The Core

"Alumni from a range of generations say they are baffled by today’s college culture. Among their laments: Students are too wrapped up in racial and identity politics. They are allowed to take too many frivolous courses. They have repudiated the heroes and traditions of the past by judging them by today’s standards rather than in the context of their times. "

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/us/college-protests-alumni-donations.html?_r=0

thread title by reddit

Those MFs think the Fing world OWES them EVERYTING 

Every generation in history has denigrated the generations that have come after them. No matter what generation we belong to, there was an older generation shaking their heads and saying "Kids these days!"

Many of these alumni at this point are people who were on campus in the 1960s and 1970s when the older generation thought of them as lazy, flaky and dirty.

Many of the top universities in the US have tremendous endowments.

Yes sir!

I started a rant on that fact and the fact that universities are bloated (over half of all salaries pay administrators now), and run like country clubs (fancy health clubs etc) because they are obsessed with improving their US News and World Reports rankings. Then I decided to spare y'all that and deleted it.

There are a lot of reasons not to donate to universities that have nothing to do with the kids themselves. In my experience, I really like the Millennials I know. Overwhelmingly they are smart, tough, hardworking kids and nothing I have seen suggests they don't stack up just fine against me and my generation.

The more wealthy universities should stop charging tuition at this point.  

PS, the Ivies pretty much now charge based on ability to pay. These huge endowments mean that they are able to admit students based on criteria other than ability to pay and let the wealthy students subsidize the poor ones. If you are poor, going to an Ivy is generally cheaper than going to a state school. And they do alway ssay that it is their huge endowments that allow them to do that.

So you could look at the decline in giving as a decision by those who went to the Ivies at a time when they were mostly reserved for the wealthy, not wanting to create a more egalitarian school (I think that's utter rubbish, but it makes about as much sense as the "generation snowflake" thing).

But at the next tier down, where schools are still expensive and the endowments are modest, kids will graduate with crushing debt. I've known a few people of very modest means who finished their Ivy League educations debt free. I can't say the same thing of kids with modest means going to state schools.

See

https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/fact-sheet

The Basics

*Close to 60% of our undergraduates receive Harvard Scholarship.

*20% of our parents have total incomes less than $65,000 and are not expected to contribute.

*Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0-10% of their income, and those with incomes above $150,000 will be asked to pay proportionately more than 10%, based on their individual circumstances. Families at all income levels who have significant assets will continue to pay more than those in less fortunate circumstances.

*Two-thirds of students work during the academic year.

Ninety percent of American families would pay the same or less to send their children to Harvard as they would a state school.