Colleges rely more on part-time faculty
Two news articles last week should have been side-by-side rather than in separate sections. The front page reported tuition is going up ("University system OKs tuition increases," News, April 15), while the Metro section reported our students are being taught by part-time faculty on penny-ante wages ("Part-time faculty to rally to bring change," Metro, April 15). Where is the rest of the money going? To a bloated cast of academic administration and bureaucrats, while students may go through dozens of classes before they get their first tenured Ph.D. as a teacher.
Simple fix: No administrator or bureaucrat should be paid more than five times the salary or wage of the lowest-paid instructor, and set a limit on the number of administrators based on a percent of the faculty. Tuition should plummet as the academic administrative drones depart in box lots.
VALERIA PALMER, SANDY SPRINGS
Tuitions rise with no accountability
The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia announced tuition rate increases last week for the 2015-16 academic year. They range from 2.5 percent for the smaller colleges to 9 percent for the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech. The Regents expect us to swallow these increases with the logic that investments are necessary to assure a “quality public higher education.” This is an ongoing lame excuse from schools that have not adequately controlled their costs for decades, while real wages for Georgia families have declined.
When you also factor in the additional junk fees, these increases cause the typical family and/or their student to take on burdensome debt or worse, not go to college. These schools have forgotten they exist to serve the public. The governor, the Legislature, the Board of Regents and all these college presidents must make a pledge to control all future fee increases to not exceed the cost of living. If not, throw the bums out. We have had enough of public college costs skyrocketing with no accountability.
MARK HARRIS, BERKELEY LAKE
No unsung heroes in APS scandal?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is to be commended for having uncovered and persevered through a dark chapter in the history of our city. Now that the APS cheating story is reaching its conclusion, there is an untold aspect that deserves — in fact, demands — your attention. I suspect (actually, I sincerely hope) there were teachers and administrators pressured to cheat who refused and paid for their integrity with lost bonuses, withheld promotions or even the loss of their jobs. Who are these heroes? We should know their names so that they may receive our thanks and the recognition they’re due. It will help our city heal.
GARY B. SCHUSTER, ATLANTA
