Country club amenities, professors on sabbatical? What are college students really paying for?

From recreation centers to athletic programs, colleges across the nation are fighting for higher enrollment, with student services that shift the focus of college away from education, and toward leisure activities and clubs. Many argue that student activities and university facilities are an integral part of the overall college experience, but with tuition costs on the rise, students are beginning to consider the real price of some “country club,” amenities that are driving up their (or their parents’) bills.

Americans as a whole currently owe $1.2 trillion to their debtors for attending their colleges and universities. An overwhelming majority of these tuition dollars go to athletic organizations, recreation centers, and the growing salaries of administrators and professors. In fact, at public institutions, academic instruction earns a mere 28 percent of these monies. Educational institutions often mask this statistic, and information about the allocation of tuition funds can be difficult to find.

Upon searching, Janine Milan, a freshman at Shenandoah University, noted that while she was able to find, “a breakdown of the fees,” that her school carries, she could not find where these, “$15,000 of fees go, nor…how athletics, clubs, and other student organizations are funded.” This is frustrating, as students are paying big bucks, and deserve to know where their money is going.

Despite colleges’ lack of transparency, extensive searching reveals the hefty price of student services. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) reports that a mere 20 schools nationwide make a profit from their sports programs — the rest are funded by students, many of whom do not even participate in athletics.

Other amenities driving up student fees include school Jacuzzis, climbing walls, and other services that, while may make colleges more appealing to future students, put an unnecessarily larger dent in their wallets. Even Hillary Clinton criticized schools for the many facilities, encouraging colleges to “think twice about a new rec center.”
Read more at http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/01/04/country-club-amenities-professors-sabbatical-college-students-really-paying/#hDFVwBr1lj1PKOJa.99