For Rich Universities, Billions in Bailouts, says Nelson Partners CEO Patrick Nelson

Schools saw a 5% drop in enrollment—but got federal aid worth four times as much.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., May 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The government laid out more than $100 billion in aid to colleges and universities in the Covid lockdowns, even though schools were in great financial shape and suffered only a 5% drop in enrollment.

"The inflationary and market-warping effects of this spending binge will reverberate for years," Patrick Nelson writes in his new blog post. Nelson is CEO of Nelson Partners, which runs off-campus apartment buildings in 13 states.

When colleges and universities shut down their campuses to go all-online in the Covid crisis, they already had raised tuition almost 200% at public schools in the 15 years since Patrick Nelson formed his company, he writes.

"If any business had a financial foundation strong enough to weather Covid-19, the higher education business qualifies," Nelson states. He calls the amount of money handed to colleges and universities "mindboggling."

Universities and colleges take in $670 billion a year in tuition and fees. Their enrollment fell 5.1% in the pandemic, down almost one million students. This amounts to a reduction of $34 billion a year, Nelson says.

Yet they received upwards of $115 billion in federal aid for the lockdowns. "In the government's all-out spending binge to counter Covid, higher education made one of the biggest hauls of all," Nelson says in his new blog post. You can read more at nelsonpartners.com.

Why so much? "Sure, higher education is important for our future, blah blah—but, also, for 30 or 40 years, schools have been indoctrinating young students in liberalism, social activism, big government, and the evils of business and capitalism," Nelson writes.

The Democrats, he says, "are trying to buy them on a scale so massive you have to admire their moxie."

About Nelson Partners

Nelson Partners is a student housing builder located in San Clemente, CA. Nelson Partners manages 23 investor-owned buildings, worth $900M in 13 states.

Media Contact: Interdependence Public Relations
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SOURCE Nelson Partners