Streamlining college would reduce barriers

Title: Word ANNArchy

A Nov. 2 Wall Street Journal article reported that among private colleges in America, 23 of the presidents of these institutions made salaries over $1 million in 2007-2008. Because these institutions qualify for tax-exemption as nonprofits, the news that executives may be receiving what some would cite as excessive pay quickly garnered fierce criticism.

Politicians like Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, was among those who charged against these types of salaries at tax-exempt institutions.

“The executive suite shouldn’t be insulated from belt-tightening,” Sen. Grassley said in response to the fact that many private colleges charge students more than $50,000 a year. “The pressure on students gets greater all the time.”

Although I cannot put words into Grassley’s mouth, I’m pretty sure that he is concerned that nonprofits are receiving tax-exempt status when they are behaving counter to their denomination. One could argue that these institutions are receiving tax exemption based on their perceived merit rather than a balance sheet which wholly defeats the purpose of nonprofit status and leaves the government only choosing economic winners and losers (not to imply that it doesn’t already do that).

Grassley could have just explained his probable motivation. But Grassley instead chooses political expediency. He chooses to pretend as though the executive salary at private schools really has any impact whatsoever on tuition costs because that is what Americans wants to hear right now. They want politicians to tell them that all of their problems stem from the fact that someone at the top is making too much money. It doesn’t take much of a thought exercise to understand that even cutting these salaries by 75 percent is not going to significantly lower tuition costs if the saved expenditure is even reallocated as such.

The key word in Grassley’s quote is “pressure.” It’s a word that goes unexplained. Grassley doesn’t tell us what that pressure is or how it came about. Of course we can safely assume that he is talking about the gigantic cost of higher education.

No one even questions anymore why we are all sitting around in classrooms for four, usually more, years taking enormous loans to get jobs that will have nothing to do with our degree and will require only a few weeks of on-the-job training to perform. Don’t believe me? Go to a job fair. Don’t just go to one during this recession. Go to a college job fair in an ideal year, and you will find that most of the jobs will only require training provided by the firm.

Just like Grassley’s popular but erroneous sentiment, for some reason we have bought into the idea that college degrees create jobs for individuals. College degrees have actually done just the opposite: They have created barriers to jobs.

Instead of middle-class jobs being available to everyone who can complete on-the-job training, we have created a new class that will never be able to attain a degree and thus will never have the opportunity to pursue these types of careers.

One of the positive consequences of a downturn in the economy is that efficiency arises. Unfortunately, one of the major recipients of the state bailout money throughout most of the U.S. was public higher education. In a time when we could streamline universities to provide education to those who need it to actually work in their chosen field, such as engineers, medical professionals, etc., we are continuing to fund an inefficient system that creates barriers to the job market.

I am so confused every time I see progressive groups like the Progressive Student Alliance protesting the budget cuts. I have no idea why anyone who represents working and low-income interests would ever support a system that excludes people who will never be able to complete higher education for whatever reason. I thought everyone deserved the opportunity to be able to pursue a well-paying job, oh social justice crusaders.

So why are we so “pressured”? Who in their right mind would create a system that requires individuals to take out thousands of dollars worth of debt and give up four or more years of their life to work in sales? It beats the hell out of me.

— Anna Parker is a senior in English literature. She can be reached at aparke23@utk.edu.