The Democratic Party's Big Education Slush Fund

The Democratic Party seems to have its hand in all sorts of taxpayer funded pies. The green energy boondoggle is the latest slush fund that is being exposed. But the big Slurpee is education.

We’ve all witnessed the hysteria by the teachers union when republican state legislators threw down the gauntlet on pension and health care funding. Democrats fled their states so as to prevent a quorum. So exactly how much money is involved in Big Education? Doug Ross Journal published a startling demographic:

And that was just for high school students. Carolina Journal focused their article on Big University Education in North Carolina:

University finances

Despite the economic downturn, university funding and spending grew in 2011.

• State and federal support for higher education in North Carolina rose 6 percent between academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11.

• Two of the 99 American institutions that charged more than $50,000 for tuition, fees, room, and board in 2010-11 are located in North Carolina: Wake Forest University ($50,980) and Duke University ($51,865).

• Wake Forest ranked 5th in the nation in licensing income (income from patents) in 2009 at $95,636,362.

• Average tuition and fees at public four-year institutions in North Carolina (2009-10) were $4,559. At private four-year institutions, average tuition and fees were $23,788.

• Duke has the largest endowment in the state: $4,823,572,000.
Academics

Several North Carolina universities were among the nation’s big spenders on scientific research. Not surprisingly, those schools also received considerable funding from federal grants.

• Four of the top 100 schools in total spending for science (2009) are located in North Carolina: Duke ($805 million), UNC-Chapel Hill ($646 million), North Carolina State University ($380 million), and Wake Forest ($201 million).

• Four of the top institutions in federal dollars for science (2009) are located in North Carolina: Duke ($438 million), UNC-Chapel Hill ($431 million), Wake Forest ($144 million), and N.C. State ($135 million).

• In fiscal years 2008 and 2009, UNC-Chapel Hill constructed the most new space for science and engineering research in the country: 355,000 square feet.

• Total spending on research and development by North Carolina universities was $2.16 million in 2010-11.


I wonder how many of those federal dollars were earmarked for global warming and climate sciences. And I wonder how much money democratic politicians received from the faculty of these bastions of higher education in the form of campaign donations.

Source: http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8293

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-five-reasons-to-abolish-department.html