Boston University, in an effort to provide and maintain an experienced teaching staff, loaned more than $3 million in the last eight years to faculty members, according to university tax forms.
BU loaned faculty $3,804,581 between 2001 and 2009, according to BU’s 2007-08 990 tax form. The loans are not available through application, and BU uses them specifically to solicit faculty or encourage them to stay at with the university, BU spokesman Colin Riley said.
‘BU only provides to senior faculty and staff a very limited number of loans that are appropriate in the retaining and recruiting of outstanding faculty and staff,’ Riley said. ‘It’s a very common practice in higher education. The board of trustees approved and provided for [the loans].”
BU gave professors eight loans from 2007-08, ranging in amounts from $25,000 to $500,000, The Chronicle for Higher Education reported last week. Staff and university recruiters work out the terms of the loans, which are used by each recruitment officer’s discernment, Riley said.
Though students said they appreciate Boston University’s commitment to securing experienced faculty, few said they were aware that BU loans its staff money.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Miranda Marchese said these loans deter professors from having a genuine motivation for teaching.
‘Teachers at BU should teach because they want to, not because of extra perks and such,’ Marchese said.
Some students said they believe the loans are intellectual capital used to form diverse faculty and staff.’
‘It’s like an investment into the quality of learning at BU,’ Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences junior Farrah Belizaire said. ‘Tuition is pretty high so of course students want to make sure they’re getting the best. If it’s just like any other loan, it’s not free money and therefore it may not have a necessarily adverse effect on the school’s budget.’
CAS junior Nora Watson said she sees nothing wrong with the loans.
‘I guess mortgage loans seem like a pretty normal job perk for a university professor,’ she said. ‘Like a dental plan or employee pricing.’
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