Filter & Sort
ABC’s and PhD’s: Financial Planning for College
Please, please, please just let us finance our two kids through college without too much debt. I’m a biologist, by Zeus, not an economist, not an accountant, not a portfolio manager at an investment firm. I seem to do fine spending money, but planning for enormous purchases such as college and retirement are way beyond my comfort (and frankly, my interest) level. Way.
Ethics of Admission, Pt. II: Undergraduates and the Brass Ring
The use of gambling metaphors to describe getting a college education suggests it may be time to stop the merry-go-round.
Tax the Internet?
I predict that this entry will generate more comments than most. I propose that we watch France closely on its plan to tax the Internet, because the United States might want to follow suit. On first reflex I could not imagine a stand more likely to unite cross sections of the political spectrum from libertarians to liberals than this one. In all my days of work in IT I have never met a single person who did anything but reject any policy except the most hands-off ones regarding data networking. Why should we change gears now?
The Cost Disease, the Cruise Industry, and Higher Ed
If you take a cruise the main thing you will notice is the sheer number of people that the ship employs.
If there is money to be made: Summer school in China
The newest money-making scheme in China involves hiring professors from US universities to teach summer school so that Chinese students can earn US college credit in a short, cheaper class closer to home. These for-profit schools have been established by US-educated 20-something Chinese familiar with both cultures and both systems. Cheap US college credit without leaving home— a promising venture with large profit potential.
Divesting In Carbon-Based Assets – Another Perspective
As the debate about climate change continues to boil, a new call is in the offing to persuade colleges and universities to divest endowment holdings in fossil fuel related companies. There is little doubt we must create a more coherent energy policy and reduce the burning of fossil fuels to mitigate climate change. How best to achieve that end is at present perplexing and void of sound strategy or agreement.
Revisiting 'Grapes of Wrath'
From being taught a novel to teaching it, in less than three decades.