[iDC] Fwd: <edu-factory> Top Ten Universities for Student Debt in the U.S.

Mon Aug 23 12:08:08 UTC 2010

Jeremy:

I am so glad that you posted this to the list serve because I came across similar data when I was working on my dissertation several years back because I was looking at technology as a way to save money and initially I found that the for-profits were doing quite well, but when I dug a little deeper I found that "real universities" were making even more real money and most of it appeared to be based on getting students to get loans. Now we know the truth when some financial aid folks at some of the big schools were actually charged with colluding with the banks to make money off of students loans. There were real convictions and real resignations. I found out even more by looking at some of my wife's data because her research for her dissertation deals with a loan-based system versus a grant based one. This article really makes some good points. Naturally, Kaplan does have an axe to grind too being a for profit entity and arguably the most profitable arm of The Washington Post Company. This is a problem with media consolidation and convergence technology: the for profit media is now getting into the for profit education game. If you do not like how the mainstream media, cable and telecoms treat customer, you will really not be happy if they export their business model in nicer package to higher education.

Here is something to consider, has anyone looked at the endowments of these schools cited. You may notice that some of the schools at the top also have some of the biggest endowments. I haven't checked the latest data but I believe that the University of Texas has the biggest or one of the biggest endowments in the world. Great job on this one Jeremy! The banksters have really succeeded in transforming our education system into one where students start off in debt that is extremely difficult to pay back.

Chris A. Heidelberg, Ph.D.

From: idc-bounces at mailman.thing.net [mailto:idc-bounces at mailman.thing.net] On Behalf Of jeremy hunsinger
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:36 AM
To: idc at mailman.thing.net
Subject: [iDC] Fwd: <edu-factory> Top Ten Universities for Student Debt in the U.S.

The Top Ten Universities for Student Debt<http://gawker.com/5615933/the-top-ten-universities-for-student-debt>

"For-profit" colleges have come under fire<http://gawker.com/5562794/kids-paying-real-money-to-attend-fake-colleges> for saddling students with big debts in exchange for dim job prospects. But what about "real" colleges? They're pushing huge debts on students, too. We crunched the numbers to find the worst (NYU).

In a recent press release,<http://www.washpostco.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=62487&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1460098&highlight=> the Washington Post Company-which owns Kaplan, a leading for-profit education company-referred to a recent report<http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/integrity-analysis.html> by the Education Department which listed debt repayment figures for every college in the nation. We sorted the list by total student debt<http://gawker.com/tag/studentdebt/> load.

[http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/2010/08/custom_1282152660448_nyuaffordable.jpg]The top three offenders were all for-profit schools: The University of Phoenix (nearly $5 billion in total student debt), Nova Southeastern University ($1.1 billion), and American Intercontinental University ($810 million). But the #4<http://gawker.com/tag/4/> school was our old friend: New York University, with $659 million in total student debt. In fact, NYU's student debt alone is bigger than the gross domestic product<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29> of 12 countries.

Without further ado, the top ten "real" (not "for-profit") colleges, by total student debt:

1) New York University: $659 million
2) University of Southern California: $631 million
3) Penn State University: $590 million
4) Ohio State University: $560 million
5) University of Minnesota: $495 million
6) Arizona State University: $479 million
7) University of Texas: $474 million
8) Michigan State University: $433 million
9) Indiana University- Purdue University: $421 million
10) Rutgers: $398 million

Clearly, big schools will have bigger debt loads. (If you're interested in per-student debt figures, see the linked source material). But the size of these figures should give the hordes of incoming freshmen<http://gawker.com/5603571/colleges-unable-to-hold-off-hordes-of-freshmen> something to think about. Considering the unemployment rate<http://www.bls.gov/cps/>.
[Data via "Cumulative Four-Year Repayment Rate by Institution<http://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2009/integrity-analysis.html>." Photo via via<http://www.zunal.com/myaccount/uploads/nyu-mercer-st_4818%282%29.jpg>. Thanks to G and J for research assistance!] _______________________________________________
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Jeremy Hunsinger
Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
Virginia Tech

Live without dead time.
-graffitti Paris 1968

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