<p>Which comes closer to your view - colleges today care mainly about education and have a good educational experience, or colleges today are like most businesses and care mainly about the bottom line?</p>
<p>Although this may be the question asked in the poll, I think it is a false dichotomy. Colleges today are mainly concerned about things like their continued existence, growth of programs, their academic reputation (which may include their USNWR ranking), attracting the star academic or future Nobel winning scientist. Colleges are not focused on the bottom line like a business - most private colleges lose money with every customer (spend from endowment), and they can’t make it up with volume. A good educational experience may contribute to the college’s reputation and ranking, but the connection may also be neither clear nor immediate.</p>
<p>Yes, also more colleges are giving out more financial aid or grants to needy students these days. So this shows that colleges do care a lot about education.</p>
<p>I don’t see how the two are mutually exclusive (if that’s the implication). They are at heart, businesses. They need funds to operate, and they offer services in order to obtain those funds. I think the idea behind capitalism is that everyone benefits, students get the education they’re paying for (or career services they’re paying for… whatever it is), and the college gets the money they are offering services for.</p>
The universities I currently have interest in attending from my current perception I do not see the schools as big buisnesses though I think the majority of universities ( like several recognized by USNEWS though many that are not) pretray as running as big buisnesses and have that ideal of " buisness first and ______ later."</p>
<p>I think it’s a bit of both, especially for private universities that cannot rely on the state for funding.
In order to survive and ensure endownment/in flow of money, the universities need to attract students and set tuition (which is getting steeper recently)</p>
<p>But in order to successfully attract students, the universities need to make sure they have something to show, and that is a good academic and social environment, with resources for its students. </p>
<p>I expect students are more selective than ever in terms of choosing colleges nowadays, since tuition is increasing and people really want something to show for their money.</p>
<p>Colleges care about education, but in order to get to the top facilities, they need to be like every business and get ahead of everyone else. Like Qwertykey (above) said, colleges are businesses, and they need money to offer their services. Ultimately, though, colleges should be about the education :)</p>
<p>Universities are not-for-profit. I am fairly certain that most universities’ expenditures equal their revenues year-in, year-out. They obviously must fund themselves and as such, will do the necessary to raise the money required to operate as they wish, but the “bottom line” for most respected universities is to create the best possible intellectual and research atmosphere for their students and faculties, and in this day and age, this includes building and maintaining the best facilities (academic buildings, labs, libraries, dorms, gyms etc…) and infrastructures (roads, telecom etc…).</p>
<p>There are, of course, some universities that operate to make money, but none of the top universities function that way.</p>
<p>I need to get a high score on the TOEFL ibt exam in order to be admitted to a University
I am studying a lot, practicing and writing. But, what else can I do to improve my skills in the writing section of the TOEFL?</p>
<p>Even if schools care about the education first and foremost, you still have to run a successful business model. Successful schools consistently reflect and adjust, to both consumer demand and to the needs of their faculty and staff. And a lot of the do with while giving millions in financial aid. If they were really only interested in their bottom line, they wouldn’t spend nearly the amt of money they do on students.</p>
<p>I think colleges are more concerned with education, although I’m sure that unfortunately the bottom line also factors into some of their decisions.</p>
<p>The one thing that everyone learns eventually is that the only people who actually care about you (and sometimes these people don’t even care about you) are your family.</p>
<p>Most colleges and universities, and virtually all of the best colleges and universities, were not founded as businesses. They were founded by church communities, by wealthy philanthropists, or by the states. Of course they must remain solvent, however, the mission (wherever it has not been confused) is not to earn a profit but to discover and spread knowledge. </p>
<p>The most selective universities could fill their entering classes with full-pay students, if they chose to do so. They could shut down under-utilized departments (like Classics). They could shift all research to lucrative practical applications such as pharmaceutical research and defense contracts. They could, but they don’t.</p>