Stanford univercity to offer FREE online courses

Slavik said:
In all honesty, you say the majority of the universities in the us are privately owned. Do you not think its naive
to think an independent company would be willing to run at a loss? If they are independently owned, then it is even more likely they are turning a profit than state owned ones.
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They are ALL Privately owned.

btw, it took about 2 seconds to pull up a long list of US University Financials (They are called Annual Reports in the business world).... you can start here with your research: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS373US374&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=university of montana financials#hl=en&rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS373US374&q=university annual report&revid=1977411548&sa=X&ei=QcZPTurvC8zWiALH2PWhAQ&ved=0CIEBENUCKAI&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=6e03ab0a8e706d4b&biw=1398&bih=902
 
bobster65 said:
They are ALL Privately owned.

btw, it took about 2 seconds to pull up a long list of US University Financials (They are called Annual Reports in the business world).... you can start here with your research: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS373US374&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=university of montana financials#hl=en&rlz=1C1RNNN_enUS373US374&q=university annual report&revid=1977411548&sa=X&ei=QcZPTurvC8zWiALH2PWhAQ&ved=0CIEBENUCKAI&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&fp=6e03ab0a8e706d4b&biw=1398&bih=902
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Im not going to research anything, its basic business. If as you say they are all privately owned, then they will be turning a profit. They may be hiding those profits in purchases of assets but the bottom line is they are making profit.
 
Spent 300,000 by placing a few fountains over the campus. They do nothing except to congest the place with traffic, makes it harder for people to get where they want to now. Certainly that 300,000 could have been better spent.... on something a student might have actually wanted. State owned universities don't make much of a profit but private ones make more than they need.
 
I went to college in Florida where the average tuition was around $2500 for the full year. Now in most areas you can't even get a community college education for that. It has risen to around double that in the last few years as the budget crunch has made it really bad down here. There are no state income taxes to cover the state university financial needs. Of course room and board is where they get you, that was around 10k a year.
 
Slavik said:
Im not going to research anything, its basic business. If as you say they are all privately owned, then they will be turning a profit. They may be hiding those profits in purchases of assets but the bottom line is they are making profit.
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Yer the one that said you couldn't find anything and didn't have any data on US Universities. Now all of a sudden you don't need them because you "know" Pat your self on the back Watson.
 
bobster65 said:
Yer the one that said you couldn't find anything and didn't have any data on US Universities. Now all of a sudden you don't need them because you "know" Pat your self on the back Watson.
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Lose the attitude.

I had a fleeting look yesterday when I was making the aforementioned post to see if I could grab a quick link with 30 seconds of searching but I didnt spot anything. Show me an independent business that succeeded by running a defecit every single year sherlock and you suddenly work out why I "know".
 
Slavik said:
Lose the attitude.

I had a fleeting look yesterday when I was making the aforementioned post to see if I could grab a quick link with 30 seconds of searching but I didnt spot anything. Show me an independent business that succeeded by running a defecit every single year sherlock and you suddenly work out why I "know".
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Additionally, we have undertaken tremendous efforts to curtail increases in the cost of a Pepperdine education. Net tuition revenues increased only 1.4 percent or $2 million to total $177 million in fiscal 2010. From a student's perspective, net tuition and fee revenues amounted to $28,612 per full-time-equivalent student in fiscal 2010. At the same time, expenses that directly affect each student's experience—such as instruction, research, academic support, and student services—amounted to $27,228 per full-time-equivalent student, representing approximately 95.2 percent of each net tuition-and-fee dollar paid.
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Roughly $1,000 profit per student at Pepperdine. A few extra for donations and you don't get a whole lot for them to cut down on.

I can't find any resources for the college I attend, but I can't see it being too much, as resources were cut and tuition raised due to a loss in state funding.

grant sarver said:
There are certainly many publicly owned universities and colleges. Sorry, I'm not following your meaning.
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I think he was implying "free" public education stops at 12th grade.
 
In the US we have private colleges and public colleges. Public are run and funded mostly by the state and they are generally larger. In Florida we have 11 state universities with 3 of them in the 50k student range or more. Private colleges don't receive tax dollars directly to fund their existence but there are tons of research dollars that go to these schools. Obviously they generally cost a lot more in tuition. They both have their positives and negatives and with the current economy there are more people paying the lower tuition at a state school than paying a lot more for a "more prestigious" education at a private school. The student loan bubble is going to be so ugly when it pops.
 
King Kovifor said:
Roughly $1,000 profit per student at Pepperdine. A few extra for donations and you don't get a whole lot for them to cut down on.
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That paragraph has been exceptionally carefully worded. Whilst they claim $27,228 lets take this bit.

instruction, research, academic support, and student services
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instruction, - by a teacher who is being paid to be there if 10 or 100 students are around.

research, - most likely in facilities already owned by the uni, as well as many re-usable research materials

academic support, - systems already in place most likely

student services - already in place and available again regardless of 100-1000 students.

Whilst, if they were drafting all of this in on a unique basis per student, I can see the costs adding up, if these systems and facilities are already in place, the real cost I would assume to be much lower.
 
Slavik said:
That paragraph has been exceptionally carefully worded. Whilst they claim $27,228 lets take this bit.

instruction, - by a teacher who is being paid to be there if 10 or 100 students are around.

research, - most likely in facilities already owned by the uni, as well as many re-usable research materials

academic support, - systems already in place most likely

student services - already in place and available again regardless of 100-1000 students.

Whilst, if they were drafting all of this in on a unique basis per student, I can see the costs adding up, if these systems and facilities are already in place, the real cost I would assume to be much lower.
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My university spends millions in funding student and staff research, every year. A lot of issues were brought up because we received upwards of $80 million from the state gov't (don't quote me on that...) and when they cut that, they had to reevaluate how they'd pay for everything. Instruction, yes, a teach is always paid regardless of 10 or 100 students. Imagine being an art history professor where you only get roughly 8 kids in the class... How fair would it be to only pay them for 8 kids when they still gotta teach? Academic Support: my university has a math assistance center, an english writing center, and a bunch of other ones... They own the buildings... they start it up... but now they have to continually pay for support.

Those figures were most likely figured out by saying, we spend $1.5 billion, and have 55,000 students. The cost per student is $27,000. That's an exaggeration, but the essence is the same.
 
Slavik said:
And thats where your wrong, hence my reply. Go back and re-read both posts.
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And that's where you are missing your own point. Reread your post, you wrote it as "well, they already own the buildings, so the cost can't be that high." I provided reasoning against the implied meaning you wrote.
 
bobster65 said:
All. Public education in the US stops at grade 12 aka Senior year of High School. All schooling after that is through privately owned Universities or Privately owned Trade Schools.
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That's just not true. It actually couldn't be more untrue.

Secondary education ends at grade 12, but College/University is considered post-secondary education in the U.S., which are either private (e.g., Stanford) or public (e.g., UCLA). But given that something like 70% of students can't afford college (public or private), I can see how one would think that, heh.
 
King Kovifor said:
I think he was implying "free" public education stops at 12th grade.
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I was, but that went over everyone's heads, specially those that don't have kids and never put their kids through an education in the US.

Jason, Im talking about Public (FREE) education provided by the Department of Education. K-12 is FREE for all US Citizens. Post Secondary education is NOT Free and not provided for free for every student in the US. The Department of Education does assist those with a financial need (not by giving them money, but helping them apply for Pel grants, Student Loans etc). UCLA is not under the control of the US Department of Public Education. It cost money to attend UCLA, just like it does Stanford. The difference is that Stanford won't just let anyone in, you have to qualify, where as UCLA will let anyone in (which is why they consider it public. ie open to the public).... you still need to have specific requirements met to apply for and "get in" to UCLA tho.

Slavik's entire beef was about not having to PAY for further education beyond what the Govt provides... Saying that the US has FREE Govt controlled post secondary education is FALSE. The US Department of Education does NOT provide Free Public Education beyond 12th grade. That is fact.
 
Cool signed up for those courses. I wonder what this is going to be like.

I would also like to say that regardless of their reasoning for doing it...it is a step in the right direction for humanity as a whole in my opinion. Knowledge is power and those who horde it with no intent to share it will die with it and it will become useless...those who require payment to teach it enforce a world to emerge where knowledge will be abused for profit.

If anything you want to know can become available to you in a way that can teach you a fundamental understanding, there is no one to blame for your shortcomings but yourself...the way it should be...I can't really say more than that.

But yeah in bad taste or not....my 2 cents to this convo about money and education facilities.

At a university here in Connecticut I had to deal with one of the biggest PITA I have ever had to in my life. People such as this person do and say whatever they want and you just have to bite your lip. End of story. They can come in to your workspace which you are building to a spec that is defined and deemed safe by inspection...and tell you that something is wrong when it is not and you have to hold their hands and make them feel special by wasting your time and doing something that is going to end up on the punch list to be fixed later effectively wasting time, (the donators) money and (workers )effort in the wake of it all (no one likes doing something twice that only needs doing once.).

My point with all that is the PITA people I am talking about are the boosters backers and donators. I don't think universities are in that bad of shape...where else do you see suit and tie people donating buildings and walking around with a hardhat like they are bob the builder...and more to the point who else do you know that get's multimillion dollar buildings donated to them.

I am grateful that people feel the need to donate money to help better the arenas that made them the contenders that they have become, I just hate when people (the schools) cry poor talking about the price of rice while they have a glazed ham under each arm. I don't want to hear about one's budget for this year I want to read the CAFR unabridged and solemnly documented for the previous year otherwise I would assume it is just business as usual.
 
bobster65 said:
Im talking about Public (FREE) education provided by the Department of Education. K-12 is FREE for all US Citizens.
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But you do pay for public K-12 education no matter if you have children or not via taxes...I believe that is the same for every state in the US right?
 
EQnoble said:
But you do pay for public K-12 education no matter if you have children or not via taxes...I believe that is the same for every state in the US right?
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Ya, indirectly, not directly. When paying taxes, it could go to any number of things. When a student pays tuition for post secondary, that is what they are paying for. When you send your kids to public education, you don't pay tuition directly. Hope that makes sense.

I do agree with Slavik to a point.. I feel that our kids don't get enough quality education and that there are many many bright young adults that just don't get a chance because of money.
 
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