Interesting op-ed in today’s Los Angeles Times by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. An excerpt:
One thing colleges are spending more on is athletic teams, which have become a more pronounced — and costly — presence on campuses everywhere. Even volleyball teams travel extensively these days, with paid coaches and customized uniforms. Currently, 629 schools have football teams — 132 more than in 1980. And all but 14 of them lose money, including some with national names. It’s true that alumni donations sometimes increase during winning seasons, but most of those gifts go specifically to athletics or other designated uses, not toward general educational programs.
Read the whole thing.
Andrew Hacker is on the faculty of Queens College and Claudia Dreifus teaches at Columbia University. They are the authors of Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids—and What We Can Do About It, which came out last month and (given this op-ed piece) sounds absolutely fascinating.