Madness at Columbia Was Your Tax Dollars at Work

From unlimited loans for grad students to tax-free municipal bonds, schools are subsidized like crazy

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"Such subsidies not only allow colleges to exist; they also fuel campus radicalism by encouraging the growth of graduate programs and academic departments in social sciences and humanities whose primary goals are to promote left-wing political causes rather than scholarship." 

Colleges have added "pricey graduate programs and enrolling more graduate students."

"Colleges around the country are adding master’s programs in such fields as social work, humanitarian, community-development and Middle Eastern studies—often costing six figures—to rake in more federal dollars."

"Where were the graduate peacemakers when Columbia needed them?"

"The ringleaders of anti-Israel protests have typically been graduate students."

"Momodou Taal, a Cornell University doctoral candidate in Africana Studies whose visa the Trump administration recently revoked, had professed his “hatred of the US empire” and deemed Zionists “chosen for hell.”"

"Universities often waive tuition for graduate students in return for their teaching or assisting with undergraduate classes. That means grads can get their degrees partly paid for while helping radicalize undergrads."

"Such in-kind compensation is normally treated as taxable income, but graduate tuition waivers are exempt."

"colleges are producing many graduate degree holders with few marketable skills who then struggle to find gainful employment"

Colleges are "Hiring overeducated proletariat as administrators and adding departments."

"Washington allows private colleges to raise money via tax-exempt municipal bonds"

"Columbia has issued nearly $1.5 billion in tax-exempt debt since 2002"

"Columbia and other elite colleges can borrow at 1% to 3% to finance their expansions while their endowments grow at a rate of 8% a year via nontaxable donations and investment earnings that are taxed at a maximum rate of 1.4%"