<p>Sooner or later, the inane student loan system is going to implode. When that happens, many of the schools on this list are going to be fighting for their very survival. Let’s see what kind of jobs these administrators will be able to get then. There are only so many families who will be able to come up with 250k plus for their kids to attend many of these schools, and that means administrative bloat and expense will have to come down.</p>
<p>Negotiating price is not the same as setting price based on deemed affordability on the part of the purchaser.</p>
<p>I agree fire. The higher ed system is merely the Canary in the coal mine. In the long run, the economy will not be sustainable. </p>
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<p>letsbefrank; (yes, lets) you are incorrect. The main job – by far – of a Uni Prez is fund-raising. That includes money for new buildings, financial aid, programs in the arts, etc.</p>
<p>Poor people pay more for a lot of things than rich people do, for lots of reasons. They often don’t have access to stores with lower prices (they live in poor areas that don’t have big supermarkets), and they often have to borrow money to pay for stuff that rich people can pay cash for. That costs them a lot. And a lot of companies give perks to frequent customers, so rich people get more for their money. If I stay in a Marriott, for example, I get a free breakfast and access to the Concierge Lounge, because of my Gold status. A person without that status pays the same for the room, but doesn’t get the same value. I can tell you, I wouldn’t be interested in changing places with a poor person in order to get their benefits.</p>
<p>Student Direct Loans are limited to $27,000 for undergrads. Anything beyond that is either a parent loan or a cosigned loan. </p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
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<p>Have you ever had a large health bill at a hospital? We once paid cash for tricky oncology surgery performed by a doctor who accepted no insurance at all. The doctors and nurses for the surgery were all covered. But the recovery time in hospital also was out of network. Our insurance paid 30% of what it considered a “fair and equitable” rate for the hospital’s services. We called the hospital to discuss the fee and were given two options. 1) Pay a lump sum for what the hospital wanted - it was right at the level that they charge insurance companies (actually a little less) or 2) pay significantly more over time. We opted for payment #1. I think that’s pretty par for the course with hospitals and that anyone can actually negotiate a hospital bill down, provided they have the funds to pay in full, like the insurance companies do.</p>
<p>Vladenschlutte, I am not going to argue you with you other to say that you are using the words “exclusive dealing” and “anti-competitive” totally incorrectly. I suggest you go to the Federal Trade Commission’s website for a primer on what exclusive dealing means, and when it is considered to be “anti-competitive.” It has nothing to do with what you are talking about.</p>
<p>Blue, does fund raising take any particular amount of talent?</p>
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It takes a lot of talent, and it’s a ton of work.</p>
<p>Hospitals will charge what they think they can get away with. Anybody has the right to challenge a charge for being unreasonable. It’s like buying a car. They make an offer to settle their services for x amount. You make a counter offer at y amount. If you don’t reach a meeting of the minds, litigation is always available to either party.</p>
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<p>Wow! Where to start? First, I’ll say I actually agree with you that the student loan system will implode. And many colleges will be fighting for their survival - I believe in the next 10 years we’ll see lots of mergers. But most of the schools at the top of that list will be doing just fine - they’ve got huge endowments. Although the president of Marist (with its relatively small endowment) seems like an outlier near the top of that list, the reason he had such huge compensation was that he raised the endowment from a paltry 42 million in 2012 to a more robust 211 million in 2013. Not bad for a high school principal. </p>
<p>And yes, there are only so many families who can come up with a quarter million dollars to send their kids to college. The rest of us find other places to send our kids. </p>
<p>Why the anger? You can afford a decent education for your kids. Do you feel that guilty that you can’t afford to send them to elite U? I feel no guilt for it. I’m proud of my husband and me - we’re planning on giving our children a loan free traditional 4 year college education - something our parents could never have dreamed of giving us. Something very few people can afford to give their children these days. Revel in it.</p>
<p>“and hospitals will discriminate and try to gouge rich customers more than poor customers because they think they can extract more out of the rich.”</p>
<p>How does a hospital know what a person’s wealth is? I’ve had to go to the ER and have also had to be admitted to hospitals both through the ER and for regular scheduled surgery and I have never had to fill out any form which asked for my income. </p>
<p>That happens after you get a large bill and tell them you can’t pay it and settle on an affordable figure. It happens every day. </p>
<p>But since I brought up the healthcare comparison earlier I was referring to the cost of insurance figured as a percentage of income under the new healthcare law, not the additional hospital bills. To clarify.</p>
<p>“That happens after you get a large bill and tell them you can’t pay it and settle on an affordable figure. It happens every day.”</p>
<p>But the wealthy person gets the same huge bill and their insurance company pays the hospital a negotiated amount, also. </p>
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<p>Nah, its really easy to raise millions of dollars every year. Suggest you setup a foundation for your favorite charity, appoint yourself prez (at a huge salary), and then let the cash roll in. It’ll be a virtual ATM. :D</p>
<p>Emily, negotiating happens with the out-of-pocket costs. This has nothing to do with the insurance company. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t get why offering my opinion means I am angry. I’m not angry. I prepaid for my kids education so at a good State School, I will be paying about $75.00 per credit as opposed to $1700.00 per credit plus at some of these schools. My kids education is taken care of, and if they were superstars, I would have no issue paying for an elite education. Thankfully, they have not bought into the bill of goods that they are worthless if they don’t go to the ivy league, so I need not have to plan for that. I just think that the country is going down the tubes because of the amount of greed as evidenced by those at the top of the pyramids, whether it be CEOs of private businesses or Administrators at the top of these non-profits. You all may think its supply and demand. I see it as the super rich taking care of themselves at the expense of 99% of the rest of the country. This inequality cannot continue or its the end of the USA and its capitalistic system. That in the end is my opinion.</p>
<p>Blue, these “foundations” are already set up. When the organization is already in place, is it really difficult to raise money. Heck, if you donate millions to one of these well endowed universities, you get a building named after you. Given how important prestige is to the super rich, they are falling all over themselves to give away their money for the recognition. How many billionaires have joined the give away your fortune club in the last year or two. Sorry, this is not like Bill Gates who started a company from scratch and turned it into a mega billion dollar enterprise and who is entitled to his 70 billion dollar net worth, or Steve Jobs, who through sheer ingenuity brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy. These guys are bureaucrats who have played the game of politics well, and are being paid huge dollars, authorized by thier friends on the board of trustees, to do what tons of other people could do just as well. </p>
<p>Letsbefrank-
If it’s such a simple, lucrative job why haven’t you jumped on the bandwagon? All it takes is a doctorate or two, years in academia to shore up your credibility, the ability to manage a diverse and difficult faculty, PR/speaking expertise, willingness to give up large chunks of your personal life, the vision to lead an organization with an annual budget of 100 million to 3.7 billion and the ability to raise millions of dollars annually. Easy, right? </p>