Universities: modern-day grifters

Grifters will be grifters. That's what they do. Universities often sell their product based on universities' past performance. Thanks to the federal government's help, they're now a federally funded racket. Thanks to student loans and Pell Grants, the monetary conveyor belt doesn't stop.

According to A.J. Kaufman's commentary, "The number of administrators, not professors, has soared, with many taking six figure salaries. The highest paid government workers can now be found at your local public university." Professor Emeritus Richard Vedder wrote this article about the inner workings of the campus racket.

Vedder wrote "Middle-class kids who were previously denied Pell grant aid are now increasingly getting it: In 2011, 17.5 percent of dependent students from families with $60,000 to $80,000 in annual income received Pells, compared with a mere 1.6 percent just four years earlier." That's quite the well-stocked conveyor belt of cash. Factor in that President Obama's proposal limits "loan payments to 10 percent of income" and you've the framework for a disaster.

This is how the Biden student loan grift works:

In this interview, Kevin Hassett explains how student loan forgiveness affects inflation:

Professor Vedder wrote "Third, most higher education is not for profit. While most academics view that as a great virtue, I don't. The lack of a profit motive reduces incentives to cut costs, improve product quality, and other things necessary to make profits and enhance wealth in the private market economy." What's needed are more university presidents like Mitch Daniels at Purdue and Jim Clements at Clemson.

When Daniels took over at Purdue, he said the goal was to consider families' budgets first, hinting that academia's gravy train was over. Since taking over at Purdue, tuition has been flat. Ditto with books.

Clements took a different path but still got to the same place. During a recent interview, Clements told the interviewer that it was the University's goal to limit the number of students graduating with student loan debt as possible. They started an alumni drive to raise $1,000,000,000 for scholarships. They surpassed their goal in half the time they'd planned for. Mission accomplished.

Needless to say, we need the Daniels and Clements models implemented nationwide. Why should taxpayers settle for less?