A major problem is with administration. College professors, if they are competent, do not need much administration: they need adequate scheduling ans a way to access technology needed. Administrators are normally not people who have any course work in human relations or management, they are generally teachers with ambition that seek "promotion" because administrators are paid more . a LOT more. Professors are often adjuncts, paid by the course, as low as $20K per year with zero benefits. Administrators like to hire as many adjuncts as possible, because it frees up money to pay administrators and to hire administrators. There are no adjunct administrators. All were paid over $75K, with full professors who did the actual teaching, getting $10 to $20K less. New hires got less, unless they taught business or accounting.
The feds decide how much they will pay in student aid, and when this is increased, then tuition is increased. This often does not result in professors getting paid more. There are a lot of young people who can barely read and are worthless as workers, and if they have a HS diploma or even a GED, many of them end up in college, where they cannot handle the reading and math, as they are at a fifth grade level in both.
They get placed in remedial courses, which are not for college credit, and many are ashamed to be in such classes and drop out, Those that failed at the public college, junior college or whatever still can borrow money. Students who do not understand that the private college will cause them to owe ten times more than the public ones have parents who are also no good at math and they ended up as freshmen in my college. They wanted to be studying for a business degree, but could not do even arithmetic or read the textbook, so they got in remedial courses. Some took these seriously, but a majority of the students did not, and spent most of their time partying.
'When I was in college at NMSU, everyone I knew studied hard, and this was a powerful reason for everyone top do so. If everyone you know is partying,then most people are inclined to party.
I think that the percentage of students who successfully completed a degree within five years at my college was around 12%. The college knew the retention rate numbers, but never told anyone, because I suspect they were so low. Most of the freshmen class flunked out before I saw them, since Spanish was a sophomore course for those who has remedial courses. By the time I retired, most of the graduates had not taken any foreign language, because they had transferred in and had the requirement waived. So I do not know how well prepared they were.
My opinion is that my college now serves no real purpose. They should can the officer and administrators and turn it over to Miami Dade College, where tuitoni s lower and salaries for professors are higher.
