Discussion for article #236596
The author makes a very good point. However, and even bigger issue needs to be injected into this conversation, and that is the drastic decline in state funds supporting the public universities across the country. I have not seen a recent study looking at the percentage of operating budgets for state schools received from tuition vs. state funds or other sources. But anecdotal evidence would suggest the percentage of the freight paid by the students (and their parents) has been increasing dramatically. Combine the author’s ideas with increased funding from the state and the net cost (after realizing increased sales and income taxes from local vendors and suppliers) of the increased funding might be very close to zero…
Probably awful ideas. Should NYU’s investments be restricted to Manhattan? Last time I checked, that part of the world was doing ok on its own. Should a small liberal arts college in a rural community purchase only from local vendors? Do you mean Walmart? The school endowments are for the maintenance and betterment of the university and the benefit of students through current and future scholarships. Those must be the objectives. That would NOT be met by the investment objectives in this article, no matter how noble sounding. However, the universities should have active community outreach to provide safe and desirable environments, whether in rural or urban communities, including contributing their fair share to local infrastructure.
One point not mentioned here is the way that some universities freeload by not paying local taxes. In small towns, a school may already be one of the biggest employers, just because it has food service and faculty and maintenance staff. But spending could definitely be deployed more wisely.