Why are universities opening campuses in Washington, DC? Bedause that’s where the money is

Someone asked the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. “Because that’s where the money is,” he replied.

If you ask elite universities why they’re opening campuses in Washington, DC, you’ll get a uniform answer: Because the money is there.

UCLA President Carol Folt described the new outpost as a “Trojan embassy”, as if the university was a nation unto itself. So many universities have campuses near Dupont Circle in Washington, that area has been described as “a kind of embassy row for non-local higher ed institutions”.

Why are so many universities setting up shop hundreds of miles from their major campuses? College leaders articulate all kinds of high-minded motivations. some told inside higher ed that their institutions are looking to “develop relationships with policy makers and establish or strengthen the basis for grant making to government offices.” Will help play a big role in shaping policy.

Another higher education spokesperson explained the presence of universities in DC this way: “It’s becoming more competitive to get federal funding given what’s going on in the political arena and what’s happening in the grant-giving world.” is, and these are large parts of the revenue streams of these campuses…. They believe that if they are put in only one place, they will have less of a voice.”

Or, as Willie Sutton would have said, the universities are in Washington, DC, because the money is there. Like crack addicts, American colleges are hooked on federal funding, and they want to be closer to their supplier. Or, to use another analogy, universities have become a bunch of hookers on Pennsylvania Avenue – hookers who will turn any trick for cash.

Colleges will say that their District of Columbia presence benefits students. In Washington, higher education leaders argue that ‘students can learn the art of politics, policy making and grant writing.

I disagree. Washington, like most American metropolises, is a dangerous place to live. Why would any student want to take out student loans to live in an expensive, crime-ridden city teeming with venal lobbyists, sociopathic politicians, and unelected bureaucrats who believe they have the power to tell Americans who live in flyover country? It is the divine right to decide how to live their life. ,

Furthermore, college education becomes more expensive with each passing year. Why should students pay for branch campuses in Washington, D.C., that exist primarily to feed the pathological hubris and grandstanding of college leaders?