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UT may surpass Harvard as the world's richest university

Hornius Emeritus

By Hornius Emeritus
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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10958

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26 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

At what point do we stop charging tuition, at least for Texans? That eventually needs to be on the table.

Certainly not a bad idea, but it would be nice to see schools outside of Austin and UTD rise up the rankings too. I know yall will never be the UC system, but there are far too many resources available for some of the system schools to do as poorly as they do. We have a lot of well performing kids in this state that might not get into UT Austin but that need good options.

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CooterBrown

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Certainly not a bad idea, but it would be nice to see schools outside of Austin and UTD rise up the rankings too. I know yall will never be the UC system, but there are far too many resources available for some of the system schools to do as poorly as they do. We have a lot of well performing kids in this state that might not get into UT Austin but that need good options.

After I typed that, I thought it would probably make more sense to forgive tuition at other system schools for better incoming students to help raise their standing.
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Humble Beast

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Drill baby drill. 
 

57 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Certainly not a bad idea, but it would be nice to see schools outside of Austin and UTD rise up the rankings too. I know yall will never be the UC system, but there are far too many resources available for some of the system schools to do as poorly as they do. We have a lot of well performing kids in this state that might not get into UT Austin but that need good options.

You make a good point. If you could ensure that it somehow went to improving the education versus just expanding administration, that would be great. 

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midtown

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The article states pretty clearly that PUF funds can not be used to offset tuition.   Also what the article completely misses is the fact that this is the endowment for the UT SYSTEM of which there are 250,000 students.  Harvard has 22,000.

2 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

At what point do we stop charging tuition, at least for Texans? That eventually needs to be on the table.

. The state constitution allows for those mineral funds to be spent on capital expenses like the construction of classrooms, hospitals and labs, all of which helps keep pace with increasing enrollment. For most of the schools, the funds cannot be spent on daily operations or providing tuition assistance and scholarships.

Edited by midtown
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BabaYaga

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10 minutes ago, midtown said:

The state constitution allows for those mineral funds to be spent on capital expenses like the construction of classrooms, hospitals and labs, all of which helps keep pace with increasing enrollment. For most of the schools, the funds cannot be spent on daily operations or providing tuition assistance and scholarships.

Says nothing about baller NIL deals to money-whip blue chip, pre-Madonna's

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1 hour ago, midtown said:

The article states pretty clearly that PUF funds can not be used to offset tuition.   Also what the article completely misses is the fact that this is the endowment for the UT SYSTEM of which there are 250,000 students.  Harvard has 22,000.

. The state constitution allows for those mineral funds to be spent on capital expenses like the construction of classrooms, hospitals and labs, all of which helps keep pace with increasing enrollment. For most of the schools, the funds cannot be spent on daily operations or providing tuition assistance and scholarships.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/24/ut-system-financial-aid

"The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents has established a $300 million endowment fund to help seven system universities expand their free tuition programs for lower-income students.

The Promise Plus program will allow the universities — the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Texas Permian Basin, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Texas at Tyler — to increase the income threshold for program eligibility, potentially reaching more students.

“All the talk about student debt, we’re attacking it on the front end,” board Chair Kevin Eltife told regents at their meeting Thursday morning. “We’re going out of our way to commit every dollar we can to these programs to lower tuition and cover tuition for our students.”

-----------------

"The regents established a similar $167 million endowment for UT-Austin in 2019, which covered tuition and fees for students whose families earn up to $65,000 and provided financial assistance to students from families with incomes up to $125,000 who have demonstrated financial need.

The board used money from the state’s Permanent University Fund to establish that program. The Promise Plus fund instead uses money from a variety of financial investments that the system said produced “higher-than-expected returns over the past fiscal year.”

The UT System had the second-largest endowment in the country in 2021, topping nearly $43 billion. Last year, it saw its value increase by 34% from the previous year, according to a survey released last week by the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. University endowments saw dramatically higher investment returns last year during the pandemic."

 

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utee94

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8 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

This is like bragging about having a rich uncle. If I'm not seeing a penny of that money then I don't give a shit. 

If the money increases the capabilities and influence of the university, which in turn increases the prestige of the university, then you could potentially see it increase the value of your UT degree.

If you have one.

If you're a t-shirt fan, well then, tough luck. ;)

 

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StruggleBus

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1 minute ago, utee94 said:

If the money increases the capabilities and influence of the university, which in turn increases the prestige of the university, then you could potentially see it increase the value of your UT degree.

If you have one.

If you're a t-shirt fan, well then, tough luck. ;)

 

Yeah I have one, but it's from the college of liberal arts so there isn't much value in it either way. 

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Wally Fairway

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3 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

At what point do we stop charging tuition, at least for Texans? That eventually needs to be on the table.

Horrible idea - there needs to be a point to getting an education. Give them tuition refunds when they graduate, or when they get a job; free college will encourage people to pursue things like International Studies, Native American History, Underwater basket weaving, Poetry and other degrees that don't really push the civilization forward (sorry if I offended any snowflakes)

 

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DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt

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9 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Horrible idea - there needs to be a point to getting an education. Give them tuition refunds when they graduate, or when they get a job; free college will encourage people to pursue things like International Studies, Native American History, Underwater basket weaving, Poetry and other degrees that don't really push the civilization forward (sorry if I offended any snowflakes)

 

What a moronic post

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Samson's Wig

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Distribution of funds needs to be spread out more in Texas.  As cool as it is, on one hand, to be the "richest" university, it's also a bit embarrassing for a public school as it has come at the expense of other Texas schools.  Texas (the state) has placed so much emphasis on football rivalries over the last century+ that we haven't created a decent system for educating young Texans. There is entirely too much "fuck 'em" attitude among the state schools, with aggie being the absolute worst about it. From our shitty public elementary schools up to our extremely top heavy public university system, we've fucked up and we'll all pay for it (already are).  

I know the argument that we should fold the other major publics into the UT system is a common refrain around here, but it's a weak argument founded on the same arrogance that created the problem in the first place. And it's never going to happen, so seeking practical solutions would be nice to see.  UT's endowments are large enough to carry all its water, and the athletic department operates in the black (not the case at most schools), so perhaps the solution is to simply go back to properly funding those state schools that rely on tuition revenue to survive.  No tweaks to what is happening at UT, just up our game in funding the rest of the state.

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BabaYaga

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10 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

Horrible idea - there needs to be a point to getting an education. Give them tuition refunds when they graduate, or when they get a job; free college will encourage people to pursue things like International Studies, Native American History, Underwater basket weaving, Poetry and other degrees that don't really push the civilization forward (sorry if I offended any snowflakes)

 

I get the sentiment, so possibly STEM incentives, etc.  Especially to underrepresented groups.  

With the cost of higher education, there absolutely needs to be a ROI conversation on the type of degree as part of the calculus.  

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StruggleBus

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9 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

What a moronic post

He's not wrong. Offering free tuition for degrees that add next to no value is terrible idea. 

I have first hand experience. I got a degree from UT that has no value. It was a poor choice and poor choices shouldn't be subsidized. 

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SimonBolivar

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2 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

He's not wrong. Offering free tuition for degrees that add next to no value is terrible idea. 

I have first hand experience. I got a degree from UT that has no value. It was a poor choice and poor choices shouldn't be subsidized. 

I don't see how anyone can look at the state of our society and the willful ignorance of our population and assess that the advancement of any type of formal education has no value.

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Hornius Emeritus

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7 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

He's not wrong. Offering free tuition for degrees that add next to no value is terrible idea. 

I have first hand experience. I got a degree from UT that has no value. It was a poor choice and poor choices shouldn't be subsidized. 



I doubt that there are any degrees from UT that have no value.

 

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YGIFS

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Yeah, it does warrant a discussion if they are going to continue offering a wider range of income levels "comped tuition" as system schools---will that encourage degrees with less "income potential" down the road?  Certainly a conversation/debate that needs to be had.  However, your paid salary out of school, and the value of your degree are two completely different things.  They get conflated by the very people that didn't pick up the critical thinking skills they needed to in college.  We have this debate every decade around TX public higher ed and looks like we're due again.

One of my degrees is from the College of Liberal Arts and another in Finance.  I got into Finance because of that degree, my niche and success is owed almost solely to my CoLA degree because I simply see the shit in deals that nobody else bothered to see.  They can run off and make the pro forma spreadsheet, only after I've done my derisk thing.  Nevermind we're a decade out from AI doing their fucking job anyway. 

Having said all that, first thing is first---we need to continue to raise the profile and success of the other System schools.  It's good for the whole state to have UT-Dallas, UT-San Antonio, and UT-Arlington kicking ass and taking names as of late.  But it'll be great for the whole state when El Paso, Tyler, Permian Basin, and RGV are elevated beyond regional schools with little research nor reputation.  Nevermind the other horribly underperforming systems around the state. 

I know it's fun to berate our rivals and our state government.  But this "We'll never be the UC System, so why bother with the rest of higher ed in the state?" mentality is dangerous.  It's not that we're not the UC System, we all get that.  It's that after a few UT System schools and maybe A&M and Tech on their very best days, our higher ed system is woefully underfunded, woefully under-supported, and woefully under-achieving.  This is a massive fucking state with lots of smart alums and lots of smart high school kids destined for all manner of colleges, universities, trade schools, online programs, and specialty training.  But c'mon, on our best day, as a state across all 7 systems........we can't hold a candle to even the lowest tier of Cal.State colleges.  And it ain't 'cause we don't have the fucking money.  WE DO NOT VALUE EDUCATION IN TEXAS.  This board does, but we're in a different stratosphere than 90% of our state. 

The news about the endowment is great.  It'll help that next tranche of UT System schools, even leave a few crumbs for A&M System to get its shit together, but nothing more...nothing less.  Let's have the tuition-free conversation though.  Meantime, A&M continues to blow through its portion and epic rates on its little "off-shoot" campuses (Texarkana, Round Rock, San Antonio, and Killeen.  The way they designed the formula funding with that to kinda siphon money from B/CS and kinda siphon money from System proper, it's goofy as fuck and wasting a huge chunk of their 1/3rd UTIMCO funds.  Leave it to the Aggies to fuck up good news...

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TKthunder2

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1 hour ago, Samson's Wig said:

Distribution of funds needs to be spread out more in Texas….

I know the argument that we should fold the other major publics into the UT system is a common refrain around here, but it's a weak argument founded on the same arrogance that created the problem in the first place. And it's never going to happen, so seeking practical solutions would be nice to see…

We spread out distribution to aggy and they fucked it up so much the state no longer lets them manage their own endowment. Why does this state need SEVEN 4 year university systems (UT, aggy, TT, UH, UNT, TX St, TWU)?  It’s a shit ton of effort/energy duplication for no reason.

Arlington College, State School of Mining and Metallurgy, Edinburg College, Texas Southmost College, and Tyler State College we’re all self governing institutions before joining UT.  Why do you think other institutions can’t do the same?  In your post you talk about football, and that is likely the ONLY stupid fucking reason (athletic pride) that Tech and UH aren’t already UT schools sharing in the endowment and PUF.

The UC system is literally the best university system in the world, and UT is working towards the goal of bringing that same level of regional excellence to the state. Giving TT/UH and others funds that do not support that goal is counterintuitive to The System’s mission.

If you rolled Tech/UH into UT and it would pay dividends on top of dividends immediately.  TTHSC-El Paso could work hand in hand with UTEP on research and community care, and Houston/UTHSC-Houston could do the same.  Both schools would be able to work on a long term vision for research and regional growth. UT’s best and brightest in energy (O&G and clean) research could help put TT on the map and UH would host UT space/aerodynamics programs at their Clear Lake campus while working closely with NASA, or host UT’s marine biology research out of Port A. Traveling professors doing research or consulting could would be able to stay in system and teach in Lubbock/Houston and raise those school’s academic profiles with higher quality staff.  Initiatives like Tech’s vet school would have UT’s full support and funding and they would be able to override the aggy veto with ease.

Their are many MANY reasons why this is a great idea and the only reason this hasn’t already happened is that PRIDE is fucking them up.  The answer is amazingly simple for all but the simpleminded who accuse others of arrogance.

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TKthunder2

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1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

Meantime, A&M continues to blow through its portion and epic rates on its little "off-shoot" campuses (Texarkana, Round Rock, San Antonio, and Killeen.  The way they designed the formula funding with that to kinda siphon money from B/CS and kinda siphon money from System proper, it's goofy as fuck and wasting a huge chunk of their 1/3rd UTIMCO funds.  Leave it to the Aggies to fuck up good news...

SO MUCH THIS.

This is why you can’t cut everyone a blank fucking check. We need someone to direct and LEAD the higher education expansion in this state. The UT system can and HAS been doing this very effectively over the last 2 decades. The rest of the state…not so much.  For them its all what have you done for me lately and how does this help the main campus. UT is the only one (outside of maybe Texas Women’s) who cares about the wider mission of educating our state and isn’t just interested in setting up little fiefdoms in their geographic pockets of influence.

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jimmyjazz

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Texas doesn't need to be California, but it should damn well offer more than one top tier public institution.  The focus should be on continuing to elevate UT-Dallas and A&M (LOL), and maybe a 4th school, and offsetting tuition costs for in-state residents to some degree.  I would like to see any new athletics revenue boondoggle actually feed the cost of education instead of random unnecessary upgrades, etc.

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YGIFS

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Yes, but morons that can be easily replaced by AI in a few years.  So look forward to their uprising against us long before the machines do.  

In other news, a good as thread as any to also point out that a huge portion (not all, but most) of M.D. Anderson will be relocated to the Innovation District of UT-Austin/City of Austin/Seton Medical District.  Won't start until close to the end of the decade, the majority of the operation will be brought to Austin in/around Red River/East Campus.  A plurailty, maybe more, of the beds and providers.  And nearly all the research, labs, and fellows classroom/instruction spaces.  Remaining in Houston will still be several hundred beds and just the necessary treatment labs.  All collaborative space and research will be housed in Austin.  The exploratory and initial design costs will be revealed in the next System cycle after the current one.   

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elfenix

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Yes, but morons that can be easily replaced by AI in a few years.  So look forward to their uprising against us long before the machines do.  
In other news, a good as thread as any to also point out that a huge portion (not all, but most) of M.D. Anderson will be relocated to the Innovation District of UT-Austin/City of Austin/Seton Medical District.  Won't start until close to the end of the decade, the majority of the operation will be brought to Austin in/around Red River/East Campus.  A plurailty, maybe more, of the beds and providers.  And nearly all the research, labs, and fellows classroom/instruction spaces.  Remaining in Houston will still be several hundred beds and just the necessary treatment labs.  All collaborative space and research will be housed in Austin.  The exploratory and initial design costs will be revealed in the next System cycle after the current one.   

 
a hearty fuck you to the "leaders" of houston that fucked up the data center.

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ChiTownDoc

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1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

Texas doesn't need to be California, but it should damn well offer more than one top tier public institution.  The focus should be on continuing to elevate UT-Dallas and A&M (LOL), and maybe a 4th school, and offsetting tuition costs for in-state residents to some degree.  I would like to see any new athletics revenue boondoggle actually feed the cost of education instead of random unnecessary upgrades, etc.

That’s a fuckload of money.  They should fund a Valtrex pill mill in Lubbock.  

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TKthunder2

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22 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Texas doesn't need to be California, but it should damn well offer more than one top tier public institution.  The focus should be on continuing to elevate UT-Dallas and A&M (LOL), and maybe a 4th school, and offsetting tuition costs for in-state residents to some degree.  I would like to see any new athletics revenue boondoggle actually feed the cost of education instead of random unnecessary upgrades, etc.

Which system in this state has raised the academic and research profile of a non flagship school over the last 2 decades?

UT (6) UTD, UTA, UTSA, and UTEP are all Tier One Research institutions.  UTRGV and UT Tyler are tier two.

aggy (4) Tarleton, TAMUCC, TAMUK, PVA&M are all tier two

TX St (1) SHSU is tier two (same as TX St)

Tech, Houston, UNT, TWU (0)

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Rimbo

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6 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Certainly not a bad idea, but it would be nice to see schools outside of Austin and UTD rise up the rankings too. I know yall will never be the UC system, but there are far too many resources available for some of the system schools to do as poorly as they do. We have a lot of well performing kids in this state that might not get into UT Austin but that need good options.

I personally favor this idea. Now that I've got a college-bound kid here in California, I'm so goddamn glad the UC system exists. He can apply to 5 different schools in one application; all of them will be at least above average, 3 of them are among the best in the world, especially for his preferred field (mech engineering).

 

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TKthunder2

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17 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

Yes, but morons that can be easily replaced by AI in a few years.  So look forward to their uprising against us long before the machines do.  

In other news, a good as thread as any to also point out that a huge portion (not all, but most) of M.D. Anderson will be relocated to the Innovation District of UT-Austin/City of Austin/Seton Medical District.  Won't start until close to the end of the decade, the majority of the operation will be brought to Austin in/around Red River/East Campus.  A plurailty, maybe more, of the beds and providers.  And nearly all the research, labs, and fellows classroom/instruction spaces.  Remaining in Houston will still be several hundred beds and just the necessary treatment labs.  All collaborative space and research will be housed in Austin.  The exploratory and initial design costs will be revealed in the next System cycle after the current one.   

Yep, fuck Houston.  Way to cut off your nose…

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ABSR

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3 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

I don't see how anyone can look at the state of our society and the willful ignorance of our population and assess that the advancement of any type of formal education has no value.

Have you met aggy?

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jimmyjazz

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16 minutes ago, TKthunder2 said:

Which system in this state has raised the academic and research profile of a non flagship school over the last 2 decades?

UT (6) UTD, UTA, UTSA, and UTEP are all Tier One Research institutions.  UTRGV and UT Tyler are tier two.

aggy (4) Tarleton, TAMUCC, TAMUK, PVA&M are all tier two

TX St (1) SHSU is tier two (same as TX St)

Tech, Houston, UNT, TWU (0)

Oh, I understand.  It would be nice (well, except for the schadenfreude) if A&M wouldn't intentionally shoot itself in the dick, over and over, but I do think it has the most immediate upside should those in power suddenly acquire wisdom and prohibit the inmates from running the asylum.

I crack myself up.

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FWD

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The UC system has 6 schools ranked higher than UT in the US News rankings. This is an embarrassment for the state of Texas and shows how little the state government values having even one world-class university. With this much money at its disposal, there is no reason UT should not be in the top 25 except for politicians disregard for the value of higher ed.

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