This meeting may have given me an aneurysm

[Exterous]

We have a couple people out on vacations so I was lending a hand during a meeting with a college we're working with. The meeting was catered, as all the meetings have apparently been. Once a week they have a local restaurant bring in a spread of food for a lunch for the admin staff. Faculty members get $3,000 for a work laptop and $2500 for a home 'work' laptop. (Uh...isn't the point of the laptop that they can take it places?) They get to keep the home laptop as long as they work there for 6 months. This is also not a computing intensive college by any means. The kicker was that the school had allocated a certain amount of money for a project. When it was almost done and the project was ready to be completed they realized they had a lot of money left for it. So several people got together to find an international conference to go to. They flew in Business Class to London and stayed at $600/night hotel rooms. The school signed off on this - AND DIDN'T SEEM TO CARE AT ALL WHEN THIS CAME UP AT THE MEETING.

They charge $27,000 a year for tuition and have plenty of people applying. I am not entirely sure I kept the horrified look off my face. The degrees they offer are not particularly high earning degrees (below to average college earning levels). I very badly wanted to say something about burdening students with decades of debt in relation to their taking an unnecessary trip to London.

Chatting with my coworker who works with them more often it seems there are more stories I'm not yet aware of. If I had to work with them on a regular basis I might actually see about getting them moved to someone else.

 

[highland145]

Thanks for pissing me off this AM.

<--- rising senior parent and looking at colleges. Eff me.

 

[Ken g6]

When it was almost done and the project was ready to be completed they realized they had a lot of money left for it. So several people got together to find an international conference to go to. They flew in Business Class to London and stayed at $600/night hotel rooms. The school signed off on this - AND DIDN'T SEEM TO CARE AT ALL WHEN THIS CAME UP AT THE MEETING.

Ah, government budget math. The idea, I hear, is that if you don't spend the whole budget, next time they might cut your budget.

 

[pete6032]

Unless your institution is publicly-funded I see no problem. This is also how most private businesses are run.

 

[brianmanahan]

Ah, government budget math. The idea, I hear, is that if you don't spend the whole budget, next time they might cut your budget.

that is how budgets work at corporations as well. if you don't use it this year, you didn't need it and therefore will definitely lose it next year.

i got to go on a number of nice conference trips because of that. gotta use up the training budget or there won't be a training budget in the future.

 

[boomerang]

Unless your institution is publicly-funded I see no problem. This is also how most private businesses are run.

Yeah, skyrocketing college debt wouldn't factor in at all... /s

 

[pauldun170]

I remember the first time I saw this sort of thing. seen this sort of crap in everything from private schools to colleges.
It's free for all.

 

[Red Storm]

Ah, government budget math. The idea, I hear, is that if you don't spend the whole budget, next time they might cut your budget.

Unfortunately true.

 

[Exterous]

Thanks for pissing me off this AM.

<--- rising senior parent and looking at colleges. Eff me.

If he goes to the right school you and he get to help pay for my vacations. Thanks!

Ah, government budget math. The idea, I hear, is that if you don't spend the whole budget, next time they might cut your budget.

This was a specific line item for the year. It wasn't going to be renewed regardless.

Unless your institution is publicly-funded I see no problem. This is also how most private businesses are run.

My understanding is that they are publicly funded but also have a substantial private funding stream as well. This is slightly different than private businesses because students and their loans are subject to different, borrower unfriendly laws that removes a check and balance from the equation to the detriment to future economic growth. Businesses generally need to pay more attention to lines of credit and revenue sources than many educational institutions.

 

[highland145]

If he goes to the right school you and he get to help pay for my vacations. Thanks!

You already had to move once. Do you really want me knowing where you work?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

What do you expect? Most universities are run by liberal morons where the concept of budget is foreign to them.

Take away our retarded unsecured federal loans program and they will come crying that they can't afford business class anymore.

 

[Thebobo]

Ah, government budget math. The idea, I hear, is that if you don't spend the whole budget, next time they might cut your budget.

Yep been witness to that for decades.

 

[Thebobo]

What do you expect? Most universities are run by liberal morons where the concept of budget is foreign to them.

Take away our retarded unsecured federal loans program and they will come crying that they can't afford business class anymore.

Oh shut up already. Please.

 

[brianmanahan]

What do you expect? Most universities are run by liberal morons where the concept of budget is foreign to them.

Take away our retarded unsecured federal loans program and they will come crying that they can't afford business class anymore.

<---------- P&N

 

[Red Squirrel]

Damn 27k tuition that's crazy. You can almost buy a new car for that money. I think I paid like 2-3k per year if I recall. Maybe 1k in books the first year.

I think all the assistance available is probably what drives up the prices. Colleges know they can charge more since lot of students will just get loans anyway and not care about the fact that they'll be stuck paying that for a good part of their lives.

 

[Red Squirrel]

that is how budgets work at corporations as well. if you don't use it this year, you didn't need it and therefore will definitely lose it next year.

i got to go on a number of nice conference trips because of that. gotta use up the training budget or there won't be a training budget in the future.

I always found that concept so retarded but yep it's how it works at most places. It generates lot of waste. We don't NEED to replace these core i5 machines with other core i5 machines, but we need to use the budget! Everybody gets new computers!