My mother was a university professor. She, and her colleagues, went 10-20 years at a time without an increase in pay. VERY few college professors make the cushy life that everyone thinks they do. Those who earn a lot of money? They get it by writing textbooks, or creating computer programs, or consulting. They do NOT make it in university salaries. Even one of the TOP professors at her university in her field didn't get a raise for almost 20 years. He did get graduate assistants (grad students) to help with his research and teaching. He had to do one heck of a lot of fundraising for the college. He also wrote an excellent textbook on his field, and helped many businesses around the country with consulting. Consulting is where the $$$ is, not teaching. If he taught 2 or 3 classes, that was a HEAVY teaching load. Which meant less time for consulting. His wife was the top professor in her field in the country in MANY national rankings of schools and professors in her field. Her summer courses to help you get a professional certification were always PACKED with a long waiting list. I babysat for these 2 professor's kids for a summer. They did SOOOOOOOO much more than just teach. And did it without a raise for 20 years. That raise was 1-2% of their salary when it came.
Administration is where the money goes, and stays. Administrators are paid handsomely, at least at the top levels. Other levels? Not so much. In the business school, professors who were department heads or heads of graduate programs, got very little, if ANY, extra pay. It was just one of those things you had to endure - being dept head was "honorary" but without an honorarium (aka pay for your work). Another place all that money goes is the big, fancy sports facilities. Not being a sportsball fan, I think that is crazy. But I am not in the majority, so I guess others understand why it is done.
Student loans are an absolute blight on the community as a whole. It is just disgraceful how many administrators and banks use these loans as a cash cow they can milk until a student dies. And they often try to convince the surviving family to pay for the loans after the debt. One payment means that you owe the whole shebang. Of course that should not be legal, but they do it.
I was blessed enough to have grandparents who spoke strongly with my parents about their wish to fund my education as long as I wanted to be in school. I had zero debt. We had no debt from Hubby's grad school as my parents were willing to pay for 1 graduate degree between us. We got ZERO benefits from having my mother teach at the school we attended. NO professors got even a discount on tuition until the last academic year. It does NOT cover the horrendous amount of fees (more than tuition by a large amount), just tuition. Everyone in our state was upset that people were getting "a free education" because their parents got jobs at the university. Sadly, they have to pay income tax on that tuition break just as if they were handed cold, hard, cash. They have to pay those fees every semester. None of this covers the student health center. Or medical insurance.
It is all a big business, not a non-profit. And this is just wrong. Especially what the banks are doing with loans.