UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

[Darius]

I don't have Snives length of history but I went to high school in Durham. The change in the Campus is amazing. Sure there are some old buildings that may be less efficient and that is what happens after 132 years. After the McConnell, Horton and Babcock architectural disasters they have done a great job with making a beautiful campus as it has grown. They have also grown the campus in really interesting ways that are harder to see, so not loosing the charm, example getting under the railroad tracks back near Morse hall to expand out to Gregg hall and the Ocean Engineering Labs

As for "fiscally healthy" - that is a no. The problem is UNH is currently in an over capacity situation. The student population has been shrinking and there is now too much facilities and potentially too much staff. It is why they are actively looking to shutter some of the older buildings that are forecasted for renovation, they don't need to renovate the extra space at the moment. The budget situation isn't great because of the reduction in student population (this is not unique to UNH - it is a general 4 year school problem), it is likely to be a painful right sizing operation until the student population stabilizes and for some colleges/programs more painful than others.

Stoke

 

[Darius]

I'm talking about our property taxes which fund pretty much everything especially the school system/university system. Personally? I'd gladly pay a sales tax if it meant that the burden on the tax payer could be lessened. I'm sure most here would disagree but at least...you get the option to buy or not. And it's not only UNH...the state is enacting many things like the voucher system for schools regardless of income.

Being a former teacher of 41 years I do not agree with this at all. If you don't like public education, go elsewhere, but don't expect me to pay for it. If you don't think public schools are doing enough for your child, go elsewhere. Now I have to fund kids who don't like our schools in our town and want to go elsewhere. I don't want to get into a convo about the fairness of all of this and I do not agree that throwing money at a problem fixes it either...That doesn't mean public schools could do better; they most certainly can. (Don't get me started about parents. I'm soooo glad I"m out of it. The horror stories I hear...eeeek!!

Anyway, I know I don't have the chutzpah to debate some here who would disagree with what I said so this is my only comment on this issue.

ps I think it's kind of pathetic that the state of NH thinks it's a boon to public education by giving money earned from lottery tickets...but that doesn't stop
me from buying 'em! ha!

I'd prefer an income tax with a floor. Less burden on low income people. Never going to happen. We have further to descend, but at some point the interest and dividends tax will return with a floor. Interest & Dividends Tax

Many of my close proximity neighbors are/were public educators. A very smart technically savvy neighborhood young man is questioning his cyber crime major choice at a very solid college. He mentioned becoming a teacher. A fifty-ish life long public school educator strongly discouraged him.

Don't get me started on vouchers... fortunately with the NFL playoffs ending and the Beanpot in a few weeks I can direct the majority of my ever diminishing sports attention span to college hockey!!!

 

[Darius]

NH property tax is what I mention when people from other states tell me how fortunate I am to not pay state income or sales tax. My property tax bill is similar to or more than that of those owning significantly higher valued property other states. Increasing property taxes can become a problem for older people living on moderate fixed income.

 

[HockeyRef]

I'd prefer an income tax with a floor. Less burden on low income people. Never going to happen. We have further to descend, but at some point the interest and dividends tax will return with a floor. Interest & Dividends Tax

Many of my close proximity neighbors are/were public educators. A very smart technically savvy neighborhood young man is questioning his cyber crime major choice at a very solid college. He mentioned becoming a teacher. A fifty-ish life long public school educator strongly discouraged him.

Don't get me started on vouchers... fortunately with the NFL playoffs ending and the Beanpot in a few weeks I can direct the majority of my ever diminishing sports attention span to college hockey!!!

Who you got for the Beanpot? I went to the semis last year it was amazing!

 

[Jellsville USA]

19 games in and based on a lot of posts, one would think UNH hockey is sub .500. Here is the reality. UNH is 11-8. They are 6th in HE at 5-4 with 2 games in hand on 3 of the top 4 and own the tiebreaker with Maine. They are 5-3 vs top 20 teams. They are second in HE in PK and Blocked shots and first in face off %. They are young (only 8 upper classmen with meaningful playing time and only 1 on defense). They are getting better as the season progresses (6-1 in the last 7). They have had a chance to win all but 4 games (all 4 before Thanksgiving). They are sitting at 24 in NPI. Maine, UConn and Mich State will most likely continue to win to boost them. They are gritty and fun to watch. They are playing a defense first approach that is working. I foresee a 9-6 finish which would give them 20 wins and most likely top 4 in HE. A win at Home next Friday will be key. (Forever optimistic)!

 

[Potluck]

NH property tax is what I mention when people from other states tell me how fortunate I am to not pay state income or sales tax. My property tax bill is similar to or more than that of those owning significantly higher valued property other states. Increasing property taxes can become a problem for older people living on moderate fixed income.

NH is consistently among the 5 states with the lowest tax burdens in the Country. That says it all. Anyone in the state of New Hampshire that suggests they have an unfair tax burden in living under a rock. There's arguments in favor of lower taxes but over time without a doubt you get what you pay for. Without Massachusetts tourist money (Lake Winny, skiing, and Portsmouth) and Mass industry - pretty much everyone living withing 15 minutes of the NH border that lives in a decent house works in Massachusetts - NH literally wouldn't have a tax base that could even keep public schools open.

With that said, I'm a proud UNH alum that is angry at the way the taxpayers treat UNH.

 

[Chuck Murray]

UNH is suffering through declining enrollment, massive budget cuts and an admissions rate of 88%. That’s a failing institution being propped up by a legislature that requires it to stay open but not necessarily properly funded.

As pointed out on here by far wiser and more aware posters than yourself, declining college enrollment is an issue WAY bigger than just UNH, skippy. Wise up.

The reason you’re proud is you aspire to nothing and create nothing. That’s pure hillbilly. Nothing ever changes or improves when you’re around. Any changes and improvements are created by the imagination, hard work and investment of others. You contribute nothing. That’s the hillbilly deadbeat mentality. You personify it.

You know nothing about me, that much is abundantly clear. There are several folks who frequent this board who would laugh at your conclusions, because they know them to be insipid. Without going into laborious detail, I can assure you that (unlike yourself), I'm not a trust fund weenie who woke up on 3rd base and is convinced s/he hit a triple to get there. I come from a long line of blue collar folks who wanted me to do better, and luckily, we have. Bought our first house in NH at age 25, bought land in Effingwoods a decade later, built our current home from the ground up, and now we find ourselves somehow in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the state. I've participated in lots of community activities, the best of which is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that bears a name I gifted to it a decade ago, and under which I've been active for almost 20 years. A lot of this is very easily confirmable, and if I'm wrong, folks will call me on it.

Make all the jokes you want, skippy, but in the end, the last laugh is on you. Taxes "create" nothing, mostly they tend to enrich the collectors. See MN and MA

 

[Potluck]

As pointed out on here by far wiser and more aware posters than yourself, declining college enrollment is an issue WAY bigger than just UNH, skippy. Wise up.


You know nothing about me, that much is abundantly clear. There are several folks who frequent this board who would laugh at your conclusions, because they know them to be insipid. Without going into laborious detail, I can assure you that (unlike yourself), I'm not a trust fund weenie who woke up on 3rd base and is convinced s/he hit a triple to get there. I come from a long line of blue collar folks who wanted me to do better, and luckily, we have. Bought our first house in NH at age 25, bought land in Effingwoods a decade later, built our current home from the ground up, and now we find ourselves somehow in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the state. I've participated in lots of community activities, the best of which is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that bears a name I gifted to it a decade ago, and under which I've been active for almost 20 years. A lot of this is very easily confirmable, and if I'm wrong, folks will call me on it.

Make all the jokes you want, skippy, but in the end, the last laugh is on you. Taxes "create" nothing, mostly they tend to enrich the collectors. See MN and MA

taxes are the “price we pay for a civilized society” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.)

Pretty much says it all about your "way of life".

Buford, as you scratch your head, I'll let you know that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. is not on CNN.

 

[JB]

Stoke

Yup - Stoke too (somehow forgot that one ) ... basically every building finished on campus between 65-70 is an abomination

 

[HockeyRef]

Stoke

19 games in and based on a lot of posts, one would think UNH hockey is sub .500. Here is the reality. UNH is 11-8. They are 6th in HE at 5-4 with 2 games in hand on 3 of the top 4 and own the tiebreaker with Maine. They are 5-3 vs top 20 teams. They are second in HE in PK and Blocked shots and first in face off %. They are young (only 8 upper classmen with meaningful playing time and only 1 on defense). They are getting better as the season progresses (6-1 in the last 7). They have had a chance to win all but 4 games (all 4 before Thanksgiving). They are sitting at 24 in NPI. Maine, UConn and Mich State will most likely continue to win to boost them. They are gritty and fun to watch. They are playing a defense first approach that is working. I foresee a 9-6 finish which would give them 20 wins and most likely top 4 in HE. A win at Home next Friday will be key. (Forever optimistic)!

Appreciate this post! We certain will know alot more as they hit the gritty HE schedule. Would love to see them win at Agganis this year...been awhile and I wanna say its been since the 13/14 season.

 

[Chuck Murray]

taxes are the “price we pay for a civilized society” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.)

Pretty much says it all about your "way of life".

Buford, as you scratch your head, I'll let you know that Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. is not on CNN.

As usual, you're about as deep as a river of puppy pee. Let's see what AI has to say about OWH and his position on taxes in general:

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously stated, "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society". This quote implies a belief in the necessity of taxation for public services, but his record on the Supreme Court shows he was a proponent of judicial restraint, meaning he generally deferred to the legislature's power to enact laws, including economic regulations and implicitly, taxation schemes, rather than actively advocating for specific high tax rates or modern "entitlements" as a personal political platform.

Holmes came off SCOTUS when he retired at age 90 circa 1932, right at the inflection point of history when FDR (I'm sure a huge hero of yours) created Social Security, to be followed by the myriad of other entitlement programs that have followed. The federal income tax - which was briefly instituted during the Civil War years and then revoked after the war - has only been a fixture in the US since 1913. Sales taxes only arrived in 1921 in West Virginia and spread (after FDR) to roughly half the states by the late 1930's, so OWH really never saw or experienced the tax structure most of us have known for our entire adult lives. So to cite him, and something he said over 100 years ago, is misleading and just a mite disingenuous, I'd say. I'm no libertarian, but I do strongly believe NH has it right with its tax structure.

Try again, skippy ...

 

[Jellsville USA]

As usual, you're about as deep as a river of puppy pee. Let's see what AI has to say about OWH and his position on taxes in general:

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously stated, "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society". This quote implies a belief in the necessity of taxation for public services, but his record on the Supreme Court shows he was a proponent of judicial restraint, meaning he generally deferred to the legislature's power to enact laws, including economic regulations and implicitly, taxation schemes, rather than actively advocating for specific high tax rates or modern "entitlements" as a personal political platform.

Holmes came off SCOTUS when he retired at age 90 circa 1932, right at the inflection point of history when FDR (I'm sure a huge hero of yours) created Social Security, to be followed by the myriad of other entitlement programs that have followed. The federal income tax - which was briefly instituted during the Civil War years and then revoked after the war - has only been a fixture in the US since 1913. Sales taxes only arrived in 1921 in West Virginia and spread (after FDR) to roughly half the states by the late 1930's, so OWH really never saw or experienced the tax structure most of us have known for our entire adult lives. So to cite him, and something he said over 100 years ago, is misleading and just a mite disingenuous, I'd say. I'm no libertarian, but I do strongly believe NH has it right with its tax structure.

Try again, skippy ...

Boom! Chuck, you sound a bit like Matt Damon in Goodwill Hunting during the bar scene (compliment). "Hey Potstirrer, do you like apples?"

 

[Jellsville USA]

Appreciate this post! We certain will know alot more as they hit the gritty HE schedule. Would love to see them win at Agganis this year...been awhile and I wanna say its been since the 13/14 season.

The BU game is on Valentine's Day. My wife and I are going to do dinner in the North End and then head over to Agganis to watch UNH sweep BU in Boston

 

[bakchk20]

You left out highway and road safety. We'll probably return to mandatory vehicle safety inspections and associated revenue after failing brakes and/or tires result in a bad accident. Hopefully no one is seriously injured or killed but Live Free or Die. Pretty sure we are raising interstate toll rates soon though.

If you ever lived in a state that does not have vehicle inspections (FL, 3-yrs) you soon come to realize their value.

 

[HockeyRef]

The BU game is on Valentine's Day. My wife and I are going to do dinner in the North End and then head over to Agganis to watch UNH sweep BU in Boston

Always go to this game. Sometimes run into former players like Collin MacD. Once a bunch of kids and their dad's came up to me as I wear my Goumas jersey and they said he was their coach on Long Island. Regardless...it would be a pleasure to get a W there.. Sounds like a nice night out.