“Higher education loans are meant to subsidize the cost of higher education, not profit from them, especially at a time when students are facing record debt,” said Ethan Senack, the higher education advocate at the United States Public Interest Research Group, which is issuing the brief with the United States Student Association and Young Invincibles, an organization for people 18 to 34. “The revenue from student loans should be used to keep education affordable, and should never be used to pay down the deficit or for other federal programs,” Mr. Senack said.”
—Student Loan Rate Set to Rise, Despite Lack of Support - NYTimes.com“It’s ludicrous for groups like Crossroads GPS—which spent at least $70 million during the last election—to claim that its primary purpose is not political activity. Only the likes of Karl Rove would believe that running attack ads against President Obama qualifies as social welfare.”
—Ari Berman, IRS Fallout: “The Real Scandal Is Secret Money Influencing US Elections”How Washington Could Make College Tuition Free (Without Spending a Penny More on Education)
theatlantic.comHere’s a little known fact: With what the federal government spent on its various and sundry student aid initiatives last year, it could have covered the tuition bill of every student at every public college in the country. Doing so might have required cutting off financial aid at Yale, Amherst, the University of Phoenix, and every other private university. But at this point, that might be a trade worth considering.
» via The Atlantic
“The English Professional Footballers’ Association estimates that 10 to 20 per cent of ex-players go bankrupt. Many more run into big financial problems.”
—The Financial Times just published an article detailing the financial ruin that many former players face after retirement. Here’s how it typically breaks down: start as the sole breadwinner for a large extended family, add in a number of close associates, mix in expensive tastes, and finally, throw in corrupt financial planners, and you’ve got a dangerous cocktail once the paychecks stop rolling in. If anything, it’s a wonder that the percentage isn’t higher.
While it might be customary to groan about the exorbitant salaries footballers bring in, the reality is that very few have any sort of practical financial sense. Bred from a young age to be athletes, many young footballers live sheltered lives. So when that first large paycheck arrives in their late teens or early twenties, there’s no inclination to set anything aside for later. The PFA rate doesn’t come close to reaching those of American sports, which linger at about 78% of former players for the NFL, and 60% for the NBA, but still underlines the importance of educating young athletes.
As the ancient proverb goes, “mo money, mo problems.” [Posted by Maxi]
Please validate my actions.
I am an executive member of the course union for my program at my university. I love my course and I love being a part of the union. Unfortunately, one member of the executive board drives me up the wall. It might just be because he’s a pompous ass, but it comes off as mansplaining a lot of the time.
This year, I organised the majority of events on my own, simply because it was faster and more efficient to get things done and then bring everyone else up to speed. This, apparently, was not enough for me to earn This Guy’s trust, or respect.
I’ve started planning an event for next year as I’m the elected Events Coordinator. I contacted someone who is instrumental in getting this event off the ground and then sent a mass email to the other executive members letting them know what I had said, what my plans were and reassuring them that I would keep them in the loop with any further communications.
In this email, I also asked our treasurers to provide me with an approximation of how much money we have, for the dual purpose of beginning to plan, as well as having a number to show the other organisation in case they are planning to contribute money and would like to figure out how much to give.
Almost immediately, I received an email response from This Guy first of all, giving me an estimate of how much money we have (which was completely incorrect since he has never handled any of the finances, nor has he asked for numbers) and then chastising me for even asking for one.
He then proceeded to explain to me that it was insulting and unprofessional to have to inform the other organisation who will be partnering with us how much money we’re willing to spend on the event. He told me that if they ask, I am “required” to back out immediately and cancel the event.
I responded, as calmly as I could and explained my reasons for wanting to know a number and how I didn’t think it was ridiculous to have a number to share with our affiliates as they most likely will be kicking in money as well.
He responded by brushing off all of my responses and informing me that I “wasn’t allowed” to spend more than a certain amount of money on this event, and that he realised this would be “exceptionally difficult” for me. Irritated, I informed him that I wouldn’t spend that much, being inherently frugal, mostly just to placate him.
His responded, requesting that I forward him everyone else’s responses to my email because he “was unsure” that I was “taking the right approach” and wanted to see the others’ opinions. When I informed him that no one else had disagreed with me and that the only emails I had received had been positive, and forwarded them to him, he responded with a reluctant, “Well then, it seems like you’re on the right track.”
Thanks. I really needed that validation.
Our treasurers emailed me back, gave me the correct number (which was much higher than the number he had given me) and reaffirmed what I had initially thought, which was that all of the money was at my disposal as it was all surplus profit from an event I had organised.
“...24-25% of young German people interviewed by journalists answered the question 'what do you want to do when you're an adult' by stating that they wanted to be artists. What are they picturing? What do they think being an artist means, exactly? Are they thinking about the rich possibilities that the art market offers? Well, maybe, but I don't think so. I think that they are saying that they want to be artists because they feel that being an artist means to escape a future of sadness, to escape a future of precariousness as sadness. They at thinking, well, precariousness and sadness can become something different, some thing not so sad, not so precarious, if they withdraw their faith, if they withdraw from any expectations a capitalist future can offer. I don't want to expect anything from the future, so I start my future as an artist.”
—Franco “Bifo” Berardi, The Uprising: On Finance and Poetry
Western banks financing illegal south-east Asian land grabs
guardian.co.ukHeartbreaking and absolutely infuriating. Click through for article and video.
Coursera begins to make money
insidehighered.comCoursera, the increasingly popular provider of free online courses, is beginning to make money.
The Silicon Valley-based company brought in $220,000 in the first quarter after it started charging for verified completion certificates, its co-founders said. The company also receives revenue from an Amazon.com affiliates program if users buy books suggested by professors.
“It’s the beginning of revenue,” said a Coursera co-founder, Daphne Koller.
» via Inside Higher Ed
S. Africa’s Black Middle Class Rises, Passing White Spending
businessweek.comThe black middle class in South Africa, which held its first all-race elections in 1994, has more than doubled in size over the past eight years, exceeding the number of white people in the same bracket and the amount of money they spend.
The number of black South Africans classified as middle class rose to 4.2 million people last year from 1.7 million in 2004, the University of Cape Town’s Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing said in a statement. South Africa has a population of 51.8 million people.
“South Africa’s black middle class continues to rapidly expand and is more influential and powerful than ever before,” John Simpson, a director at the Unilever Institute, said in the statement, which was e-mailed yesterday. “The black middle class is helping create a vibrant and stable society by increasing South Africa’s skills base, deepening employment, and widening the tax net.”
South Africans in this group now spend 400 billion rand ($44 billion) annually, more than the 323 billion rand spent by 3 million white people classified as middle class, according to the study. The number of white South African in the group rose from 2.8 million in 2004.
High UnemploymentSouth Africa’s unemployment rate of 24.9 percent is the highest of more than 30 emerging-market nations tracked by Bloomberg. Retail sales advanced 3.8 percent in February from a year earlier, with South Africa’s Reserve Bank keeping its benchmark interest rate at the lowest level in more than 30 years to spur spending.
To be classified as middle class, respondents had to meet at least two criteria. They include having a household income of between 15,000 rand and 50,000 rand, personal transportation, tertiary education, employment in a white collar job, own or rent a home for more than 4,000 rand a month in a city or town and be 15 years of age or older. The full study will be released next month.
