School for Scandal: An Insider’s Look at How and Why Colleges Rip Off Students, Parents, and Taxpayers
Full disclosure. I’m a retired professor of Economics. I was a full-time professor but also taught as an adjunct at other colleges. I taught both traditional age day students and adult night students. I designed and taught online courses. I was on my college’s budget committee for many years and twice served on the accreditation review committee. Before becoming a professor, I was an economist and strategic planning manager at three large corporations, a consultant to small businesses, and ran a small company. I’ve been on the boards of five nonprofit organizations. What Does Your Tuition Buy? There is a private college near me that charges full-time students tuition an average of $40,000 a year (after discounts off of list price). About $4,000 a course. The professor is paid about $8,000 to teach a course (half that if the professor is an adjunct). Assuming 20 students in the course, each student is paying $400 to listen to the prof. For 10 courses a year, tuition goi