Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
The Sheer Magnitude of Higher Education Funding 3-17-25
Mon, 17 Mar 2025
In this episode, Scott Becker discusses the $1.2 billion in federal funding lost by Johns Hopkins and Columbia.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. Today's discussion is going to be around Johns Hopkins and Columbia losing a combined billion two in federal funding. And I'm not going to talk about whether it's right or wrong that they lost that funding. I don't have an opinion on that.
Chapter 2: Why did Johns Hopkins and Columbia lose federal funding?
I'm also not going to argue that research is critical, that Hopkins and Columbia are overall fantastic institutions. I mean, I'd always love them every day, but I don't argue that they're not great institutions. What I do find fascinating is when I see that these two institutions, and this is just two, can lose a billion to...
Chapter 3: What is the significance of accountability in federal funding?
It does lead me to believe that we need more accountability and transparency around where all of our federal monies are going. The thing that surprised me here which is the sheer magnitude of dollars that could be taken away from these institutions. And these are only two institutions. And again, that money is going all over the place.
Chapter 4: How do funding losses affect multiple institutions?
These institutions, it's not just going to cancer, which is not just going to what's needed. I have no idea where it's going, but I was blown away by the sheer number and how that must be extrapolated over multiple, multiple different institutions. Again, again, I'm not necessarily judging it as bad or good. I was just blown away by the magnitude of the numbers that we're spending in these areas.
Chapter 5: What was Jimmy Carter's concept of zero-based budgeting?
And then the hope is that some of it's going to great use. Now, again, I do not come out of the womb as a huge Jimmy Carter fan. Jimmy Carter, though, had this concept that he talked about as zero-based budgeting. And if there was one thing I loved about Jimmy Carter, and there are very few, notwithstanding his public image that he carefully developed.
So I'm not a big Jimmy Carter fan, but I love this concept of actually looking at things from a zero-based budgeting, what's needed, what's not needed, and all those kinds of things. Now, I'm not saying we can go back to square one on all of our university spending, but it strikes me as incredible. We've got this huge university education complex. We've got tuitions that have gone through the roof.
We don't have enough residency spots. We've got so many challenges with higher education. And at the same time, we are funding it at such insane dollars that I do think it's a time to take a closer look at Where is all that money going? Again, these are great institutions.
You know, somebody accused me in sort of an ad hominem attack around this thing of like, am I anti-research or anti-education? I'm the furthest thing from that. I'm a great beneficiary of our system. Went to University of Illinois, a great public institution that at one time got a lot of funding from the state, now doesn't.
They went to Harvard Law School, again, not to brag about it, I don't think anybody brags about that anymore, but got an incredible education, incredible network, incredible people. So I'm not against these elite universities at all. I'm a proponent, but I am a believer that we've got to understand where the money is going and how much of it is going.
I particularly have no guilt in asking these questions when we're running a $2 trillion deficit as a country. I'm not anti-child. I am pro-vaccine. I'm not pro-cancer. I want a lot of cancer research, but we do need some accountability of all those dollars. Thank you for listening to the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. Would love your thoughts and opinions.
Always feel free to text Scott Becker, 773-766-5322. If you want to attack me personally as anti or pro-cancer or anti-children, it's just ridiculous. Don't bother to text me if that's your plan, but please text me anytime with your comments and thoughts. Scott Becker, 773-766-5322. Thank you very, very much.
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