Taking a class at Globe

So, because I'm a bit of a loon, I thought it might be interesting/instructive to try to take an online creative writing class at Globe University--our for-profit "competitor" school here in Eau Claire.  Who knows?  Maybe I'd get an essay out of it, or a novel chapter.  Turns out, a single, four-credit creative writing class costs $2000 (including about $160/worth of books, evidently).  That's, like, a new Stratocaster!  So, ain't gonna happen.  It might be fun, though, to go in and take the test to see if I can skip the prerequisite (I wonder how many people pass the test).  I asked if my prior professional writing experience counted, and they said no.

The funny part (okay, it's all funny) is that a 3-credit intro to creative writing course at UWEC would cost a little more than half that.  Taught by me!  Also, I looked up the guy that teaches their online CW classes.  I'm sure he's a great guy.  He's one of our alums!  From 2003!  He has a master's from UW-Madison in Linguistics, and hasn't actually published anything yet, as far as I can tell.  But his class costs $1000 more than mine!  And of course he gets paid a fraction of my salary, with no benefits.  I don't know that for a fact, but I assume he makes roughly what our adjuncts make.  And that, folks, is your for-profit higher education model at work.

Here's the dirty little secret about for-profit higher ed: without the federal student loan program, it wouldn't exist.  There's no business model without taxpayers ultimately being on the hook.  Can you say, "corporate welfare?"  Sure you can.     

Starred review from Booklist (subscription only, so no link):

Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof
Issue: June 1, 2012
Fire Season.
Loomis, Jon (Author)

Jul 2012. 304 p. Minotaur, hardcover, $24.99. (9780312668136).
A virtual crime wave in Provincetown, Massachusetts, starts with the slaughter of the seals kept at a
seaside restaurant. Then arson-induced fires escalate in size, and authorities don’t know whether to look
for thrill-seeking teens or a business owner after insurance. When the disembodied head of the local
nursing-home director—who just told acting police chief Frank Coffin he was kicking out his dementia afflicted, troublemaking mother—is found in the lobster tank of another restaurant, it’s almost enough to
make Coffin start smoking again, except that he’s trying to get more healthy for the sake of his pregnant
girlfriend, Jamie, and their unborn daughter. Through sleep deprivation and stress, the intuitive Coffin and his sidekick, Sergeant Lola Winters, persevere, continuing their lighthearted yet caring bantering. In
Loomis’ P-town, cross-dressing male tourists are called Tall Ships (after the annual festival), and the noise of reconstruction of the aging town hall causes the female town manager to move a high-powered meeting to the ladies’ room. The third in this series is fulfilling the promise of the earlier books (High Season, 2007, and Mating Season, 2009), with its sharp dialogue, keen sense of place, and a protagonist who’s reminiscent of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser but more of an everyman. Great entertainment.
— Michele Leber

It's always nice when they compare you to somebody really famous.