SVSU perk unnecessary [College cries poverty, then gives free country club memberships to faculty!]

The Saginaw News ^ | July 14, 2007 | Saginaw News Editorial

[MichiganMan]

LET'S SAY YOU'RE A student at Saginaw Valley State University. Times are tough, and with your part-time job you can barely pay for school.

In fact, you've read how you might face a double-digit tuition increase this fall if state lawmakers fail to restore a

10 percent cut in state aid or pay for increases that Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm has proposed.

Now you find out that SVSU is providing a new perk for its full-time employees -- a semi-membership at the Bay City Country Club.

Yep, you read it right. The university has paid $25,000 for a one-year trial membership for its 700 full-timers. They can use the club's workout room, dining room, golf course and pool, paying reduced greens fees and $5 per day to lounge poolside.

[MichiganMan]

I've long maintained that the bottomless well of financial aide and loans for students have enabled the administrators at colleges and universities to live outside of the bounds of fiscal responsibility for so long now that they've completely lost touch with reality and consider stuff like this rational.

[Lead Moderator]

To prevent duplication, please do not alter the title. Thanks.

[MichiganMan]

Got it. Thanks for the fix.

[ThomasThomas]

At $35.71 per employee per year it is cheep for an employee perk. Less than the average poverty ridden college student pays for lattes in a month.

[Kay Ludlow]

Growing up and living around a University town, you’re absolutely right. Even as they say they aren’t going to increase enrollment, they’re building new building on every corner of campus. Must be planning to provide bigger nicer offices to all the faculty and staff too, yet they also continue to wrangle for increased state funding “to keep tuition increases low” at 5.%...

[43north]

Gee, I hope this won’t interfere with the state dhimmiecrat’s plans to give every gubbmint skoolchild an iPod.

[MichiganMan]

At $35.71 per employee per year it is cheep for an employee perk. Less than the average poverty ridden college student pays for lattes in a month.

And THAT is the kind of thinking that has gotten us tuition increases of 40-50% in the past five years.

[Lead Moderator]

Welcome.

[mtbopfuyn]

How many illegals are getting their tuition free?

[MichiganMan]

How many illegals are getting their tuition free?

At Saginaw Valley in Mid-Michigan. Probably not too many.

[NonValueAdded]

takes a long time to hitchhike there, too.

[Born to Conserve]

The problem with these universities is they teach too many puff courses. How many English, Art, History and kinesiology majors do we need? The universities subsidies should be based on the employment of graduates in their field of study.

[Will_Zurmacht]

So English is a “puff” course?
And Americans no longer need to know their history?

Sheesh...

(OK, maybe we have too many art majors, but the marketplace will eventually resolve that. They either turn into advertising folks or Starbucks employees...)

[rbg81]

Ummm...it is cheap—very cheap. In fact, its a no brainer. If you can get them to work out, down go your health care costs. To have similar facilities on campus would cost a lot more.

[SuziQ]

Heh, higher ed ping!

[television is just wrong]

probably a lot of illegal have received free tuition.

I know someone who got a grant to go to community college, and he took the money and went on vacation to Ireland for two weeks, then came back and his tuition was free? so what is the grant for?

[tcrlaf]

It’s LIBWORLD....

Don’t you know that it’s part of thier Socialist Healthcare and Wellness program?

How do you expect these profs and staffers to perform without these freebies?

[SuziQ]

How many English, Art, History and kinesiology majors do we need?

Most kids go on to graduate school for their careers nowadays. English and History are excellent choices for those who want to practice law, or teach at a college level. Art can be included in many careers with some tweaking, and with boomers beginning to age, kinesiology will likely be a ticket to a lucrative career.

[Lancey Howard]

You would think that with the “global warming” scam going full tilt, the colleges and their professors, scientists. and laboratories would be awash in taxpayer “grant” money. But then, I suppose there’s never enough money for these scum.

[econjack]

So English is a “puff” course? And Americans no longer need to know their history? Sheesh...

I don't think that's what he's implying. I think he's referring to courses like: How to Read Symbolism into a Phone Book, or The Historical Implications of King Tut's Rule on Global Warming which abound at many institutions. In my area of the country, Purdue cranks out a lot of (nontrivial) students in engineering and the hard sciences, but the state gives only lip service to supporting "hard" education.