Doomsday Econ: mmt'lady

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NecroMonster: Jan 4, 2009

and this time we have a hyper austerity focused government that is also a ok with everything breaking down into roving gangs of fascists!

# ¿ Jul 7, 2017 16:21

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 01:36

NecroMonster: Jan 4, 2009

how number

# ¿ Aug 28, 2019 22:57

NecroMonster: Jan 4, 2009

# ¿ Aug 28, 2019 22:57

NecroMonster: Jan 4, 2009

Serf posted:

i work in higher education, specifically in the division that handles enrollment. we had a division-wide meeting on friday to discuss the future. we recently merged with another school about an hour's drive away from us, and we got a new president who brought along his vice president from his last school, which was kinda crazy because it forced us to demote our previous vice president. anyways, this guy is giving a big presentation about how nationwide we're currently in the longest decline in college enrollment in history. he attributed this to the "economic strength" we currently have. we're down in enrollment last year and we'll most likely be down again this year. his plan to fix things is to throw money into new branding and marketing and for us to develop outreach and new programs that will appeal to the "entrepreneurial" 50+ year-olds who could go back to school. he literally talked about "exploiting" them lmao

he also noted that after studying the students who left us, they determined that 80% of them went to schools driving distance from their homes, because rent and cost of living, even in a rural area, is too high. there was no proposed solution to this. at our school, a semester in a residence hall will cost you $4000, and the lowest rent you can find in town is $300.

so later on we get to a portion where we can ask questions. i'm not really shy about my political beliefs in the office, so when i raised my hand my supervisor groaned. i basically asked "how can we reconcile the idea of continued growth with the fact that real wages haven't risen in 40 years and often students are seeing siblings and others who went to college before them come out the other side unable to find a job that will pay enough for them to pay off their student loans in a reasonable amount of time? why should we expect people to come to college when the costs don't outweigh the benefits?" i thought this was a pretty reasonable question but the people at my table acted like i had shot someone

his response was "i think what you're asking is whether or not we're setting students up to fail." which, no it wasn't but whatever. i mostly wanted to get the idea in people's heads. he was like "i think we need to sell students on the intangible benefits of a college education and betterment through higher learning, and we need to do more work to get them placed in jobs after they leave school. also, most of the outrageous amounts of student debt you hear about on tv are from grad school and doctoral programs (WE HAVE A GRAD SCHOOL AND DOCTORAL PROGRAM!!) so it isn't reflective of the average baccalaureate debt amount." he also said "i don't want to wade into the political side of things after some of the stuff that went on at the debate last night."

after that no one wanted to make eye contact with me lol

lmao

# ¿ Sep 15, 2019 02:38

NecroMonster: Jan 4, 2009

Serf posted:

i'm pretty sure the plan is "say whatever we have to in order to keep people calm, then start announcing the layoffs 6 months to a year from now"

i went home and started looking for other jobs because they have no idea what they're doing

lmao there aren't any correct answers within the system and they aren't willing or able to accept any other system

# ¿ Sep 15, 2019 02:58

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