Currently back at Uni for another go (sort of, it's complicated), and it's amazing to see how much the place has declined, after Covid, but even since the start of the year...
This particular Uni keeps scrapping student amenities and aspects of the student "experience", from free stuff at O Week through to removing the last remaining ATM on campus (!!), through to killing off most campus food vendors, and then, most importantly, massively reducing staffing numbers and quality, which affects everything from course offerings through to, of course, teaching quality. Hell, they've even sacked most of their "student interface" staff, which means that if we need to, say, sort out an enrolment issue, it is nearly impossible to get seen in person to have it dealt with... It's fucked.
The University in my home city (which is, for the most part, much better than the one I am currently at. Or at least it used to be) is even worse. They've unironically scrapped most of the food vendors and the University textbook shop entirely, from their main campuses, with view to forcibly closing all their main campuses in five years or so, and moving the student body into the city centre, against the wishes of students, the community, and even local businesses. But the Uni doesn't give a fuck.
What are students meant to do in the meantime? Lol, get fucked, essentially. Like, quite literally, they've hollowed out the campus, and left them with nowhere to go, and yet still the international students flood in...
I've been around these campuses, across Australia and elsewhere, for long enough now to know that this shit is not sustainable. Like, how long until (domestic) student bodies wake up and realise that they are being taken for a complete ride? Student fees haven't declined, they've only increased, as more and more facilities are scrapped, and as the teaching becomes little more than Youtube videos. And yet, because we are continually told "a degree is the only way to get a good-paying, middle class job", still the kids stream in.
I honestly just wonder how long it will be before people finally realise what a fucking Ponzi scheme this all is, if ever...
"Expensive day care for middle class adults" while also functioning as a degree mill for immigrants is a complete fucking joke, even compared to what this "system" was like a decade ago...
Of course, this varies by country, and Australia is worse than most, but the US system is at least equally fucked, if for different reasons...
Funny thing is, I have to pass two "transgender flag" road crossings, to leave the campus tonight. Because that's what this University spends money on. Rubbing that shit in your face at every possible opportunity.
Try speaking up, though? Yeah, you're gonna face some pretty severe consequences...
Lol, fuck this entire system.
I think it's like some sort of permanent asphalt spray paint (you know, the same stuff they use for painting road lines), but I could try, lol...
There's 100% CCTV cameras on both, though. They absolutely know that the things aren't popular with most people. Hence why there is literally plaques dedicated to their establishment, now (yeah, no joke)...
It's wild how little they care what the student body as a whole thinks, lol.
On a more "official" level, I tried to raise the point about staffing levels, and opening hours of study areas on campus (which have been reduced since the start of this year, so nothing to do with Covid whatsoever), and they basically told me to get fucked, in slightly more polite terms, lol...
It's honestly pretty amazing how few fucks they give. Unless you're a "protected group" they literally don't care at all, lol.
Much like corporate, but at least corporate generally pays you to be treated like shit. Not quite sure how Academia can justify us spending thousands of dollars per year for an even worse experience (arguably), lol...
The university bubble was kept afloat last decade by promising to keep people out of the economic downturn half the US was suffering. Many teachers used that to promote their insanity and move up. There is a University near my parents house that has spent more money than they have, gotten rid of the computer science degrees, and promoted the usual danger hair stuff. The entire thing has only continued because upper middle class people are disconnected from the lower middle class.
Meanwhile the point of university dies. Like you mentioned the bookstore and library suffer because students can find those books online for cheaper. The use of academia databases doesn't work because so many have figured out ways around it, or better scans of articles. Why do a lecture the traditional way when we have YouTube? Does the professor even know how that works? Who cares.
If students don't need to physically be on campus to study, why do they need food and culture? Make sure the stadium for sports works, and tear down the rest. But students demand culture? Give them DEI paid for culture. That's cheap and easy to do.
So long as the major donors are appeased, and the school can own patents on student made work, the money will continue. Yes, schools own patents which they hope make money. All this AI race is based on schools trying to be the leader on the subject. The school itself doesn't actually need to exist.
Then the teachers see their nice office, the school bubble, and the way things are run. They think this is how socialism works. So, DEI money makes them proudly declare their intentions.
You know what scenario makes sense?
The higher ups across the West realize the game is up, their time is limited, and it's all over -- so they're just looting the system through absolutely naked corruption before it collapses and they vanish to their islands and tax havens.
Yup, there is a very long and old historical precedent for this.
the math affecting student loans is fucked. all student loans are taxpayer backed, meaning there's no risk of default for the lender. result is the same shit as the mortgage crisis... subprime loans that were known subprime since origination. lenders don't care because they get paid for origination, not actually servicing the loan.
so just like with the mortgage crisis, trillions of dollars are extended to borrowers, which drives up prices massively, making even more of these loans subprime. bill clinton started this shit with republican congress, bush expanded it, and obama removed the remaining caps. there's simply no downside for a lender to give $100k to a C-student who is going to a third tier toilet university, getting a BA in underwater feminist dance theory, and then tack on $200k more for a graduate degree in gender oppressionomics.
so the first thing to crush this problem is to stop issuing subprime loans. to do that, either stop taxpayer backing of loans entirely, or impose super strict requirements -- any degree program that doesn't have 90%+ employment at living wages within 6 months of graduation, unaffiliated with the university, and requires THAT degree, needs to become ineligible for taxpayer backing. lenders will stop lending for these shit tier programs, and the market will correct.
but no one congressman would ever vote to support that, because it'd stop the racket. we are an occupied nation.
exactly. they won't touch it because once gibs are available, anyone who cuts them off, no matter how unsustainable, is basically seen as hitler.
Next "conservative" President needs to just stop -all- federal funding or backing any loans for non-STEM degrees and courses.
That would go a long way towards correcting this nonsense.
Go a step further and just stop all federal funding. Full stop.
I'm curious to see the fallout and it's not like we're going to make it out of any of this unscathed so let's at least collect some data and put on a good show.
they did the lite version of that in aus 2 year ago. Non stem cost went up 2x cause it's useless.
Decades ago my father and I drove out-of-state to a private college campus I was applying to so that we could get the grand tour. The campus had everything students needed and more: Teaching facilities built with a semi-classical architecture, several bookstores, multiple food courts, a convenience store, laundromat, barber shop, several restaurants (and pizza delivery smartly placed across the street from the campus boundaries), and accommodations ranging from dorm rooms to student housing. All of it was in walking distance and connected with clean sidewalks lined with grass and lots of trees. By the time we left, I couldn't wait to sign up! And yes, I paid a lot of good money for the privilege; and you know what, I actually learned things because my teachers weren't woke!
If someone offered me the chance to go to a campus with almost none of those things for even higher tuition, I'd laugh in their face and walk away. And I'd tell everyone I know to do the same.
I'm so glad I attended and graduated college well before all this bullshit.
Same in us universities. Enrollment is down across the board and lots of colleges are closing. Quality is piss poor for my Bach degree. It's too expensive so lots of people are dropping out.
Not everyone needs a Bachelor's degree.
Two year colleges are significantly cheaper and offer more technical options, with far less indoctrination and anti male bias.
Studying overseas is also a lower cost option for STEM majors. Employers DGAF if you got your Engineering degree from a University in Frankfurt, Valencia or WhereverTheFuck-istan.
Many of those countries offer English programs.
Of course it's not sustainable.
The only solution is private education through certifications, trade schools, and private universities. (Frankly, the Private Uni's still need a ton of work).
Yeah, society is going to take a huge hit, but we have little choices when Medicine, Research, Education, and Law are explicitly desperate to keep every non-communist out of school, and out of work if they make it through.
We either take a shortage of doctors, or we get all doctors telling you that biological sex isn't real, and then prescribing you drugs. The former is bad, but the latter is fatal.
All well and good for the right to be happy universities are dying, but does it propose an alternative for skills/trades like engineering which require higher education?
Personally I'd like to see a return of guilds and apprenticeships, but I suspect I'm in the minority.
So long as people are willing to pay for university, the "bubble" won't crash. And even as domestic people figure it out, the universities just get more immigrants.
Employers still care about college degrees. If people don't want to work in a trade, then a college degree is still pretty much a requirement. I don't see things "popping" any time soon tbh.
The average person still reveres college education. The people on here that disparage education are a minority.
For Americans, if you're not from an upper middle-class family or not going into a formalized profession, just get an online degree that's indistinguishable from a brick and mortar. Most schools de facto expect you to teach yourself, so what's the point of living in a metropolis or college town where available service industry jobs don't match rent?
Except for the White House.
Yeah, I mean, coming in to campus now feels degrading, quite honestly...
We now have to show a security app on our phone, to access the campus library (which has no books) outside normal working hours, or at any time on a Sunday. I've just seen someone (a student) kicked out of the building, because they hadn't yet gone through the absurdly complicated approval process to get on that app...
Our movements around campus are tracked, through that same app. It's very much like the QR code shit during Covid, but somehow even more oppressive...
This shit was only introduced at the start of this year, too, so they can't even justify it with the excuse of ol' Rona... It was never like this, previously.
Something very weird is going on, here. But honestly, I just find it bizarre that most students and staff are willing to put up with that sort of treatment as "this is just the way things are now"...
At some point the dam of bullshit, as you say, has to break. Because it is insane to me how shit they treat us, meanwhile many of my classmates still hype the whole thing up as "wonderful" and "transformative". Like, holy shit the brainwashing is strong...
That shit is insulting to high-schoolers not living in a high crime city, let alone legal adults. I dropped out of community college a decade ago, partly because of patronizing shit like teachers expecting an excuse to not attend a lecture. Easy to fake, but that attitude really had me questioning the value of my scholarship funded education. An expectation that students install any app on their personal phone would have me buying a decoy phone, if there were no other options.
Even if they relax the degree requirement, HR departments currently own the hiring process; and that's a power they won't give up willingly. It'll be "We understand why Jamal doesn't have a degree, but there's no excuse for Brad not to have one."
So what you're saying is that I'll always have job security.