-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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This is a slide that will be difficult to reverse. When you lose sight of your basic goal, which you charge tens of thousands for, the loss of public trust is almost impossible to reverse. They University leaders made decisions that had nothing to do with providing a higher education, and they weren’t committed to attracting the best and brightest candidates. Won’t be missed.
Football, football, football! The new NIU mantra.
Same goes at WIU. $3.475 million deficit and the BOT refuses to reduce it while eliminating faculty and staff (not administrators.)
The Administrations and BOT’s of these institutions are more concerned with WOKE policies and a joke that that they are Division l schools (at great expense)
They need to focus on reality. Educators have a problem with reality. The reality is they don’t have enough paying customers, while they have maintained the existing inventory of classes, professors, buildings and infrastructure. They need to take a hard look at what degrees are paying for themselves and get rid of those that are not. Then right size the entire institution to the current demand. Low and behold…your costs go down and OMG, tuition could be reasonable then…what a concept. That means, what for them would be harsh decisions about people and programs. This is something that happens in… Read more »
Close it and save the taxpayers money for something else.
I’d like to know the current financial status of Chicago State University and Chicago City Colleges. Back in 2016 CSU almost closed due to low enrollment, administrative bloat, etc.
Chicago City Colleges “restructured” in recent years, but I would like to know why former CCC college presidents are suing CCC claiming their promised health care packages were diminished. Will there be more lawsuits against Chicago higher ed institutions as they face lower enrollment and taxpayer exodus?
Here’s a list of college endowments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment
shut it down.
The average ACT score for NIU students is 22, around the national average, but that’s only for students who have submitted their scores. NIU “…no longer consider(s) standardized test scores for general admission, merit scholarships or honors” programs. NIU has lowered the standards so low that few academically driven students care to attend anymore. They’ve made the degree worthless. It’s become the college for stupid people doing low IQ academics,and everyone knows it. And don’t worry, NIU’s DEI program is as robust as it gets. They hate you, deplorable white male, and they’ll make YOU sit at the back of… Read more »
Debtsor, I’ve got to admit that you’re doing your homework. Good job.
Yes, debtsor does a great job arguing with facts, not just blurting out his initial emotion.
Over the years I’ve honed my skills to become pretty good at quickly writing three or paragraph rants that start out pointing out some facts about an issue, and then relating it to a larger issue, and then giving a conservative slant on the matter. Beyond three or four paragraphs I start to get really ranty, and few are going to read the long form posts in the comment sections on a website. I also try my very best to refrain from attacking other commenters, although I may disagree with their opinion in a harsh tone often in a manner… Read more »
That’s basically what we try to do as well, and what we have found is most popular. Argue with facts. Get the point out clearly and quickly, Be succinct. In contrast, so many other publications persist with wordy essays, usually based on anecdotes. I don’t always agree with you, but your comments here are remarkably informed and not repetitive, despite how often you comment.
I have a lot of hurry up and wait time now and during covid my employer was very slow. I’ll reduce my frequency of posting. There’s too many other sites that need my conservative wisdom! LOL
In the 80’s, I thought NIU was positioned to achieve excellence. Its proximity to the Chicago area and a pool of talent made it ideal to be a highly competitive school. Yet the school has gone the opposite direction. Niche – admittedly an imperfect rating organization – doesn’t even put NIU in the top 33 in the state of Illinois. It has a six year graduation rate of 47 percent, with likely many students, both grads and drop outs carrying student loan debt. There are ways to improve grad rates – there are schools that have done it (Radford in… Read more »