Category — college

Hard to believe that lowering the drinking age is a priority issue for college presidents.  Wouldn’t their time be better spent addressing the crushing debt loads their students take on after attending their institutions?  But similar to arguments against stepped up enforcement in the illegal immigration debate, university presidents no longer enforce the laws and then claim they don’t work:

…MADD agrees that campus bingeing is a big problem and says the answer is to tighten alcohol policies, punish violators and go after adults who provide alcohol to kids.

But Mote and other presidents can point to long lists of enforcement, education and counseling efforts that are in place, with little real impact.

I think Madd is right.  In my experience, colleges make very little to no effort enforcing the drinking age.  Boot a couple of underage drinkers and I bet things change dramatically on campus.  But nobody in the ivory tower wants to risk tuition dollars, so they look the other way.  Take 2 doses of enforcement and call me in the morning.

MEFA is a quasi-state agency offering student loans at discounted rates.  Last week it announced that some 40,000+ students would have to seek funding elsewhere.  Credit market turbulence closed its traditional funding sources.  But never fear because Deval Patrick has a plan.

Obama Jr. proposes having the state pension fund and large university endowments, ahem Harvard, pick up some of the bonds.  Enter Tim Cahill.  Our chief money man says investing for social returns sets a bad precedent.  He correctly notes that pension fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to seek the best returns, not feel good returns.

But guess who Treasurer Tim thinks can pick up the $450 million dollar guarantee?  That’s right—it’s you and me.  The investment isn’t good enough for the state pension system, but nobody cares about the taxpayers, so it’s plenty good enough for us.  Now that Patrick has Cahill’s suggestion as top cover, probably the whole point behind this exercise anyway, our spendthrift governor is sure to push a bill through quickly.