Why Stem get so much money?(8 important facts)

The stem is considered one of the most expensive branches to study. But the majority don’t know why stem gets so much money. So, we will discover together the reason why stem requires more money. Also, a blowing-mind numbers about how really stem it cost.

Why stem get so much money?

Stem studies are hugely different from other majors. Stem requires more money to deliver its content. For instance, explaining a science lesson could cost $100 or more. Because of the employment of expensive substances and materials.

We will list 7 principal reasons why stem gets so much money:

  • labs
  • equipment
  • safety
  • expert employees
  • Research and devlopement
  • Energy Use
  • Technology and communications
  • Low effectif in education

While other branches like humanity or arts couldn’t reach this level. Simply, because they don’t have to use many instruments.

Labs

Talking about labs in stem classes is something obvious and normal. But no want know how much these labs are costing compared to other facilities. The biggest cost of these labs is personal and real estate.

Ensuring a laboratory space for school or university costs a respectful space and qualified employees to manage this site.

The cost to equip a normal office may vary between $2.5 to $3 dollars per square foot. On the opposite, in laboratory spaces is 10 times more. As a result, $25 to $30 per square could cost for these kinds of buildings.

Moreover, labs require specialized systems which need periodic maintenance and management. So it takes additional resources.

The facility management in laboratories has a pretty solid wage. The average salary is around $100,000. So, making sure that the infrastructure is maintained around the clock is necessary for labs.

laboratories demand a big budget to maintain. So there is a lot of financial responsibility.

Equipment

Buying new equipment and fixing broken ones requires respectful resources. This is why stem gets so much money. There is a lot of repetitive experience, lab materials are supporting. So, wasting materials is inevitable.

Laboratories use a lot of chemical substances to clean and Sanitaire environments. In addition, there are many expensive experiments.

For instance, using a few liters of organic solvents can end up costing $700 to $800. So, if we have some intense school experiences. Thus, our physical experiment would not be cheap. So the expenses are high.

There is some expensive material that could cost thousands of dollars like homogenizers, Transmission electron microscopes, Molecular beam epitaxy, and so on. So there is a lot of modular equipment that could require high prices depending on the magnitude.

Safety

The safety part is one of the most restricted elements where stem gets a lot of money or funding. The regulations are numerous and change from time time. All students learn under high safety conditions.

So, there is no way to violate safety rules it could lead to thousands of dollars.

In the majority of cases. Frequently, we find an employee who is spending a significant portion of his time taking a safety responsibility. Otherwise, some schools or universities could have an environmental health and safety consultant.

The safety and environmental consultant have a respectful salary. They could reach $100,000 a year.

So it is not cheap to spend $50 per hour around the clock to ensure safety for stem classes.

The safety consultant performs a lot of activities in terms of student or worker safety. It organizes training, evaluations, and prevention of an accident risk. His role is hugely primordial.

Expert empolyees

Stem domain requires qualified employees who know well in their domains. There are so many occupations in this area. To ensure high-quality services stem employees work together and interchange information.

Stem schools or universities get a lot of money. Simply because they have to hire a lot of experts to manage different tasks.

There are professors, student managers, consultants, directors, lab managers, researchers. So, the list is long.

In addition, the stem salaries jobs in education area are regularly high compared to other sectors. It could be that professor stem salaries are regularly similar to humanities or social science majors.

But mathematics professors have a plus a little bit. public mathematic teachers have the highest earnings. It exceeds 3% of other subjects which is not a big difference. But an accountable portion.

So, mathematic professors could reach $100,000 per year which is an important cost for schools.

Also, managers’ salaries consume an important percentage of the budget. So the average facilities manager could earn to up $100,000 per year. In addition, labs need special equipment managers whose salaries could atteint $70,000 per year.

Research and devlopement

The basic cost of stem research could vary between $5000 to $50,000. It depends on the research size and complexity. Also, the people involved, and other secondary factors.

According to Forbes, The US universities spend more than $1 billion in research and development. While stem educations have an annual range of $2.8 to 3.4$ billion per year which is crucial.

Stem major offers grants to expand its resources and ensure a good quality of education. Also, lead professional educators and prepare them for upcoming challenges.

Currently, the United States has an estimation of 90 selective public high schools. In addition a lot of private high stem schools.

Energy Use

In stem environments like labs or workshops, energy consumption takes real considerations. So the energy average that could consume a laboratory could vary between $5 to 10$ per square foot, according to the national renewable energy laboratory.

The aeration installation is a big consumer of electrical energy. Due to the excessive experiences and gas emissions, It is necessary to ensure that air is moving constantly around the building.

In this kind of environment, the air is changing 3 times fast than in a normal house. Thereby we need a powerful air installation.

In a biology field using ultralow freezers is critical. In other to store samples below -40°C. They are suitable for storage and clinical samples. Consequently, the average price of electricity is 11 cents per kWh in the United States. So, to only run one of these freezers we need to spend $480 dollar per year.

Moreover, scientists work long hours than average employees. Also, in cold times the heating systems absorb a lot of power way more than freezing.

Technology and communications

To transmit information via the internet you need good quality. So the speed transfer is the core of the problem. In a stem environments, they use high-speed connections through different protocols.

For instance, to ensure high-speed interchanging data. in most cases, they use a wired connection.

This operation requires installing IT platforms and having consistent It maintenance. In some cases, the information could have the highest degree of secrecy.

To install an information system, it takes a respectful budget. The cost could reach up to $100,000 depending on the devices and desired features. Also, spending more to secure the shared data.

Consequently, scientific information can be the most valuable intellectual asset. Many, stem organizations solidify their network by spending thousands of dollars. In order to maintain their sensible information against hacking attacks.

The security network become a big deal our days. More than 800,000 cyberattacks happen every year. So the number is increasing with time. As a result, network security has become one of the most important factors to consider.

Low effectif in education

Studying stem is different for economics. The number of students in sections plays an important role to increase stem school expenses.

According to Marketwatch, the average instructional cost for a mechanical engineer is $372 while $218 for economics. The reason is, in economics sections, the student number reaches up to 112 while 79 in engineering.

It is obvious, the complexity of the subject increase prices. Economics students don’t have to go to laboratories and consume expensive disposals and equipment. In the opposite of what engineers do.

Electrical engineering is one of the most expensive instructional costs. it lead by $434 per student followed by nursing then mechanical engineering, by $372.

So, it is obvious that stem subjects that base on experimentation require more financial resources.

Conclusion

The US federal government spends yearly $3 billion dollars on STEM education which is a big budget compared to other majors. It is 100 times more than history and arts majors take into consideration.

Also, having a stem degree will not be cheap. The degree costs in most STEM fields are between $65,000 and $80,000. But it is rewarding. Stem jobs are the highest-paid occupations in the world.

So the 8 reasons that we talked about help daily to improve the quality of education and build technologies that humanity could not expect at all.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.