Monthly Archives: February 2016

What Berkeley’s budget cuts tell us about America’s public universities

What Berkeley’s budget cuts tell us about America’s public universities

The University of California at Berkeley recently announced a financial restructuring due to mounting structural deficits, including a US$150 million shortfall in the current budget year. All areas of university’s operations – academic, administrative and athletic – will likely face spending cuts. Higher education experts have begun to ask if Berkeley can stay Berkeley. From […] … learn more→

Five abiding academic fears

Five abiding academic fears

The latest book manuscript disappears. It’s almost done and it would be unbearable to lose it. I can’t even comprehend coming back from the loss, having to rewrite it all. But it won’t happen. It really won’t. No, really. I have multiple copies, the publishers have a first version, as do reviewers, it’s in the cloud, it’s […] … learn more→

Why UK universities are returning to the public debt markets

Why UK universities are returning to the public debt markets

The University of Leeds has recently become the latest higher education institution to raise money by issuing a public bond. The bond is worth £250m, has a maturity date of 2050 and a fixed interest rate of 3.125%. The ability to raise low-cost funding through issuing a public bond – essentially a long-term loan at […] … learn more→

Campus criminality: 40% of debtors weren’t educated about loans

Campus criminality: 40% of debtors weren’t educated about loans

Time and again I’ve claimed that many of our institutions of higher education, whether state, non-profit, or for-profit, are basically scams that exist only to suck students in, fleece them of their student loan money, and spit them out. I’ve backed up my claims with extensive documentation, from community colleges run almost completely fraudulently (yes, […] … learn more→

Every trader needs to learn Forex trading

Every trader needs to learn Forex trading

After developing an interest in online trading, it is important for every trader to learn Forex trading. There are some good, efficient ways to learn online and we can all agree that learning is a vital step for all the beginners. Let us begin with the understanding of why education is so important. Why it’s […] … learn more→

A big change to student aid you’ve never heard of

A big change to student aid you’ve never heard of

The Obama administration has a smart way to address one of the biggest flaws in a $20 billion college aid program, which would help millions of low-income undergraduates pay for school. The proposal hasn’t gotten any attention because it involves an obscure accounting switch and was buried in the president’s final budget — in a […] … learn more→

How Universities squelch investigation

How Universities squelch investigation

Many university campuses have huge, long-running, scandals involving fraud; I’ve highlighted quite a few of these in this blog, and the common line of “after more than 10 years of claims by whistleblowers…” that appears in these scandals really begs the question: why do these scandals take so long before becoming public knowledge? Once you […] … learn more→