Reply to Spin-off "The student as a paying customer"

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[quote=Anonymous]It is amazing that you all here think that the $45-50k tuition / year you are paying goes to teaching at an elite school.

This is not the case.

I work as a science prof at a school that is highly ranked (top 25) and charges one of the highest tuitions in the country.

I can tell you how your tuition is spent.  First, 60% is skimmed off for "student life" -- deans who plan extracurriculars, famous speakers, gyms, offices of 
students with disabilities, disciplinary committees, etc.

Then 30% goes to the school you are in for things like classroom maintenance (keeping the buildings' lights on, security, keeping buildings built, paying bureaucrats' salaries.

Then the last 10% (about $5k / student) goes to all of the instruction.  Not just professors' salaries, but also teaching assistant salaries, instructional materials, planning time, laboratory equipment and supplies, admin support for students (e.g. academic coordinators, etc), curriculum planning and national certification, grading, etc.

So if you are not paying much more than you were for that chemistry class.  You are paying for the 90% above.  Your chemistry prof is either an adjunct who is paid $5k/term to teach 100 students (or possibly even a student who is paid $2k to teach the course) or it is a prof who technically gets paid to teach but really only has tenure because they get research grants and are focused on that, not teaching.  If you get lucky you might get an older prof who is past the grant getting stage and might actually have time to think about teaching.

You are really paying for the privilege of hanging out with the other "elite" students who were admitted.  I love the students and they are amazing, but my advice as a prof at one of these schools is state school, except perhaps for HYP who will pay your whole way if you are not rich enough to afford it.
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