy votes, which will happen to some extent. Biden's stunt won't work because he's pi$$ing off more people than he's energizing. It's that simple.