Professor Donates $6 Million to Law School for Scholarships, Gives Me Reason to Rant About Tuition and Universities

From the Oklahoman:

NORMAN -- University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren has announced the largest one-time contribution in the history of the OU College of Law – a historic $6 million gift from OU Law Professor Emeritus Frank Elkouri and his wife, Edna Asper Elkouri, to support student scholarship programs in the college.

My usual reaction to people donating large sums of money to a law school is "blech!" With so many places to put your money, it kind-of disgusts me when rich people pour it into a system that's so broken, especially when the donation comes from a rich law professor and especially when it's used to construct some new building. Such donations smell of not being made from humanitarian interests, but rather out of some desire for the rich person to slap their name on a new building or auditorium in an egocentric, old-age proxy for sexual arousal. Worse is when their donations bankroll the meaningless research of law professors.

But my cold hear warmed to Mr. Boren when I saw that he was wanting to use his donation to support scholarships for students. In an age where tuition prices are pricing the middle- and lower-class out of responsible higher education, I think that's the only virtuous way to donate to a university. And although I'm cynical, I'm not compeltely dismissive of things like this:

Professor and Mrs. Elkouri said they were grateful to have scholarships while they were in law school, and they hope their gift provides similar opportunities to students today.

“We wanted to do for the students what we couldn’t do for those who helped us,” Professor Elkouri said.

Bravo!

But what stuck out to me in the article was this paragraph:

“Generations of students will benefit from this generous gift,” said [OU President] Boren....

"Generations?" Who the hell are you kidding?

Six million may sound like a lot. But currently, OU tuition is at $28,000 for out-of-staters and $14,000 for in-staters. A $6 million dollar scholarship can give full rides to 215 out-of-state students and 430 in-state students. Or it could give half-tuition scholarships to 430 out-of-state students and 860 in-state students.

But that's only on a one-year basis. On a 3-year basis, you cut the numbers by 1/3. And that's not even factoring in living expenses or the rise in tuition.

For comparison's sake, OU currently enrolls 500+ students every academic year.

And if anyone wants to argue that the scholarship fund will grow over time and provide more opportunities for students down-the-road than may be apparent now, I would like to point out that tuition at OU has risen 50% for out-of-state students and 90% for in-state students over the last 6 years according to LSTB. You couldn't even get that return investing in high-risk mutual funds, much less the bonds that universities shove their endowments into.

Between tuition inflation and state expenditure cuts, the money will not go as far if it's saved. Fewer students will benefit.

The OU President knows this reality. He knows quite well that $6 million isn't going to be around in 15 years, and yet he began a sentence with the word "generations." He did not say "hundreds of students" will benefit." He chose "generation."

Why?

It seems to me that much of the appeal of high education depends on this "timeless" quality. That this is the way things have been for 150 years and when you go you'll pay it forward to the next generation. Elderly donors can be persuaded to part with their money much easier if they believe that they're contributing to something that will extend long past their earthly demise.

It's nothing more than marketing to bring more investment into the university scheme. In fact, one could argue the Elkouris of the world are, in a way, getting lied to as much as the students. Their investment won't last long at all, and once their dead no one on campus will care about them.

For education to return to its proper role in the United States, it seems to me that myth (and similar ones) probably need to perish.

So I applaud to Elkouris, but their contribution must be put into perspective. It's wonderful that they're helping students achieve the same things they did, especially against a system so biased against new entrants. But its impact will be minimal, and in truth OU will probably wind up shifting the money they would have spent on scholarships to other wastes of money, like increases in salary for administrators.

This is, after all, big business, and not some rah-rah wonderland where generation after generation gets the same education with the same impact at a low cost. We need to get through to the 50+ crowd that it isn't the way it was way back when.