[AndyJackson]

“The Times is the company newsletter for the useless in all walks of American life.”

[God luvs America]

“defined by the number of students with Pell Grants,”

Meanwhile Duke’s endowment = $11.6 billion

[Brian Griffin]

There is a lot of retail and office space available.

Low cost universities could be created to put it to good use.

[ladyjane]

David Randall writes well. It’s a blessed relief from the usual newspaper articles.

[econjack]

I was a prof at a university you would all recognize and served for two years on the University Admissions Committee. Our charge was to review the admission applications of students who were "at the margin" of meeting the minimum admissions standards. Back then, the standards were mainly: SAT/ACT scores, their grades in high school, and "outside" activities. There was no published quota numbers, but it was clearly assumed that we were expected to review minority applications under a different microscope.

I argued that, in many cases, the student had no chance of making it past the first year and that we were just taking their money and wasting their time. Privately, I tracked those who I said we should not admit, but was overruled by the rest of the committee. As I recall, just under 95% of those who I thought wouldn't make it through the first year didn't. Most were minority students. At the end of my term, I presented the stats of our record for the previous two years confirming my suspicion that we were deluding too many students with our "false" acceptance.

To my knowledge, the university did not change its policy standards.

[FamiliarFace]

Good thing for me that my Pell grant likely wasn’t based on my race rather than my economics and achievements in HS.

[Hatteras]

Too many Asians I guess. Real diversity should look like the basketball team, right NYT?