College tuition is more expensive than ever. However, new research has uncovered where much of that money is really going.
Many families are taking a hard look at college to figure out whether it's worth the high cost. They may not be happy after they read a recent Heritage Foundation report, which finds a large amount of tuition dollars are going towards diversity programs. Dozens of professionals are hired to promote DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Heritage Foundation's Jay P. Greene found some public universities nationwide have DEI-dedicated staff that's way out of proportion to basic education programs.
“There are more than four times as many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff as there are staff for students with disabilities. There are almost twice as many Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion staff as there are history professors,” Greene said.
The study finds some of universities with the highest diversity-related staff include Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, Georgia Tech, and UVA. The problem, Greene says, is that hiring more DEI-dedicated staff doesn’t lead to higher student satisfaction.
“Building larger staff is not achieving the goal of being welcoming to diverse students,” he explained. “What it is doing is agitating for a very particular political agenda, and then forcing that agenda on students and faculty.”
Green urges state legislatures and donors to look carefully at DEI programs, to see if their university’s resources are being used effectively.