The cost of higher education is another one of our societal doom-loop situations, brought about in large part by ego and easy money. It is easy to scale up when cheap debt is available and other people’s (students) money pays the bills. Sooner or later, the bills come due.
Another example is the housing market in which the interests of banks, builders, real estate agents, etc often work in opposition to the interests of customers to over-build larger, wasteful, more expensive homes at the expense of the individual customer and the long term interests of society at large. Customers are brainwashed into believing they need to spend more, build bigger, not for themselves but for “resale value” - the nebulous future value they are “investing” in, even though every extra dollar they spend is immediate cash in the pockets of everyone else and long term debt for the buyer. Same debt trap as the idea of “prestige” colleges.
People might think these are examples of natural economic forces, but they aren’t. I don’t know a lot about economics or the history of economics, but I am familiar with the work of Walt Rostow whose (IMO) psychotic obsession with anti-communism led him developing his theory that mass consumption would destroy communism and directing use of force in Vietnam. What he did not predict in his economic theories was how mass consumption and violence as a primary tool of foreign policy would so quickly make nearly everyone miserable (or dead) and put the world on a rapid path to self-destruction through waste and climate crisis.
I went to graduate school at St. Rose back in the 80's. It cost double what I had paid for undergrad. Of course it all took many, many years to pay back in student loans. I only spent 1 1/2 years there but liked the college very much. It is sad to see it go but certainly the cost is only something some can afford these days.
As an upstate New York state city, it's routinely disparaged by NYC residents as a provincial backwater populated by Sears & Roebuck brown suit-wearing rubes (e.g. Ed Koch's critique). And some folks in the upstate of New York criticize Albany as a failed government experiment with urban-renewal mutations of the Empire State Plaza and 787 elevated blockade separating the city from its heritage on the Hudson river.
As for me, I'll always value the time my spouse and I lived in Albany, in the early 1980's, on Washington Park. We found the brownstone townhouses along the and on the side streets to be quite charming, the South Mall impressive (it will always be the South Mall to me), and the shops and restaurants on Lark Street enjoyable.
If that makes me a brown suit-wearing rube, or government apologist, then so be it.
Thank you Will. My wife went to grad school at St. Rose and spent her career in education. The community and higher education are losing a remarkable school.
My granddaughter will be in St. Rose’ s final graduating class. The college has been very good for her. As a unique small college it will be a great loss.
“A city whose cultural life is already anemic.” Will! I get that you’re sad, that you feel betrayed, lied to. But you’re a professional journalist! You don’t get to throw unkind (and untrue) shade on an entire city because of the demise of a beloved college. Albany has a vibrant cultural community that will certainly suffer due to the closure of St. Rose. It was beneath you to kick it while it anticipates this loss.
Will -- About Woolf. I haven't read Mrs. Dalloway, and I have not had success with a couple of other of her books, but read "Orlando" -- it's wonderful.
Large or small. I went to the University of Michigan, and I remember nothing about gyms or dining halls. But I do remember writing notes in the margins of the Chekhov short story, Gooseberries, in my freshman English class. Then there was the passion of a young professor telling us about his research on parasitic river diseases in subsaharan Africa. It’s all about a college’s willingness to help you explore.
The cost of higher education is another one of our societal doom-loop situations, brought about in large part by ego and easy money. It is easy to scale up when cheap debt is available and other people’s (students) money pays the bills. Sooner or later, the bills come due.
Another example is the housing market in which the interests of banks, builders, real estate agents, etc often work in opposition to the interests of customers to over-build larger, wasteful, more expensive homes at the expense of the individual customer and the long term interests of society at large. Customers are brainwashed into believing they need to spend more, build bigger, not for themselves but for “resale value” - the nebulous future value they are “investing” in, even though every extra dollar they spend is immediate cash in the pockets of everyone else and long term debt for the buyer. Same debt trap as the idea of “prestige” colleges.
People might think these are examples of natural economic forces, but they aren’t. I don’t know a lot about economics or the history of economics, but I am familiar with the work of Walt Rostow whose (IMO) psychotic obsession with anti-communism led him developing his theory that mass consumption would destroy communism and directing use of force in Vietnam. What he did not predict in his economic theories was how mass consumption and violence as a primary tool of foreign policy would so quickly make nearly everyone miserable (or dead) and put the world on a rapid path to self-destruction through waste and climate crisis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Rostow
As a builder of affordable homes, I know full well that real estate it is another unsustainable economic situation.
Hi Al, care to define “affordable homes”?
Housing that costs less than 30 % of gross income is the accepted definition of affordable housing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/albellenchia/p/stubborn-things?r=7wk5d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Thanks for the link
I went to graduate school at St. Rose back in the 80's. It cost double what I had paid for undergrad. Of course it all took many, many years to pay back in student loans. I only spent 1 1/2 years there but liked the college very much. It is sad to see it go but certainly the cost is only something some can afford these days.
Poor Albany!
As an upstate New York state city, it's routinely disparaged by NYC residents as a provincial backwater populated by Sears & Roebuck brown suit-wearing rubes (e.g. Ed Koch's critique). And some folks in the upstate of New York criticize Albany as a failed government experiment with urban-renewal mutations of the Empire State Plaza and 787 elevated blockade separating the city from its heritage on the Hudson river.
As for me, I'll always value the time my spouse and I lived in Albany, in the early 1980's, on Washington Park. We found the brownstone townhouses along the and on the side streets to be quite charming, the South Mall impressive (it will always be the South Mall to me), and the shops and restaurants on Lark Street enjoyable.
If that makes me a brown suit-wearing rube, or government apologist, then so be it.
I agree with your assessment.
Very special column today, sorry to read the facts, but certainly applaud your factual detail.
Thanks for keeping us apprised of all the new shops, etc. that we can find in GF. I for one find it helpful.
Thank you Will. My wife went to grad school at St. Rose and spent her career in education. The community and higher education are losing a remarkable school.
Thanks, Will, for a fine column. You and Ken provide some of the best writing around.
My granddaughter will be in St. Rose’ s final graduating class. The college has been very good for her. As a unique small college it will be a great loss.
“A city whose cultural life is already anemic.” Will! I get that you’re sad, that you feel betrayed, lied to. But you’re a professional journalist! You don’t get to throw unkind (and untrue) shade on an entire city because of the demise of a beloved college. Albany has a vibrant cultural community that will certainly suffer due to the closure of St. Rose. It was beneath you to kick it while it anticipates this loss.
Will -- About Woolf. I haven't read Mrs. Dalloway, and I have not had success with a couple of other of her books, but read "Orlando" -- it's wonderful.
Erica
Large or small. I went to the University of Michigan, and I remember nothing about gyms or dining halls. But I do remember writing notes in the margins of the Chekhov short story, Gooseberries, in my freshman English class. Then there was the passion of a young professor telling us about his research on parasitic river diseases in subsaharan Africa. It’s all about a college’s willingness to help you explore.