This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time ever since I first developed conservative scruples about how we ought run our country and government.
I was doing a bit of grant research, and somehow for fun, I decided to research on my Alma mater, Gallaudet University. I was very curious as what Gallaudet’s budget looked like. What I really wanted to know if Gallaudet made any real effort in seeking out grants. The more grants an institution or a nonprofit organization has the more accountability is demanded of the receiving organization. Not to mention the incentive to go out and seek to win the grants which in turn cultivates better and more lasting relationships with various foundations. It’s a good public relations move, and in some ways it can be seen as actively campaigning for specific issues to be brought to the public or a more specific audience.
Read on.
It turrns out Gallaudet University receives 70% of its income from federal appropriation. Surprisingly enough, I discovered that it doesn’t do much of grant-seeking or getting involved with serious fund-raising efforts other than $31 million building campaign for a new building, Sorenson Language & Communication Center. Although I find it ironic that $3 million is being funded for I. King Jordan Chair on Leadership when in fact considering the recent protests which demonstrated the lack of leadership on Jordan’s part. Of course, I’m being cynical, but that’s just me.
It also has an endowment fund of $165 million, but most of it is restricted to specific areas or programs, so very little of it can be used for general purposes. Moreover, as you know, endowed funds mean the principals must remain intact and half its dividends earned on compound interest must be reinvested back into the principals in order to keep them growing. In the other words, in some ways, an endowment fund is more of a limitation in certain ways.
A thought popped up in my mind, is this good for Gallaudet? It’s grown dependent on federal appropriation to get by.
I decided to dig more deeper in the world of higher education and states funding universities and local colleges. To my surprise, I’m not really familiar with how higher education is being funded, but it turns out that perhaps the most expensive item on a state’s budget is probably higher education!
For example, I took a look at Maryland’s state budget where I live right now, and it turns out that the University of Maryland, College Park receives ONE BILLION dollars (pg. 27)! To be sure, there are different amounts for restricted and general funds, but they add up to one billion dollars. That’s a lot of money. To be fair, the data I was looking at is only for fiscal year 2008, but even so. Of course, the U. of MD isn’t the only university Maryland is handing out money to. Towson University is mentioned in the budget as well. But most of local colleges and universities receive small amounts compared to U. of MD.
Next, I decided to take a look at Virginia’s budget, and it does hand out a lot of money to different universities, just like Maryland does.
It would appear that for some states a major portion of their budget is for higher education. Now, I know for the majority of hearing universities, this is probably okay, because despite state handouts, they are still competing with each other within the states and nation as well. So that means they have to be creative in recruiting prospective students and developing their strengths. For example, University of Chicago concentrates on its economic school, which is famous for its free-market economics orientation. Harvard is well known for its business management school. Yale is known for its law school. Stanford is considered the Harvard of West Coast. Berkeley is well known for its politics. Needless to say, there are countless more examples out there.
But Gallaudet University has no competition in its field. It’s the only center for everything related on deafness and Deaf culture in the world. It’s not really known for producing lawyers or even top quality business managers. Is federal appropriation hurting Gallaudet more than it helps? Maybe Gallaudet needs to do more aggressive grant-seeking efforts or improve its quality of education. Can this also happen to hearing universities, if they feel too comfortable and see no incentive to get ahead of each other as long they know they’re the only centers in the world in certain fields?
Now, I am a strong proponent of free market economics and principles, therefore it is naturally for me to believe the best thing that can happen to Gallaudet is more competition. Obviously, it’s not the case here, so Gallaudet will need to find another way to build up its reputation and increasing its quality of education. But it can’t be helped by thinking that if Gallaudet sees the lack of competition, there will be no incentives whatsoever for Gallaudet to do better. Right now, Gallaudet, for all intents and purposes, effectively monopolizes the market on everything related to the Deaf world. Okay, that’s fine with me, can you tell me what’s the next step?
Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea what’s the next step Gallaudet will be taking in near future.
Don’t get me wrong, receiving federal appropriatons aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but should Gallaudet depend on them primarily as its income? Is that how we want to view ourselves, every time a problem occurs, must we always run to government at all levels to solve it for us?
Anyway, tell me what are your opinions on this issue? Now, be courteous in your comments, this isn’t DailyKos. Let’s keep it clean, shall we?
Good entry. Already made it clear that I sneered at Conservatives.
But it is my dream that Gallaudet eventually becomes independent without depending on the government’s handouts. But at the time being, it cannot be done. But with the direction of Davila and others pushing Gallaudet in the next age, I can visualize the dependence from Gallaudet which is nearly 90% to 30% in 100 years.
That means what? More job opportunities for Deaf people and ensure that the contributions to the University by alumni and corporations also grows as well. Open research centers which can bring $$ in as well.
That will cut great deal of dependence on government handouts, really. But now? Not good, but in the future? Yes.
Cheers,
Well, Gallaudet University will never become full independence from depending on Federal, it is been a long time since President Lincoln signed that Gallaudet University continually receive the funding from federal and can happen to change somewhat but the Education Dept has an obligation to support Gallaudet University with funding federally! Gallaudet university can’t be compared to any university with the money! Gallaudet University can not stand on its own alone, they must find resources to keep supporting them finanically and continually!