{"id":1999777,"date":"2023-08-14T07:53:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T11:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-bougie-dorms-to-video-game-lounges-state-universities-burn-through-taxpayers-dollars\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T08:01:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T12:01:39","slug":"from-bougie-dorms-to-video-game-lounges-state-universities-burn-through-taxpayers-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-bougie-dorms-to-video-game-lounges-state-universities-burn-through-taxpayers-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"State universities waste taxpayers&#8217; money on fancy dorms and video game lounges."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffrom-bougie-dorms-to-video-game-lounges-state-universities-burn-through-taxpayers-dollars%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1999777&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Here\u2019s a dirty\u200d little\u200c secret President\u200b Biden \u200cdoesn\u2019t mention when talking about his myriad student \u201cloan\u201d giveaways: Your tax dollars are being\u200c used to fund things like multimillion-dollar Italian monasteries and lounges for students to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/there-are-only-three-news-stories-that-matter-in-america-right-now\/\" title=\"There Are Only Three News Stories That Matter In America Right Now\">play video games<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Those are just some of the takeaways from \u2062a \u200cWall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/state-university-tuition-increase-spending-41a58100?mod=trending_now_news_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">investigation<\/a> into the\u200d finances\u2064 of each\u200d state\u2019s flagship public universities. \u200bThe reporting shows\u2062 a trend that, while not surprising, should still shock hard-working\u2063 taxpayers. Institutions \u2063have\u2062 raised tuition astronomically, in many\u2064 cases frittering away funds \u200con expenses unrelated to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oberlin-college-still-refusing-to-pay-33-million-in-damages-to-bakery-it-slandered-as-racist\/\" title=\"Oberlin College Still Refusing to Pay  Million in Damages to Bakery it Slandered as Racist\">core educational mission<\/a>. \u200cAnd students don\u2019t just end\u200d up paying more for an education of questionable quality \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/how-joe-bidens-welfare-for-college-grads-will-stoke-inflation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal\u2063 loan bailouts<\/a> mean all taxpayers do too.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-284941384\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d19c05e3d96972e39775a28f345c784d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d19c05e3d96972e39775a28f345c784d\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Spending Growth Exceeds Enrollment Growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The\u200d investigation, \u200dconducted via a \u200bseries of public records\u200d requests at the\u2062 50 state flagship universities, found massive increases in spending over the past \u2062two\u2063 decades. Over that time frame, \u2064spending \u200bat the median university rose by 38 percent, while enrollment grew by only 21 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Some\u200d might argue that the sizable growth in tuition over\u200b that time came because of cutbacks in state aid. Indeed, many states did reduce taxpayer spending on higher education in the years \u2063following the Great Recession.<\/p>\n<p>But the Journal analysis found that \u201cfor every $1 lost in state \u2062support \u2026 \u2063the \u200bmedian school \u200cincreased tuition and fee revenue by $2.40.\u201d In other words, \u200cthose\u2062 tuition increases weren\u2019t\u2062 about backfilling cuts in state subsidies \u2014 they were about gouging students to\u2062 fund wasteful projects.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Extravagant Spending<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The former chancellor\u2062 at the University of North Carolina told the Journal\u2062 that \u201cthese places are just devouring money.\u201d And indeed, the investigation showed that \u2064much of the spending went toward expensive vanity\u2064 projects rather than\u2064 educating students.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c9f52db31eaf8b065afa3f20f3262c5c fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-c9f52db31eaf8b065afa3f20f3262c5c\"><\/div>\n<p>At\u2064 the University of Florida, the number of communications directors totaled 50 in 2022, roughly double that just five\u200c years previously, while the \u2063number \u2064of deans grew\u200b from about 130 in 2017 \u2062to 160\u200d last year.<\/p>\n<p>The University \u200dof Oklahoma \u201cspent $14.3\u2064 million to buy and renovate a monastery in Arezzo, Italy,\u2064 to house a new study-abroad\u200c program. The monastery has \u200ba landscaped garden, faculty apartment, and\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-bougie-dorms-to-video-game-lounges-state-universities-burn-through-taxpayers-dollars\/\" title=\"State universities waste taxpayers' money on fancy dorms and video game lounges.\">classrooms featuring painted frescoes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite having the highest \u200cin-state tuition among the 50\u2063 flagship universities, Penn State University was projected to run a $140 million deficit in the academic year just \u2064concluded, and faces structural shortfalls such\u2062 that it could blow through its \u2063financial reserves absent reforms.<\/p>\n<p>Despite having powerhouse men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams, the University\u2063 of Connecticut spent $55 million subsidizing its athletic department in 2022 \u2014 more than half the athletic budget.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a28fe0bc9bd84c06e20c8b9b9f0af4ee fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a28fe0bc9bd84c06e20c8b9b9f0af4ee\"><\/div>\n<p>After adjusting for inflation, spending for athletic coaches at the median school rose by almost 50 percent between 2010 and\u200c 2022.<\/p>\n<p>On the extravagance front, few institutions likely\u2064 could match the University of Kentucky. It spent a total of \u2063$3.66 billion \u2014 $805,000 <em>per day<\/em> \u200dover \u2062the\u2063 course of 12 years \u2014 upgrading its campus, including:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>New\u2062 homes for \u2064the \u200claw, business, and \u2063visual arts schools, state-of-the-art hospital facilities, \u2063a \u200dstudent center, a\u2064 900-spot parking\u2064 garage, a theater for videogame competitions, \u2063and dorms sporting \u200bfull-size Tempur-Pedic mattresses, granite countertops, and in-unit washer-dryers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And what did it get for all \u200bof \u200bthat spending? Contrary to the stated \u200dgoal of propelling Kentucky into a top-20 institution, the university\u2019s\u200d ranking in the U.S. News and World Report listings actually fell slightly.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Restore Accountability<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Journal article illustrated one of the big problems\u2062 these institutions face when it quoted a\u200b study by an economist and \u200cformer university president, who found that\u2063 \u201cpublic-university\u200b trustees \u2062approved 98 percent of the cost-increasing \u2064proposals they reviewed, often unanimously.\u201d \u200bWhen\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-school-boards-blast-nsba-letter-calling-on-biden-admin-to-crack-down-on-school-board-meetings\/\" title=\"State School Boards Blast NSBA Letter Calling On Biden Admin To Crack Down On School Board Meetings\">state school boards<\/a> get \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/psaki-biden-admin-preparing-another-covid-relief-bill-despite-passing-trillion-dollar-aid-package\/\" title=\"Psaki: Biden Admin Preparing Another COVID Relief Bill Despite Passing Trillion Dollar Aid Package\">packed full<\/a> \u2062of alumni, football and other sports \u2064boosters,\u200c and\/or \u200bpolitical cronies, few people have \u2063any\u2063 incentive, or desire, to scrutinize an institution\u2019s\u2062 spending, turning the trustees into virtual rubber stamps.<\/p>\n<p>Getting better trustees represents one\u200b way to end the spending blowouts in higher education. A bigger one would\u2064 come from ending the student loan \u2062scam whereby institutions can offload their tuition increases onto students \u2014\u200b and students can clamor for, and receive,\u200d bailouts from the federal government on their \u201cloans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just think: If the federal government got out of\u2063 the business of funding\u200c higher\u2064 education, universities would actually have to justify their existence and price tag to the customers (i.e., students) who\u2064 right now are largely content to fob the costs onto\u200b taxpayers. It\u2019s such\u200d a novel concept \u2064that Congress will never try it \u2014 but that\u2019s not to say it \u2063shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-03ef46bd90ae795cdce107d2c4dac662 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-03ef46bd90ae795cdce107d2c4dac662\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Biden&#8217;s student loan programs. Taxpayer money is being spent on extravagant expenses like Italian monasteries and gaming lounges. The Wall Street Journal&#8217;s investigation reveals these hidden details behind the President&#8217;s loan giveaways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":1999778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}