Colleges Get Funding
Higher education is an expensive venture. In the United States Congress, we know that colleges and universities are a necessary tool to protect the wealth and power of the nation’s elite. Federal funding is an important part of making higher education possible, but how can we make sure that tax dollars are only being spent to help the people who already have the means to help themselves? The answer is simple: lobbyists.
Like votes for laws, votes on the allocation of Federal funding are available through lobbying firms. In 2009 colleges and universities spent just over $100 million on lobbying Congress. The colleges that could afford to spend more on lobbying got more of the billions of dollars in federal funding. That means more money was spent on grants for prestigious research teams than on helping poor minority kids get a real education.
And that’s what higher education in the United States is all about.
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Posted: March 21st, 2010 under Congress.