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MU professor wants to reexamine university spending

The columns of MU covered in snow. A MU professor says the university can restructure how it spends its money.
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The columns of MU covered in snow. A MU professor says the university can restructure how it spends its money.

As Governor Jay Nixon is proposing a large cut to funding for higher education, MU English Professor Richard Schwartz is encouraging students and universities to reconsider everything their money is going towards.  In his e-book, “Is a College Education Still Worth the Price?,” Schwartz says that universities, like MU, have many services and benefits for students that are driving up student costs.

"Students in general in America live better now than they lived when I went to college and living better costs more," Schwartz said.

Schwartz says that while it may be easy to label some student services as unnecessary and dismiss them, there is no way to smoothly eliminate any of them.  He uses the example that paying speakers to give presentation at Jesse Hall may be expendable to some students, but others may regard them as essential to their education.  Schwartz suggests that benefits like this don’t need to be automatic for students.

"One of the interesting things about universities is that when you pay for services, you pretty much pay for them all.  If you live outside of a university, you pay for what you want," Schwartz said.

Schwartz says that colleges should consider allowing students to pick and choose what services they pay for, and as a result, what they have access to.

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