Fundamentalist Liberty University Gets More Federal Money Than NPR

The government is funding religious fanaticism

WingnutsApril 2011 • Views: 24,973

The Republican Party is still pushing hard to defund National Public Radio, but last year the government gave more money to America’s craziest fundamentalist “college,” Liberty University — where the biology department teaches young earth creationism.

Liberty University, the evangelical private Christian school founded by dead apartheid-supporting bigot Jerry Falwell, received $445 million in federal financial aid last year. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, by the way, received $420 million from the federal government.

That massive sum was thanks to the growth of Liberty’s online program, which enrolled 52,000 students last year. The school is the No. 1 recipient of Pell grant money in the state of Virginia.

Nobody’s talking about defunding Liberty University, of course, even though it’s turning out indoctrinated politically active anti-science parrots by the thousands. Sometimes I think America is actually trying to sabotage itself.

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48 comments

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:14:59pm

Liberty is an accredited school?

Charles Johnson Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:17:06pm

re: #1 chan

Yes, it is. What a disgrace.

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:17:16pm

Is the school actually getting federal money directly, or are these tuition loans and grants that the students would be entitled to wherever they attended?

jamesfirecat Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:17:30pm

//Well how else can poor little Liberty hope to compete with those big budget Liberal schools with their computers and text-books?

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:18:15pm

re: #1 chan

Liberty is an accredited school?

Pell grants are only granted to students attending accredited schools, so yes, it must be.

APox Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:19:01pm

re: #5 Fozzie Bear

Pell grants are only granted to students attending accredited schools, so yes, it must be.

What's a Pell grant? ;)

Ohhhhhh that's what people used to have.

Slap Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:19:03pm

Somehow, I've never been too surprised that JF and his ~~puppy mill~~ college is located in a town named Lynchburg.

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:19:24pm

re: #3 SanFranciscoZionist

Is the school actually getting federal money directly, or are these tuition loans and grants that the students would be entitled to wherever they attended?

If the school is accredited, then students can apply for Pell grants, which are then paid directly to the school.

jaunte Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:19:29pm

Apparently even that money isn't really enough to keep the school running...

Liberty University, Jerry Falwell's academy in Lynchburg, Va., was between $20 million and $25 million in debt until this year. But when God called Jerry Falwell home last May, it turned out that he had a $34 million insurance policy. It was used to bail out his school.
[Link: www.time.com...]

blueraven Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:19:37pm

Pardon the OT so soon, but as we have been following since last night.

AP finally has all precincts in

740,090 Kloppenburg
739,886 Prosser

[Link: hosted.ap.org...]

Surely there will be a run-off, but great news!

Randall Gross Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:22:39pm

There was a ruling from the Supes yesterday that also limits the means of challenging government funding of private schools like liberty U.

[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:22:47pm

re: #8 Fozzie Bear

If the school is accredited, then students can apply for Pell grants, which are then paid directly to the school.

Sure, but that's money that the students would be entitled to apply for, and it goes to their tuition. Now, God knows, I think these students should be taking their Pell grants and going somewhere less ridiculous--or, perhaps Liberty shouldn't be accredited--but the money is going to the students for their tuition.

We had this argument a lot when Mill College was in the news. An all-women's college that takes federal funding! FEMINAZIS ON THE DOLE!!!

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:22:59pm

So all accredited (and apparently anyone can get accreditation) schools are federally funded?

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:23:53pm

re: #6 APox

What's a Pell grant? ;)

Ohhh that's what people used to have.

/

Well, we still have them, but more and more of them are going to craptastic online degree farms. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I don't believe it is possible to provide the same level of quality in education using blackboard and some web forums that you can with brick-and-mortal classrooms and teachers that can look their students in the eye.

Randall Gross Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:24:28pm

re: #13 chan

So all accredited (and apparently anyone can get accreditation) schools are federally funded?

Students going there can get government loans and grants to fund their fundamentalist education.

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:24:49pm

re: #12 SanFranciscoZionist

Sure, but that's money that the students would be entitled to apply for, and it goes to their tuition. Now, God knows, I think these students should be taking their Pell grants and going somewhere less ridiculous--or, perhaps Liberty shouldn't be accredited--but the money is going to the students for their tuition.

We had this argument a lot when Mill College was in the news. An all-women's college that takes federal funding! FEMINAZIS ON THE DOLE!!!

Friend of mine used to work the phones at Mills. She got a call one day from some guy with a pronounced Texas drawl. He demanded to know if Mills College--'which is an all-women's college'--got federal funding.

L. politely explained that the school itself does not receive federal funds, but students do.

Guy said, "Dang it. You just cost me a steak dinner, little lady," and got off the phone.

True story.

recusancy Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:25:48pm

I remember, during the Attorney Scandal hearings, under Bush it seemed like half the people testifying who worked for Gonzalez in the DOJ were Liberty University grads. It was a bit unnerving.

Slap Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:25:53pm

re: #14 Fozzie Bear

Well, we still have them, but more and more of them are going to craptastic online degree farms. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I don't believe it is possible to provide the same level of quality in education using blackboard and some web forums that you can with brick-and-mortal classrooms and teachers that can look their students in the eye.

Luddite!

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:26:01pm

re: #16 SanFranciscoZionist

HAHAHA sounds like the guy had a bet with someone.

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:26:10pm

re: #14 Fozzie Bear

I take a lot of online courses and go to a ridiculously bad school so maybe I should recuse myself here. On the bright side my GPA is phenomenal.

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:26:11pm

re: #13 chan

So all accredited (and apparently anyone can get accreditation) schools are federally funded?

Yes, or they can be. (I suppose it's possible that there is a very small college somewhere that has no students with federal loans or grants, but it seems highly unlikely there are two.)

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:26:59pm

re: #20 chan

I take a lot of online courses and go to a ridiculously bad school so maybe I should recuse myself here. On the bright side my GPA is phenomenal.

On the downside, the value of a high GPA decreases the easier it is to get a high GPA.

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:29:09pm

re: #17 recusancy

I remember, during the Attorney Scandal hearings, under Bush it seemed like half the people testifying who worked for Gonzalez in the DOJ were Liberty University grads. It was a bit unnerving.

I certainly don't have much faith in their law program, but I suspect that there are liberal colleges with similar sorts of problems. The difference is that Liberty is run by people with substantial influence.

SanFranciscoZionist Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:29:52pm

re: #20 chan

I take a lot of online courses and go to a ridiculously bad school so maybe I should recuse myself here. On the bright side my GPA is phenomenal.

I'm taking a counseling program online. It's fine, but it's designed for a working professional. I think as a substitute for an undergraduate experience it would not be so great.

Randall Gross Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:31:06pm

Digging a bit deeper:

In the span of a year, Liberty’s experienced about a 56 percent spike in federal student aid, from $284 million in 2008-2009 to $445 million in 2009-2010, according to Department of Education data compiled by The News & Advance. (LU calculates the total aid at $432 million and $277 million, still a 56 percent increase.)

The $445 million included $385.9 million in student loans. The rest came in the form of grants and other student aid like work-study.

Contributing to the rise were the faltering economy, the federal stimulus program and the government’s expansion of the Pell grant program, Ritz said. Last year, Liberty received upwards of $55 million in Pell money, ranking 28th in the nation and no. 1 in Virginia. The Pell program serves the country’s neediest students.

In some financial aid programs, Liberty was a top ten recipient nationwide.

For example, LU was the eighth highest recipient of Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) money last year, topping more than 4,000 other colleges and universities.

One of two major federal loan programs, FFEL allowed students to borrow government-backed money from banks and other lenders. Liberty was the lone Evangelical Christian school on a top-ten list dominated by for-profit institutions. Other top recipients were the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University.

Red state kids living high off the government... [Link: www2.newsadvance.com...]

Randall Gross Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:33:25pm

re: #20 chan

If you think you are getting shorted then check out MIT, Yale, Harvard, and Oxford who all have excellent course ware online that's free to audit.

[Link: www.academicearth.org...]

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:34:38pm

re: #24 SanFranciscoZionist

In my case it's cause I'm too lazy to drive to the school and, because my school is so bad, I'm too advanced for even the on-site classes. When I do complain about the academics I am made to feel like an ass. I had a Prof last term tell me "Don't worry, you'll probably get challenged in Grad school"

Kragar Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:35:27pm

Madrassas bad, Government funded Christian fundamentalism good

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:35:40pm

re: #26 Thanos

My problem is that I am smart and lazy so I am probably where I belong.

celticdragon Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:36:36pm

Nobody’s talking about defunding Liberty University, of course, even though it’s turning out indoctrinated anti-science parrots by the thousands. Sometimes I think America is actually trying to sabotage itself.

You just realized that??

I have asked around in my geology department if anybody can think of a modern example of a prosperous, advanced nation that has deliberately begun to sabotage its own education system.

Obdicut Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:38:45pm

Why the hell are they an accredited school?

recusancy Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:38:58pm

re: #30 celticdragon

You just realized that??

I have asked around in my geology department if anybody can think of a modern example of a prosperous, advanced nation that has deliberately begun to sabotage its own education system.

There seems to be a lot of geologists here. What's up with that?

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:39:51pm

re: #31 Obdicut

Why the hell are they an accredited school?

I'm just taking a stab in the dark here, but I think something might be fucked up with the accreditation process.

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:41:40pm

Maybe I should start a 'school' and get it accredited before someone closes the loophole.

celticdragon Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:44:46pm

re: #17 recusancy

I remember, during the Attorney Scandal hearings, under Bush it seemed like half the people testifying who worked for Gonzalez in the DOJ were Liberty University grads. It was a bit unnerving.

There was a reason for that. Many Christian Colleges take a highly disproportionate number of home schooled students who would be inadmissible in other institutions, and these colleges supply pages to Republican congressmen. This was extended to the Justice Department under Monica Goodling (herself a Liberty law School grad) when she began rooting out the civil rights dept attorneys and replacing them with Liberty law hacks. It will be years before we get rid of the blatantly political operatives who burrowed in under Bush for the express purpose of derailing anything that the next president would do.

Just weeks before leaving office, the Interior Department's top lawyer has shifted half a dozen key deputies -- including two former political appointees who have been involved in controversial environmental decisions -- into senior civil service posts.

The transfer of political appointees into permanent federal positions, called "burrowing" by career officials, creates federal sinecures for those employees, and at least initially will deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.

ElCapitanAmerica Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:45:29pm

Hey I'm for even increasing funding to NPR, I'm an avoid listener and get my money's worth for sure.

However, Pell grant money is kind of a very different thing no? The government is not setting aside a set of money for that school, it depends on students asking for their pell grants and using them in there. The school is accredited, so what's the big deal?

chandsolo Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:46:17pm

re: #36 ElCapitanAmerica

That it's accredited?

Fozzie Bear Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:46:21pm

re: #36 ElCapitanAmerica

Hey I'm for even increasing funding to NPR, I'm an avoid listener and get my money's worth for sure.

However, Pell grant money is kind of a very different thing no? The government is not setting aside a set of money for that school, it depends on students asking for their pell grants and using them in there. The school is accredited, so what's the big deal?

That this school, in particular, is accredited.

celticdragon Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:46:53pm

re: #32 recusancy

There seems to be a lot of geologists here. What's up with that?

We sort of accreted onto the site like an exotic terrane during an orogeny.

;)

ElCapitanAmerica Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:51:25pm

Do they have a medical school?
Are they accredited for chemical engineering?

If they're churning out degrees in Christian Fundamentalist Theology, that is the choice of the students and how they want to spend their grants.

As long as they are not accredited for degrees in physics while not having a real physics program, I don't think it's a big deal.

What are the majors they offer?

dragonfire1981 Wed, Apr 6, 2011 12:57:25pm

With as many YEC politicians as there are I don't think they needed to put much effort in to getting accredited.

ElCapitanAmerica Wed, Apr 6, 2011 1:16:42pm

Here is the list of program accreditation;
[Link: www.liberty.edu...]

Only troubling one from a certain perspective is Nursing, the rest not so much. Guys, they're not teaching astrophysics here.

Obdicut Wed, Apr 6, 2011 1:19:56pm

re: #42 ElCapitanAmerica

[Link: www.liberty.edu...]

They're teaching history.

That's problematic, because that involves the history of science. And the history of the secular United States of America.

Randall Gross Wed, Apr 6, 2011 1:24:34pm

re: #43 Obdicut

Hey, what's to worry about? They have great people teaching there, like Phill Kline, the ex-Kansas AG who leaked the patient info to O'Reilly for his Tiller the Baby killer segments....

////

ElCapitanAmerica Wed, Apr 6, 2011 1:29:22pm

re: #44 Thanos

Hey, what's to worry about? They have great people teaching there, like Phill Kline, the ex-Kansas AG who leaked the patient info to O'Reilly for his Tiller the Baby killer segments...

///

Hey Thanos (love the handle), it could be worse. They could have a professor accused of being the leader of Islamic Jihad in the US ... that's what happened to me! :-)

My professor for "Electronic Circuits/Circuit Design" was Al-Arian. The funny thing is that he was my professor way before the controversy, but all I really know is that he was a great professor. Was one of my favorite classes.

Oh well, sorry for the derail.

SidewaysQuark Wed, Apr 6, 2011 2:55:17pm

What a f**king disgrace.

That Liberty "University" receives a dime of taxpayer money is damn pathetic.

John Q Wed, Apr 6, 2011 4:16:26pm

A friend who doesn't have a phone applied for a Pell grant to attend a local college. As he doesn't have a phone, he gave my number just so he could fill in the blank, and also have a contact in case the Pell people needed to call.

I've been inundated with calls from "recruiters" (i.e high pressure salesmen) from these online "colleges" trying to get me to sign up. It's a real problem, the number of "colleges" whose only aim is to score bucks off the gov't, rather than be genuine institutions of learning, particularly when you realize how much of their income goes to marketing rather than to instruction.

ContinentalOp Thu, Apr 7, 2011 6:38:07am

52,000 online students. Someone is being scammed. Most likely the students who are going into debt.

Spy Mode Auto

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