Why are we funding Harvard?

Harvard's endowment grows faster than its annual tuition costs every year. It literally has enough money to cover the tuition for every student, forever, without any financial assistance from taxpayers. So why are we taking tax dollars away from the 99 percent of Americans who never went to an Ivy League college and giving it to the incubation chamber of tomorrow's trust fund tycoons?

Written and starring Andrew Heaton.

[YourFunkiness]

If the government funds a Harvard study, and it turns out the scientists in the study committed massive academic fraud and falsified their study, do we as the taxpayer get a refund?

[KevinTumlinson]

I'm adding "Contributed millions to Harvard endowment" to my resume.

[NMiller_]

Follow up question: if the US Government assists in paying for research, why can the product that research be monopolized by private interests?

[SimplestUsername]

Side note, if we're going to pay colleges research grant money, the findings should be *FULLY accessible to the public* and not restricted to students and staff.

[ericew]

5 years ago at a state school would charge 54% overhead in theory to cover things like phones and networks but also charge for every phone or network drop they turned on for the unit per month and there was no discount for having already paid the indirect costs. They literally have consulting groups come in to work on how to plump the indirect funds as well as redesigning their tuition and fees such that those fees can be covered by more federal loans. It's an insidious business and we need to pull the plug already ( in terms of tax support ).

[nonyadamnbusiness]

Very simple solution. Stop giving any tax money to universities.

[DouglasFilmsLtd]

I searched, "What if John Oliver was actually funny, " and landed here.

[DrProgNerd]

Remember: this is money that does not exist - since we are technically bankrupt. This is money that needs to be 'printed'. Yaaaay government.

[amandaarmstrong]

Andrew Heaton is the best -- bring back Mostly Weekly!

[-cheshire-cat]

Community College here, we bought a yacht. What? We need it for big foot research.

[burkean]

So we are going to fund universities that don't make profits, and revoke funding if they do.
I wonder if there may unintended consequences in the incentive structure.

[RobbieK]

Always wonderful to see the great Andrew Heaton on ReasonTV.

[matthewsgeoffmh]

I don't know if community colleges would actually use the money any wiser.

[CharlesVaughn-bmgq]

Why would I have to give any money to a private university.

[jlee]

“Overhead” should cover things like water and electricity bills. Any funding for student government, indigenous people celebration, and fountains should be denied.

[JasonJrake]

In unrelated news, it’s against the NAP to not create a sequel to the series that includes “Libertarian Star Trek, ” and “Libertarian G.O.T.”

Your comedy skits are highly underrated.

[carltonbauheimer]

Excellent. More videos like this, please.

[justingolden]

Agree. We shouldn't be spending tax payer money on any of this crap, but ESPECIALLY endowments for ivy leagues from the pockets of average Americans, and even if you understand why people like research and think the US gov has incentives to fund said research (which it does) then at least cut the worst of the worst spending.

[Sashowindfeather]

This has been my opinion for ages. And lets start putting the universities on the hook for these student loans. You want to get money for it, you should make sure the students graduate and if they don't get a job in X time after graduation that is enough to pay the loan off, the school covers it.

[lifeunderthemic]

Modern day failed caste system!!! I love you bromandude.
Thats been my motto for the last 100+posts. Good to see someone else understand this modern day failure.