The high cost of college; feeding people in skid row; LAPD officers taken in by an investment scam

The cost of college

Re “Feeding the college beast,” Opinion, Sept. 12

Thank you, Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, for the eye-opening article on the wasteful spending that occurs at college campuses. Very interesting.

Ah, the life of a college student: feast on “sun-dried tomato pizzas, African couscous, tandoori chicken and orange-ginger tofu steak.”

But is such a grand diet essential for one to obtain a college education?

Of course not, unless you happen to be someone with the entitlement mentality.

David Tulanian

Los Angeles

The authors mash up several points, winding up with misleading conclusions.

For one thing, it is misleading to say about my own institution that “Williams College charges $41,434,” since about two-thirds of the students are on scholarship.

So it is not the case here that, for most students, the school charges “3.2 times what it did 30 years ago.” In fact, for many students — those from the poorest families — tuition is free.

And, thanks largely to alumni who value their experiences, the admission process for American students is independent of whether they apply for scholarships.

Further, professors on leave are replaced by full-time visiting professors, not by adjuncts. We have a senior visiting professor of astronomy this year, contrary to the statement about salaries that “the little that’s left is parceled out among junior professors and underpaid adjuncts.”

For the future, I am more worried that people in academic professions are underpaid and underappreciated, leading too few of our best graduates to choose the long, difficult paths that lead to professorships.

Jay Pasachoff

Pasadena

The writer, a Williams College professor, is a visiting scientist at Caltech.

Hacker and Dreifus confuse cause and effect, and so miss the point.

Universities are part of a very competitive market in which the student has a huge range of choices. Tuition has been rising because administrators have found that higher prices do not reduce the number of applications. So the real question is why are students and parents willing to pay more and more?

A major part of the answer is that a diploma from a top college is the most dependable ticket to a spot in the upper class. Incomes have risen for the upper class over the last 30 years, while they have remained stagnant for others. Students may learn only a bit more than they did 30 years ago, but the education is more valuable because of the steady increases in incomes.

Joe Devinny

Long Beach

The authors make a strong argument against the questionable ways in which colleges and universities are spending their revenues. However, while there is certainly much to be said about the amount of money being devoted to administrative salaries, Hacker and Dreifus fail to realize that education is just one aspect of the college experience.

The writers seem to criticize schools for equipping dormitories with electronic capabilities and for having cafeterias that boast several good food options.

As a college student, I appreciate my education. But my college experience is so much more than that.

Campus life, which includes the quality of housing and food options as well as the quality of the athletics department, is just as important to me as the process of earning a diploma.

If you think all school money should be funneled to education, you are out of touch with what it means to be a college student.

Taylor Bird

Dove Canyon, Calif.

Elite colleges can gouge because nobody measures their “outcomes,” or eventual income benefits. Education has been an unchallenged social good for decades.

The real issue is what do you get for the money? Colleges don’t calibrate outcomes. Education resembles healthcare of a few decades ago, when its cost/benefit profile was never questioned, let alone measured.

Julian Moravia

New York

I enjoyed the opinion piece, but then thought it sounded familiar. The city of Bell quickly came to mind. Wasn’t that the same excuse it used for paying exorbitant salaries to its public officials (“such large stipends are needed to get top talent”)?

Our public corporations sing the same song so they can pay their CEOs equally exorbitant salaries — hundreds of times what is paid the average worker, and far in excess of what is paid in most of the industrial West and Japan. Those salaries come right out of the pocket of their shareholders.

And let’s not forget Wall Street; as Gordon Gekko put it, greed is good.

James Harley

Redondo Beach

True to her school

Re “School of her dreams,” Opinion, Sept. 13

As a teenager with parents who left me on my own when checking out colleges, I can appreciate a mom like Mona Gable.

Yes, maybe it would’ve been more meaningful if your daughter had decided to attend your alma mater, but thank you for helping her find where she wanted to be.

No one can blame parents for wanting the best for their child, but knowing parents trust us is a wonderful thing.

Kathi Perrella

Northridge

Feeding the homeless

Re “Not all welcome skid row charity,” Sept. 12

Perhaps L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry is right in calling for — because of waste and hygienic concerns — more regulation of private charities that feed homeless people on the street.

And yes, the people living on the streets of skid row should be encouraged to go into shelters and take advantage of established charitable organizations.

But I was struck by the insensitivity of the L.A. Police Department officer serving the area, who was quoted as saying, “When you continue to feed the homeless in the street, they stay in the street.”

So where does he expect them to go? To their beachfront homes in Malibu?

The local missions presumably work to find shelters for the homeless, but they also provide food for them while they are still living on the streets.

Fred Dean

Los Angeles

For decades, the Los Angeles Catholic Worker has operated a soup kitchen in the skid row area.

We serve thousands of meals a week. At the end of the month, when meager welfare and Social Security money dries up, that number can rise dramatically.

Unlike the officer and his brethren who spend their time arresting rather than feeding the homeless, we find the efforts of those who serve food on the streets of skid row to be laudatory, as well as essential to our budget and sanity.

Jeff Dietrich

Los Angeles

Police are people too

Re “A scam takes cops for a ride,” Sept. 14

One could ask how these LAPD officers could be taken in by a scam in which they lost so much money. After all, they’re police officers; they should know better.

Actually, the answer is quite simple; it’s a scheme that’s been perpetrated over and over by the likes of this man from the Triumph Church of God. Simply put, the con artist proclaims: “Trust me, because I’m a Christian.” There is a long list of those of the cloth misleading those of the flock for personal or political gain.

Sadly, those who fall prey to this kind of treachery can come from all walks of life.

Larry Tamblyn

Palmdale

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read on the front page of The Times about bright people like detectives giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, without much information, to some man they didn’t know who would invest it for a return of 20% or 30%. And this at a time when most of us were earning 2% or 3%.

There is really no free lunch in this world — even I know that.

Barbara Hardesty

Los Angeles

He really was a character

Re “Harold Gould, 1923-2010: Veteran actor appeared in ‘The Sting,’ ” Obituary, Sept. 14

I am saddened to hear of Harold Gould’s passing.

One role not mentioned in your obituary was his ongoing portrayal of Honore Vashon in the “ Hawaii Five-0” series. Until “The Sting,” I thought of him as a not-so-nice character, that’s how well he played the part.

A great and talented actor who will indeed be missed.

Jon Schmid

La Mirada