Colleges Spend More on Recreation Than Class

[groovedaddy]

American colleges are spending a smaller share of their budgets on instruction, and more on recreational facilities for students and on administration, according to a new study of college costs.

The report, based on government data, documents a growing stratification of wealth across America’s system of higher education.

At the top of the pyramid are private colleges and universities, which educate a small portion of the nation’s students, while public universities and community colleges serve greater numbers, have fewer resources and are seeing tuitions rise most rapidly.

The study of trends in revenues and spending by American institutions of higher education from 1998 through 2008 traces how the patterns at elite private institutions like Harvard University and Amherst College differed from sprawling public universities like Ohio State and community colleges like Alabama Southern.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/education/10education.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1278691520-JFYGaJugydq6aupGTGR7bA

[jberryhill]

1. The Campus Tour As Marketing Pitch

Tour 1 -

"Here is a classroom... here is another classroom... here is another classroom..."

Tour 2 -

"Here is a gaming lounge... here is the fitness facility... here are the racquetball courts... that building over there has classrooms in it..."

[msongs]

2. you may wish to change the title of your OP to this correction at article end ->

": July 9, 2010

The headline with an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that American colleges spend more on recreation than on instruction. The study showed that the share of spending on recreation was rising more quickly than the share of spending on instruction."

would be more accurate then :-)

Msongs