"Light shed on housing for college presidents; New IRS guidelines require estimate on compensation deals" by Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | June 13, 2010
Harvard’s president lives on Cambridge’s historic Tory Row in a 12-room Colonial whose rental value the university estimates to be $8,000 a month. Northeastern says its president’s five-story Beacon Hill town house with Boston Common as its front yard would rent for just $6,225 a month. And the MIT president’s stone manse, with sweeping views of the Charles River and Boston skyline, would go for even less — $5,800 a month.
For the first time, the IRS this year is requiring private colleges and universities and other nonprofits to factor in the value of certain nontaxable perks — such as the estimated fair-market rents of the housing many schools provide for presidents — in reporting executives’ total compensation packages.
The new rules, effective with the 2008 tax filings colleges submitted last month, aim to capture a more accurate and transparent picture of how top administrators are rewarded. But a Globe examination of the latest filings from 10 Greater Boston colleges shows a wide variation in how schools interpret the requirement.
The priciest presidential home, according to the documents, belongs to Boston University’s president, Robert Brown. He lives in a five-bedroom Brookline mansion that the university estimates would rent for $21,000 a month — more than three times the value of his MIT and Northeastern colleagues’ homes — bringing Brown’s total salary and benefits to more than $1 million and making him the most highly compensated college president in the area....
And you wonder why tuition costs are shooting through the roof?
The IRS is in the midst of conducting an audit of more than 30 colleges and universities, including Harvard and Suffolk universities, focusing on executive compensation and analyzing possible reporting inconsistencies. Spokeswoman Peggy Riley said the agency may consider changes to its tax guidelines if many discrepancies are found.
They are GRABBING for EVERY DIME they can find, huh?
All so WAR-LOOTERS, Wall Street, and ISRAEL can benefit as the lootislators live lavish lifestyles off taxpayer dime.
The new IRS reporting requirements allow for more equitable comparisons of presidential compensation packages and could take some of the spotlight off one local college president.
Suffolk University president David Sargent received criticism from some faculty, students, and alumni for his $1.5 million compensation, making him the second-highest paid private college leader in the nation in 2007-08.
According to the latest filing, Sargent’s total compensation of $832,782 in 2008 placed him fourth on the list of local college presidents — in part because he does not live in university-owned housing.
I'm just SICK of seeing numbers like that when so many are just scrapping by.
The new filings also disclose for the first time some of the other trappings of presidential power. Some, including the presidents of MIT, Brandeis, Tufts, and Wellesley, have maids. Most travel first class, often bringing their spouses. And the presidents of Suffolk, Brandeis, and Boston College receive health or social club dues....
It is ALL WORTH going into debt isn't it, kids?
Then there’s the Boston College president, the Rev. William Leahy, who resides in simple quarters on campus in Saint Mary’s Hall, a Jesuit residence that the college says does not have a market value. Leahy also does not collect a salary, given the vow of poverty he has taken as a Jesuit priest, said a campus spokesman....
Yeah, leave it to the CHRISTIANS and the CATHOLICS to do what is RIGHT!
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Sorry, kiddo, you are not billeted there.
Also see: Off to Summer School
Don't tell me the university is paying for a summer estate.
Related:
"State, community colleges raising fees
Students at most state and community colleges are facing fee increases for the next academic year as the schools deal with budget cuts and a reduction in federal stimulus aid. A spokeswoman for the state Board of Higher Education told The Republican of Springfield that 17 of 24 state and community colleges have instituted or are seeking fee increases. Springfield Technical Community College trustees met yesterday to vote on a fee hike for about 7,000 students (AP)."
Have to keep that college president in good digs, kids!
Maybe they are building you one:
"Amid economic bust, a boom at UMass; New academic buildings sprouting up all over, bringing much-needed jobs" by Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | July 25, 2010
WORCESTER — “Years ago, the attitude was the state would provide,’’ UMass president Jack M. Wilson said. “Now, we’re taking a very business-like approach, and looking for people to come in with an entrepreneurial outlook, not an entitlement culture.’’
Unless you are a war-profiteer, Wall Street, or Israel.
Then you have plenty of entitlements to tax loot.
That is the $500,000 a year Jack Wilson, right?
Related: UMass Worth Every Penny
Oh, I'm sure they all are.
Wilson, who will step down as president next year, has that sort of business sense in his background. A physicist by training, he earlier spun a company out of his own research, raised capital to fuel its growth, merged it with other firms, and took the company public on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Ultimately, Wilson says, the economic impact of the university’s projects will extend beyond construction. The research coming out of the new facilities — whether nanotechnology in Lowell, biotechnology in Worcester, or green chemistry in Boston — will support the state’s innovation economy....
Related: Back-to-School Series: America's Economic Development System
And here I thought schools were about education and learning.
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Maybe some of you could use a set of bunk beds.
I mean, the college is all about YOU and YOUR EDUCATION, right?
"Colleges opposing Democratic bills; Increase lobbying to fight proposed new regulations" by Alec MacGillis, Washington Post | August 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — Academia may be a bastion of liberalism, but in the past two years, the higher education industry has often lined up opposite the White House and congressional Democrats — and has spent more on lobbyists in the process....
Yeah, it is a BU$INE$$!
Those lobbyists must be looking out for you, kiddo.
Traditional colleges and universities also have opposed several Democratic initiatives.
First there was President Obama’s plan to cap the charitable tax deduction for the wealthy, bringing their tax break closer to everyone else’s. The measure would have raised $318 billion over 10 years, but it died quickly on Capitol Hill.
Charities were the most visible opponents, but universities also worried that it would reduce giving by wealthy donors....
Yes, we are ALL DEPENDENT on the BENEVOLENCE of the ARISTOCRACY, America!!
The next conflict was over the Democratic proposal to eliminate subsidies for student loan providers. The overhaul would provide billions of dollars in Pell grants for low-income students and billions more for colleges to improve graduation rates.
But schools were ambivalent about cracking down on private lenders, with whom they had built close relationships over the years.
See who the SCHOOL is HANGING OUT WITH, kids?
No wonder they are such lying vultures these days!
And they were opposed to the strings that would come with the additional institutional funding: requirements that they provide more data on student outcomes and submit to more state oversight.
The rules would apply mostly to community colleges, which were willing to accept them in return for extra funding, but four-year colleges opposed them anyway, wary of creating a precedent. They persuaded lawmakers to drop some of the provisions, and by the time the bill passed, the institutional funding was reduced so much that the provisions were mostly gone.
“Higher education is an interest group like any other, and what it wants is a lot of money from the taxpayer and no oversight of how that money is spent,’’ said Kevin Carey of the think tank Education Sector. “And they’ve been very successful getting it for a long time.’’
With the empha$i$ on intere$t, if you know what I mean.
FLASHBACK:
"Student grants get a boost; Health care reform also changes loan program" by Beth Healy, Globe Staff | March 24, 2010
The federal program that provides Pell grants to millions of middle- and lower-income college students got a $36 billion shot in the arm from part of the health care reform bill that was signed by President Obama yesterday.
Sounds great, right?
The legislation includes a major overhaul of federally backed student loans. From now on, borrowers will go directly to the federal government for these loans, and not to banks or other lenders.
And who is the government going to borrow the money fro.... same banks, right?
Sell bonds so taxpayers must pay even more?
While this will have little effect on student borrowers, it will make college loans that parents take out for their children slightly cheaper and easier to get.
I guess every little bit helps.
The student loan changes were included in the health bill in part to help offset the cost of the health plan. Of the $61 billion the government expects to save by cutting subsidies to banks for student loans, $36 billion will go the Pell grants, and $25 billion will go to lowering the deficit.
Many schools have been preparing for the change to direct loans, after the credit crisis hit two years ago and made private lenders less willing to extend government-backed loans....
Yeah, those banks are really helping us all out.
Pell grants are generally available to families earning less than $60,000 a year. The additional funding will increase the maximum grant to $5,500 this year, and eventually to $5,975 by 2017.
THAT'S IT?!!!
A WHOLE $425 declining and increasingly worthless U.S. dollars over SEVEN YEARS!!
About $60 a year or a BUCK-and-CHANGE a WEEK?!!!
The legislation also adds an annual cost-of-living increase that would take effect in 2013.
Yeah, this government helping you out right away, readers!
Banks got their bailout they didn't even need inside a week.
Bernie Pekala, director of student financial strategies at Boston College, said the Pell Grant news was positive for students. The program was running short of money, due to high demand, and the new funds will shore it up.
Wars always get plenty, notice that?
By cutting subsidies to banks and setting that money aside for Pell grants, Pekala said, “The savings will help many of the most needy students in the country.’’
As for student loans, the changes will take effect July 1, pending a vote by the Senate. To most students, the shift will be barely noticeable. They will only apply for government funds to cover their tuition, rather than to a list of banks....
From which the government will borrow the money at interest and that which you will have to pay back later in debt service as a taxpayer, kiddo.
The student loan world was rocked two years ago when the secondary market for the loans shut down amid the credit crisis. That meant lenders could no longer sell off their loans to raise money for new ones....
There simply MUST be a BETTER WAY!
C'mon, kids, get on the stick and learn something useful at school for once!
Isn't that how the housing market problems started?
Yeah, it's all for you, kiddo.
No wonder kids are the way they are; after a while, you just tune out liars and no longer read, 'er, listen to them.
The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities has spent $514,000 on lobbying since the start of 2009. The American Council on Education has spent $442,626, in addition to $137,000 it paid Ernst & Young to lobby on tax issues.
That is ONE MILLION DOLLARS that did NOT GO INTO BUILDINGS, CLASSROOMS, or TEACHERS!
It went to KEEP USURIOUS BANKS in the STUDENT LOAN LOOP!
The Career College Association, which represents for-profit colleges, increased its quarterly spending on the Podesta Group, a lobbying firm, from $50,000 to $80,000 in the second quarter.
Yeah, just LOOKING OUT FOR YOU, kid!
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So where can you save a few bucks this semester, kiddo?
"As college text prices soar, students get a rental option" By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | July 26, 2010
In an effort to curb escalating book prices amid sky-high college costs, bookstores at more than a dozen campuses across the state and hundreds more around the country will begin renting textbooks at about half the cost of buying them....
That is not a bad idea; I've got a bookcase full of the useless things.
The move toward more affordable options comes as federal legislation to control runaway textbook costs kicked in this month.
Oh, it took the feds to legislate against price-gouging on your textbooks, kids?
That's what happens when you become an industry!
Textbook prices have risen 14 percent in the past year, according to a major book retailer, growing at four times the rate of inflation for many years....
It's called a RIP-OFF!
It wouldn't be so bad if their books were not filled with s***.
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Related: Boston Globe Summer School: Graduates Caught in the Gap
Yeah, maybe you are better off not going to school at all.
Is it LEARNING when you are TAUGHT LIES?
