Comments on Quick Takes: Some Colleges Push to Hire, Edge in Advanced Degrees to the Foreign-Born, Furloughs at Arizona State, Limited Participation in GI Bill, Contract for Service Workers, Associate Dean's Spending Spree, Another Indicator on History Jobs

• Student Tuition?
• Posted by Rich on January 29, 2009 at 8:20am EST

• If I was a Northeastern student, I'd check to make sure that not ONE of my fees or tuition dollars is expected to increase. That university is a decent one--not a great national rep--but still fairly good. But nearly 4 dozen faculty w/out seeing a rise in student fees strikes me as something that is nearly impossible. And, talk to the faculty there (my BF is a lower-administrator there); they have faculty sharing offices in 2s and 3s! How wonderful is that? Finally, look at buildings such as the COM building; it's a disaster and is an old barracks. Just to have 40 professors hired w/out worrying about current personnel and building infrastructure is exactly one problem with higher ed.

• Fighting Furloughs
• Posted by Levon Chorbajian , Professor of Sociology at University of Massachusetts Lowell on January 29, 2009 at 8:50am EST

• Faculty and others in the University of Massachusetts were furloughed in the early 1990s. Our union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, filed a lawsuit under the anti-slavery amendments to the U.S. Constitution and won. Eventually we were paid our withheld wages. Perhaps this has application to the outrages being committed at Arizona State University.

• Veterans and private colleges
• Posted by lcl on January 29, 2009 at 12:35pm EST

• As with any broad brush, you need to be a little careful on this point since not all private colleges are the same.

  That said, for small, traditional, private, non-profit liberal arts colleges the issue will probably be entirely moot. Pretty much everyone applying to those schools are traditional-age students with maybe at most a year off before coming back to school. Veterans with several years service really aren't in the applicant pool anyway. If those schools do choose to do something, it would almost have to be token simply because they aren't geared to veterans in any way if for no other reason than the veteran's age.

  Maybe large private institutions, or those where non-traditional students in general are a meaningful part of the equation might have a reason to consider doing something, but for the Haverfords, Williams, Wesleyans, Reeds of the world, anyone over the age of 20 almost certainly isn't applying there - not in any number anyway. The veteran's service may create other disconnects, but just the fact of having aged a few years while serving is pretty significant for that niche of schools.

• Veterans and older students
• Posted by Emeritus+ on January 29, 2009 at 7:05pm EST

• lcl writes that people over the age of twenty are highly unlikely to apply to 'the Haverfords, Williams, Wesleyans, [and] Reeds of the world.' I retired from Reed after thirty years, and still teach occasionally as an emeritus professor. During my fairly long tenure I've known (and taught) a fair number of students older than the usual under-twenties, many of whom have flourished in graduate school, while others have gone on to highly successful professional careers outside Academia.

  I say this not to take issue with lcl but to point out that 'older students' who do choose Reed (and I'm sure who choose any of the other schools mentioned) can thrive, despite whatever stereotypes one might have about these students and their younger peers.

• Veterans choose all kinds of schools
• Posted by Dr. Randy Plunkett , National Director of Military Affairs at DeVry University on January 29, 2009 at 8:05pm EST

• In keeping with the choice of educational institutions, I contend the reason veterans may not choose to apply to some institutions is that they do not feel welcome there. The population makeup of the student body is certainly a factor. Veterans would have a hard time listening to someone complain that they miss their cat by being away from home, when many of our veterans have served in combat, overseas, or have deployed for weeks or months away from their families. But not seeing others like themselves there would certainly cause some to seek institutions that have at least a few veterans in their ranks.

  While I agree with Mr. Wilson's observation, I hope all institutions of higher learning prove him wrong. I contend every institutions should review every policy and provide as much on campus assistance as possible to attract veterans to all kinds of institutions. Remember the strength of the original GI Bill is it provided benefits for veterans to get education or training at the institution and in the program THEY chose. That may have been Harvard, Haverford, or a barbering school. I long for a simplified benefit that covers the costs of the program a veteran chooses, and put the ability to choose and use in the hand of the veteran, no matter what vocational path they choose!