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The views expressed by me on this blog are mine alone at the time of posting and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization with which I am associated.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Flagrant Fouls

In story number one, the woeful New York Knicks come to epitomize much of what is wrong with professional [sic] sports today with this display at Madison Square Garden last evening:


Andrew Gombert for The New York Times

Perhaps we've now found the home for Terrell Owens next year.

In story number two, we have the University of Florida changing the rules of the game in its Prepaid Tuition Plan. Here are the details:
The prepaid plan allows people to start saving for college when children are young and guarantees them current tuition rates regardless of what tuition actually costs when the student reaches college.

Because UF's proposal, called the Academic Enhancement Plan, is a fee separate from tuition, it wouldn't be covered by either Florida Prepaid or the merit-based Bright Futures Scholarship Program.

About 2,800 Palm Beach County students currently attend UF, the state's flagship university.

If approved, the fee would be charged to all new and transfer students beginning next fall.

UF President Bernie Machen said the school needs the fee because its cut-rate annual tuition of $3,206 set by the legislature has forced administrators to increase class sizes. UF ranks last nationally in tuition costs when compared with other national flagship universities.

The approximately $36 million that UF would gain from the fee could be used only to hire new faculty.

Machen said he's against exempting prepaid students from paying the fee.

"I don't see why they should be out," Machen said. "Those students will benefit ultimately from it as much as other students."
They should be out because they prepaid their tuition. That's the guarantee they were given. The current price for buying a unit of tuition should go up, commensurate with the new costs, but the value of existing units as a share of tuition should be preserved. I'm all for my home state improving the quality of instruction at UF, and I agree that the current tuition rates look pretty low, but a deal is a deal, even in Gainesville, no?

2 comments:

breakdown said...

In the UK, education is free although grants are not substidised as much as they used to be.
But the culture here, is they want all education free, including increased grants.
Its eye opening when I see how families in the USA have to plan childrens education sometimes before they are born.
Our free education system can sometimes be taken for granted with students not really trying.
Of course there are some dedicated students, who are now suffering from the millions of students in previous years who took for granted the free grant system.

ICS

Donald Douglas said...

Looking forward to football this year-end, actually. The Rose Bowl is going to be just like an old-time classic (1970s-style), even if USC couldn't be national champs again! Enjoy. Hope you had a good holiday and here's to you and yours for a happy and productive New Year.

Burkean Reflections