Anyone here checked out the Wall Street Journal Auburn article?
For whatever reason I can’t get the link to post

“AUBURN, Ala.—In recent decades, Auburn University added hundreds of millions of dollars in spending to its budget. The additional money didn’t go to the English department, nor to the sociology department. Some science departments only got a trickle more.

Instead, much of the money went toward administrative salaries, buildings and, no surprise, sports.

Auburn piled millions more each year into paying down the debt it borrowed for campus upgrades, including an $84 million basketball arena. It hired hundreds of administrators and professional staff. Spending on the president’s office and other administrative departments often increased far faster than that on many academic subjects.

To help pay for its transformation, the school has raised tuition and fees again and again. By one measure, students’ costs have grown faster than at almost any other major public U.S. university. Auburn’s net price, the average amount in-state freshmen pay after grants and scholarships—covering tuition, fees, room, board and other costs—topped $25,000 annually in 2021-22, according to Education Department data. That’s a 60% increase from 15 years prior, adjusted to today’s dollars.”

Univerties today are basically a way to launder money for the rich and politicians. They take tax money and pay politicians back by paying large speaking fees purchasing there books in large quanities. . If they applied what the feds already gave them to tuition we wouldn't be talking about student loan forgiveness.

They should all be continually publicly audited if they take any federal money.

The WSJ did not mention that AU is under constant yearly auditing because of the Federal land grant charter. AU, like other schools, which is what I first starting talking about before Covid is under a lot of debt. They borrowed a crap ton of money when interest rates were low. Now rates are high, so most incoming money has to go to service the debt. Departments, like english and science departments, get money based on the number of declared majors and number of employees. Its not an excuse, that is just how every school is right now and a bunch of schools are going to go under, several smaller one's already have.

And they have the audacity to call me annually wanting me to “give back” to program. Hell the last time I checked I paid to go there.

If this was a pure business it would be fine. But we all know when they default on their debt, the taxpayer will bear the burden. All of the downside and no upside for the taxpayer that probably didn’t even go to college.

Way too much waste in colleges.

This is the type thing that student loans caused. And people want that debt forgiven, without any change to the underlying problem.

Are these institutions that borrow money not allowed to borrow at a fixed rate? I guess I am just thinking that if a university borrowed 10 mil to build a new dorm with a fixed interest rate, then the debt service should be the same now as it was then for that loan. But if you are talking about multiple loans over the years as the rate increased, then they should have stopped borrowing when the interest rate started to climb and just worked with what they had.

They can’t even carry the federal governments jock strap, when it comes to blowing, wasting and Pissing away money. Govt burns waste semi trailer loads of $100 bills everyday, just so they can watch a pretty bonfire, the size of Rhode Island.

Colleges are mere amateurs in the waste and fraud game.

They are absolutely up there with health insurance for me with Son in fourth year, It peezes me off to get charity request.

The money is actually in the form of Bonds. All of the Universities issued bonds for major infrastructure projects. New stadium, new fitness center, new academic mega emporium, campus decorations,new academic programs, and all of the new administrators with tenure that go along with that. They issued large bonds worth several million at an issuance. All they had to do was pay the interest on the bonds and everything was fine. Bond rates change , and now those bond interest payments are massive. If AU or any other school defaulted on a massive bond there would have to be a tax payer bailout for the public institutions. Private Schools, like BSU, are dead.

https://openpayrolls.com/rank/highest-paid-employees/the-university-of-alabama

https://openpayrolls.com/rank/highest-paid-employees/auburn-university

Look at these salaries…

Damn liberal professors making more than the Governor…

Can't remember who it was but they compared other colleges prices to Auburn's. Seems it was right in line with everyone else and less than others. Wall Street hit piece maybe. But the cost of college is too high. Many have gotten locked maximizing college costs. Campus housing your freshman year, mandatory meal tickets, Internet fees, book fees, test fees, etc etc. I've paid them all.

those are not correct "salaries"; when it comes to coaches . For instance; I believe Coach Saban's salary is about $1 Million, the rest is "talent fees"

Son is finishing at ut martin this spring. It was $10k less, even with out of state fees, than going to au.

What AU paid Gus is just insane. He sucked.

That number listed was his buyout; not his salary. Ridiculous but; most, if not all , was not paid by the University