Ancestors

Toot

Written by spaf on 2025-01-22 at 17:10

For those of you wondering what life in academia is like: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/if-your-universitys-administration-ran-a-polar-expedition

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Descendants

Written by DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄) on 2025-01-22 at 17:14

@spaf

OMG Ah ha ha ha ha har har har har har

That nailed it.

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Written by Steve Bellovin on 2025-01-22 at 17:56

@spaf They omitted the many weeks preparing the grant proposal for the expedition.

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Written by dr_a on 2025-01-22 at 17:59

@spaf way too thoughtful, and a university would never pay with exposure since the expert should pay them

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Written by Oblomov on 2025-01-22 at 18:05

@spaf that payment in exposure is just chef kiss

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Written by Henrý Ólson on 2025-01-22 at 18:14

@spaf "Due to unavoidable cuts, we have eliminated four huskies from the dogsled team and replaced them with a Pomeranian. Pancake is cheaper to feed and looks cute leading the sledge."

lol

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Written by Annie from Canetoad on 2025-01-22 at 19:05

@spaf This is unfortunately spot on, and why my son walked away from getting a college degree after the first two years. Perhaps he'll go back at some point, but the skyrocketing costs combined with plummeting resources and quality had him cancelling his enrollment and requesting a refund.

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Written by spaf on 2025-01-22 at 19:54

@anne Some places, like here at Purdue, still have high standards and quality. Your son should not draw too many conclusions from a small sample set.

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Written by Annie from Canetoad on 2025-01-22 at 20:34

@spaf He did apply and was accepted to other, better institutions. But all of higher ed is going through enormous economic challenges right now, and none of the schools had affordable tuition or offered meaningful scholarships.

We saved very generous funds for our children's educations; however, tuitions have wildly outpaced even our very cautious estimates, and neither we nor our children can reasonably go deeply into debt in today's economic landscape.

Federal and state funding for higher ed dried up long ago, and without that support, schools must look to families.

When my brothers and I went to university, grants, scholarships, and low-interest loans were plentiful. That is not true now and hasn't been for some time.

At this point, the only places my son can afford are places he wouldn't want to go. This is criminal, given his drive to learn, his intelligence, his willingness to work, and his past educational performance. By any measure, he would be a serious catch for any institution.

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Written by spaf on 2025-01-22 at 21:43

@anne Purdue has had frozen tuition for in-state undergraduates for 12 years straight; other students have also seen no or minimal increases. This is expected to be extended for at least one or two more years. We also have many mechanisms for tuition support.

https://www.purdue.edu/treasurer/finance/bursar-office/tuition/fee-rates-2024-2025/undergraduate-tuition-and-fees-2024-2025/

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Written by Annie from Canetoad on 2025-01-24 at 13:45

@spaf

You do understand that you’ve just performed a “well, actually” on me, with the pure-hearted intention of being “helpful,” right?

You’ve assumed our sample size was small, and that Purdue’s reputation and intellectual offerings are all my son could want. Or that Purdue’s location—in Indiana—would not be problematic to a young adult with a strong commitment to human rights.

Finally, when schools say they have “many mechanisms” for “offsetting” tuition, they’re usually offering a wider and riskier variety of loan options, not better scholarships, grants or work-study opportunities.

These are not the economic times to be saddling 20-somethings with enormous debt that only serves to turn them into wage slaves. Nor would I ask my son to betray his core values and move to a state that has acted to remove civil liberties and the bodily autonomy of women.

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Written by spaf on 2025-01-24 at 15:14

@anne Life is full of choices, where optimizing for everything we might want is difficult, and sometimes impossible.

I presented a response to indicate that not all great universities are expensive and without alternatives as you (appeared to) claim.

I won't broaden this into a debate about other factors. Your son has his priorities -- good for him. I wish him well.

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Written by Clifton Royston on 2025-01-22 at 19:16

@spaf

So what I'm hearing is it's just like working in the private sector, then.

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Written by Tyr on 2025-01-23 at 04:44

@spaf Ah, that “digital humanities” bit is particularly delightful. The tone is bang on as well, almost makes me nostalgic for my old life… …almost.

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