Tag: higher-education

School Me Saturday 10/11/2025- El Presidente shakedown of Universities

In the so-called OBBB, aka the “big beautiful bill”, where the conservative right laid out most of their demands from Project 2025 that hadn’t yet been begun by the draconian Department of Education policies, the student loans were capped. Yup, at the undergraduate AND the graduate level. This means that the Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 per year, with a lifetime cap of $65,000 per student. For the graduate unsubsidized direct loan limits are $50,000 per year, with a lifetime cap of $200,000.

At first glance, like so much of what this administration does, this is positive. This means that student loan amounts will be limited. That student loans can’t hamstrung young adults and their families long after the principal amount has been paid, often many times over.

But, like so much of what this administration does, this is a poison pill.

You either have to be rich to attend undergraduate and graduate schools, or you have to be able to take out subsidized loans, often from predatory lenders, or you have to have a very robust 529 savings.

Yeah, right, you have to be rich. This decreases the student “talent” pool available for universities and colleges. If you have an unlimited checkbook, you’ll be fine. Otherwise you are fucked.

In all transparency, Creighton cost me about $5,000 a semester when I went there for a total of 4 semesters, or $20,000. Reminder, this was 1993. I had a scholarship from the pharmaceutical company that owned Marshalls at the time for $4,000. I also had an Air Force reserve officer training corps (ROTC) scholarship that began in my second year. I live off campus for the first year and in the dorm for the second year. After I hurt my shoulder (on campus, mind you), I had to leave Creighton and I lost my ROTC scholarship. Don’t worry, the Air Force got their money back in painful $200 amounts over the next TEN YEARS. My next nursing school I paid out of pocket for. This was a community college in California and I don’t recall the per hour tuition from 1998. I had three classes that I took before I was accepted into the program, microbiology lab as I was missing a credit hour from Creighton and CA requires 5 credit hours, algebra, and an English class. Let’s call Napa Valley cost was about $3,000 for the program. My BSN was $24,000 in 2015 that I exclusively used student loans for, and my MSN was $12,000 which I used $5,000 in student loans and paid the rest cash. This was because the student loan disbursement did not jibe with the 8 week quarters. 20,000 + 24,000 + 12,000 + whatever the PhD is costing me= way over the $65,000 lifetime max. Okay, fine, under the $65,000 max for undergraduate and under the $200,000 max for graduate.

Trust me, it was painful to type that out. Imagine students and their families now. I always worked full time except for working part time that first year at Creighton.

But the real meat of today’s post is the shakedown request by the administration to 9 universities to sign a pledge that they (the universities) will uphold the administration’s higher education priorities. Of course, this wouldn’t be a shakedown without the poison pill. If the universities don’t sign this bullshit pledge which is, in effect, a blank IOU to the administration to cleave to whatever subsequent bullshit the administration pleases.

You know, a shakedown.

This is a commitment by the universities to not talk smack about the conservative ideas. I’ve been at five different colleges and universities and I have NEVER heard that there was a concerted effort to silence conservatives.

This is a fever dream, dreamt up by an administration that is so thin skinned that any talk that is not boot licking or ass kissing is seen as an assault.

It isn’t always about you, assholes.

The 9 universities who were tasked with signing this “pledge” were University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University. The universities would also have to cap foreign student enrollment and give American students an edge in applying.

This is American exceptionalism? Putting the thumb on the scale?

Odd spread, don’t you think? A mix of blue and red and purple states and a mix of Ivies and state universities.

MIT told them to pound salt.

The faculty of the University of Virginia voted overwhelmingly (97%) to say no thank you. But the university itself has not rebuffed the idea.

This is a shakedown at some of the best universities that America has. But it begs the question, why these universities? What can be accomplished by squashing original ideas and original thought in these nine? What about the oldest universities in America? What about them?

The universities have to realize that this is a poison pill. I imagine that the administration thinks this is an iron fist in a velvet glove but no. Excuse me, your iron fist is rusting and your emperor has no clothes.

Citation

Cunningham, M. (2025, October 2). White House asks 9 universities to sign agreement to ensure access to grants and other federal benefits. Cbsnews.com. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-nine-universities-compact-federal-funds/

Moody, J. (2025, October 10). MIT rejects Proposed Federal Compact. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.highereddive.com/news/trumps-higher-ed-compact-draws-condemnation-from-faculty-and-college-union/802425

Spitalniak, L. (2025, October 8). Trump’s higher ed compact draws condemnation from faculty and college unions. Higher Ed Dive. ttps://www.highereddive.com/news/trumps-higher-ed-compact-draws-condemnation-from-faculty-and-college-union/802425

School Me Saturday 4/19/26- Fight Fiercely Harvard!

Yeah, I know that Fight Fiercely Harvard isn’t Harvard’s real fight song. But I don’t think 10,000 Men of Harvard sets exactly the right tone.

It’s sexist for one thing and since Harvard is fighting for independence for all of its students, not just the men, I thought Fight Fiercely Harvard was a better fit.

Fight Fiercely Harvard is a satirical song written by an alum, Tom Lehrer. Another song of his that you may be familiar with is The Elements. It is a lilting song with the elements from the periodic table. It is only clocked at 1 minute 26 seconds.

This week Harvard said no, thank you to pressure from the president of the United States. He would not bend the knee and bow to extreme pressure.

Of course, the president whined and threatened (typical). He even went so far as to threaten Harvard’s tax exempt status. This is a “punishment” meant to be punitive for violating tax law. There is no evidence that Harvard has violated tax law.

Side question, if it can be done so quickly, why can’t we do the same to churches and political organizations? I digress.

Apparently there are now pacts between schools where there were rivalries both in the classroom and on the playing field.

According to the Guardian newspaper at least 18 universities have united to defend academic freedom in the fact of these attacks and threats. The universities include 8 universities that comprise part of the Big 10 academic alliance include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Some of these schools are in red states and some are in blue. To me this is indicative that academic freedoms are cherished, no matter the political leaning.

It also indicates that academic freedoms are to be protected.

Good for them. I hope other universities join and I hope they keep their courage.

I hope that this message is heard loud and clear.

Now I have to learn all of their fight songs too.

But, but, Kate, what about their billion dollar endowments? Why do they need support?

Those endowments are the emergency fund and the funding for programs that allow the universities to continue to admit students from the lower-economic echelons. And to create scholarships to fund these students. And to create labs that make the discoveries that are why these universities have earned the world class reputation that they have.

Maybe, just maybe, they don’t like being told what to do, or who to listen to, or what to teach, or what to read.

It all goes back to book banning, doesn’t it?

Fight Fiercely Harvard! You are not alone.