Gameday Tents, Quad tailgate spots, major price increase

rgw · Apr 16, 2015

It is off-topic, but I think the collegiate system in this country has went off the deep end. Look around Tuscaloosa - especially since the tornado bulldozed the middle of town for more condos and student living - and you'll see that it is truly The University of Alabama Spa and Resort now.

Old rat trap apartments and dorms? Gone. Everything is resort-style living. Cost of living goes up, cost of tuition goes up, student loan bubble continues to expand.

There are so many degrees that exist that should be in a trade school or apprenticeships. Then there are degrees like management bachelors. L-O-darn-L. What adult is going to work at a place that puts some green, know-nothing 21 year old as their manager? It is literally a useless degree...major in something useful, go to graduate school if you want to learn about good management after you've actually accomplished something.

Jon · Apr 16, 2015

davefrat said:
Just look at how many different "deans" are on a large campus...diversity, gender, African American students, Asian, Latino, LGBTQ...and that's just to name a few who are all making serious 6 figure salaries.

Throw in world class student centers, rec departments, upscale dining options and all the rest and it's a wonder there's money to pay instructors.

When the highlights and selling points of campus tours are the new football stadium, the new rock climbing wall and the Starbucks student lounge you know things have gone sideways.

heh

as someone who sells to the Public Sector market, including Universities, you aren't even scratching the surface on the amount of waste I see

I had a CIO of a major Southern University (not ours and I won't say which one) tell me "I don't care if we have a defined use case or users for the dam thing, we'll figure the out later, I have $1.5M to spend and want a research supercomputer" so I designed it, near totally in a vacuum, and sold it to him. At the same time he had department heads that couldn't get a server but he had a supercomputer he could show off that as near as I could tell was barely ever used. Total waste

I've designed and sold systems, gone back in a year later to see them in unopened boxes. I've sold software that sat on a shelf and was never installed. I've seen department heads with multi million dollar systems that they used less than a percent of the capabilities of but refused to share "because this was from my grant proposal, tell him to learn to write better ones" and I've dealt with all manor of completely useless administrators and their admins and the admins assistant and teh assistants work study person. Universities, especially public but I see it in private too, have raised waste to an art form. It's mind boggling, think the DMV with far less accountability and you start to get a feel for what a major public University is like on the inside

rgw · Apr 16, 2015

Federal grants: half of the money goes to overhead, so what else do you have to spend it on but administrative assistance?

Need a new desk assistant? Can probably turnaround that hiring process in the blink of an eye.

Need a database administrator for real work that makes an actual difference? Good luck scrounging up the grant money to make fair offers.

tide96 · Apr 16, 2015

Coach Avery's salary has to come from somewhere. There plenty of places to set up if you don't want to pay for the official spots on the quad or behind Friedman Hall. They just won't be as centrally located for you and your friends.

rgw · Apr 16, 2015

I have my beefs with the ballooning costs of universities for the student but for sports fans...eh.

You're paying to keep it as a product worth seeing.

Jon · Apr 16, 2015

tide96 said:
Coach Avery's salary has to come from somewhere. There plenty of places to set up if you don't want to pay for the official spots on the quad or behind Friedman Hall. They just won't be as centrally located for you and your friends.

and right here is how they get away with it. Much like a politician questioning your patriotism for criticizing him the Universities waste a fortune then question your loyalty for daring to point out the obvious "you want the best program you'd better pay"

It's all good, IT Vendors are now selling "Fan Retention systems" to Athletic departments which are starting to feel the pain and are noticing the wait lists getting shorter as more people are getting turned off by finding the U's trying to get into their pockets for ever larger sums.

davefrat · Apr 16, 2015

rgw said:
That's because increasingly universities ARE NOT paying for full-time professors and instead hiring part-time adjunct professors that have no benefits. It's like pennies on the dollar to hire 2-3 (maybe 4) adjuncts for 1 professor...but it is a raw deal that is hurting the overall quality of the education (as more people eschew professorial work for the private sector).

And graduate teaching assistants like I was at bama 20 years ago.

Rush · Apr 16, 2015

Jon said:
heh

as someone who sells to the Public Sector market, including Universities, you aren't even scratching the surface on the amount of waste I see

I had a CIO of a major Southern University (not ours and I won't say which one) tell me "I don't care if we have a defined use case or users for the dam thing, we'll figure the out later, I have $1.5M to spend and want a research supercomputer" so I designed it, near totally in a vacuum, and sold it to him. At the same time he had department heads that couldn't get a server but he had a supercomputer he could show off that as near as I could tell was barely ever used. Total waste

I've designed and sold systems, gone back in a year later to see them in unopened boxes. I've sold software that sat on a shelf and was never installed. I've seen department heads with multi million dollar systems that they used less than a percent of the capabilities of but refused to share "because this was from my grant proposal, tell him to learn to write better ones" and I've dealt with all manor of completely useless administrators and their admins and the admins assistant and teh assistants work study person. Universities, especially public but I see it in private too, have raised waste to an art form. It's mind boggling, think the DMV with far less accountability and you start to get a feel for what a major public University is like on the inside

Great post...

And great thread...

davefrat · Apr 16, 2015

rgw said:
I have my beefs with the ballooning costs of universities for the student but for sports fans...eh.

You're paying to keep it as a product worth seeing.

And on top of it, we hear that much or most of a coach's multi millions in salary come from boosters and not the school.

If that's true, I wonder how many of those boosters would or do give their money to students who can't afford tuition without drowning in debt.

teamplayer · Apr 16, 2015

It all boils down to what our society has decided to place value on- entertainment over education.

cuda.1973 · Apr 16, 2015

Since this is not NS, I have to toe the line, in my comments.

All I will say is it pleases me to see so many of my Crimson brethren saying the same things I have been saying for years. I will just caution some of you that when you enter your 60s, you will sound just like me!

My degree is not in Economics, but I know enough of the subject to realize cheap money always causes a bubble. And all bubbles burst. Add to this the "arms race", of colleges trying hard to outdo the other, in an attempt to be a Club Med for young adults. When this bubble bursts, it will be as bad as the housing bubble. (Think who now has 100% control to the student loan program. Written into the same law that.............well, what does student loans have to do with "health care reform"?)

davefrat · Apr 16, 2015

teamplayer said:
It all boils down to what our society has decided to place value on- entertainment over education.

yup...attain a 2.1 gpa and score in the 40th percentile on the sat and you get a national press conference to choose whether you attend state u or tech on a full ride because you can run really fast.

Attain a 4.0 gpa and score in the 99th percentile on the sat and the local paper might put your picture on page 8 of the metro section saying you got into MIT next to the 8 year old who caught his first brim at the optimist club fish o Rama.

MN-Tide · Apr 16, 2015

92tide said:
yeah, i pretty much only think about going when they play in atlanta and i have relatives who have TP so they usually have a ticket for face value for me. i live a mile from marta, so aside from the ticket cost (and an overpriced beer or two) i don't spend a lot.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is TP? I assumed you weren't referring to toilet paper.

RTR91 · Apr 16, 2015

MN-Tide said:
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is TP? I assumed you weren't referring to toilet paper.

Tide Pride

MN-Tide · Apr 16, 2015

RTR91 said:
Tide Pride

Thank-you.

jthomas666 · Apr 16, 2015

davefrat said:
Just look at how many different "deans" are on a large campus...diversity, gender, African American students, Asian, Latino, LGBTQ...and that's just to name a few who are all making serious 6 figure salaries.

Throw in world class student centers, rec departments, upscale dining options and all the rest and it's a wonder there's money to pay instructors.

When the highlights and selling points of campus tours are the new football stadium, the new rock climbing wall and the Starbucks student lounge you know things have gone sideways.

The bulk of Witt's "improvements" were not designed to improve academics, but rather to make the university more marketable.

rgw · Apr 16, 2015

I'm not gonna blame Witt though. It is a systemic problem that extends FAR beyond The University of Alabama. He was just keeping up with the Joneses.

I could write a thesis on this subject and probably step on some toes (like my theory that the MGIB was the start of the mess we have today...a noble cause but it has been exploited by the collegiate education system and started this path towards a huge student loan economy).

teamplayer · Apr 16, 2015

davefrat said:
yup...attain a 2.1 gpa and score in the 40th percentile on the sat and you get a national press conference to choose whether you attend state u or tech on a full ride because you can run really fast.

Attain a 4.0 gpa and score in the 99th percentile on the sat and the local paper might put your picture on page 8 of the metro section saying you got into MIT next to the 8 year old who caught his first brim at the optimist club fish o Rama.

Hahaha, that's hilarious...but true.

4Q Basket Case · Apr 16, 2015

rgw said:
With Saban producing competitive teams every season, they could charge more and still find someone to pony up.

It only takes one Mike Shula or Anthony Grant type coaching tenure to lead to something disastrous for UA AD.

Amen to that. So long as we field teams where a 10-win season is a disappointment, you'll see continuing demand. The adrenaline rush after watching a win in the stadium, especially a big one, is a highly addictive drug.

All in, tickets, Tide Pride donation, Crimson Tide foundation (so you don't lose your place in the points ranking), parking, tailgate expenses, travel to an away game and a bowl, and you get $5- 7K per couple per year pretty quick. It's no problem to drop $10K for just two people.

Take away that drug, though, and you'll see a lot of people find other things to do with that money.

B1GTide · Apr 17, 2015

Make hay while the sun shines.

Gameday Tents, Quad tailgate spots, major price increase

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