'$225,000? That's obscene!': Hillary Clinton will collect massive speaking fee from Nevada university as students grapple with tuition hikes
- Former secretary of state has come under fire for claiming she is 'not truly well off' despite a massive net worth
- She typically collects $200,000 per speech
- Clinton will keynote a University of Nevada, Las Vegas fundraising gala in October
- The university just instituted a 4 per cent increase on tuition for each of the next four years, and has nearly tripled tuition in the last decade
- Sponsorships at the October gala will cost as much as $20,000
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will collect a $225,000 speaking fee from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in October, it emerged on Tuesday.
The massive expense was confirmed just weeks after the university formalized a 4 per cent tuition increase for each of the next four years. Rate hikes have nearly tripled tuition costs there since 2004.
Clinton will deliver the keynote address at an invitation-only gala for philanthropists and other high-dollar donors who support UNLV. The university said private funds are being tapped to pay her speaking fee.
But students see a zero-sum financial gain in which that money could have chipped away at tuition increases.
Cashing in: Former Secretary of State and first lady Hillary Clinton is promoting her memoirs in a nationwide book tour, but will drop by Sin City in October for a $225,000 payday
'Not really well off': Following a blistering 2012 presidential campaign in which Democrats pilloried Republican Mitt Romney for being super-wealthy and out of touch, Clinton risks falling into that category
'$225,000? That's obscene!' UNLV student Jordan Mason told MailOnline. 'And the money is all fungible, right? Even if some CEO is writing the check, that's money that the person probably would have given to the university in some other way.'
'I like Hillary,' Mason added, 'but if she's not willing to support us without all that money changing hands, maybe they should book someone else who won't add to the reasons we're paying more for school.'
Elias Benjelloun, UNLV’s undergraduate student body president, told the Las Vegas Sun this month that the school's trustees were trying to improve its offerings 'on the backs of students.'
Clinton has attracted eye-rolls and guffaws from Republicans, Democrats and TV anchors alike for her recent claims that she and her husband Bill Clinton are 'not truly well off' and were 'dead broke' hen they left the White House in 2001.
She told the Guardian on Saturday that Americans won't hold her big paydays against her because she and bill pay 'ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off – not to name names.'
'And we've done it through dint of hard work.'
The UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees is paying Clinton's $225,000 speaking fee to the Harry Walker Agency, which books her public appearances, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The event was confirmed on behalf of the Bill, Hillary, & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, but a UNLV spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the money will not go to the Clintons' family philanthropy.
The $200 per plate dinner will include some attendees paying as much as $20,000 for special sponsorships that include a private photo session with Hillary Clinton.
The UNLV Foundation, which will collect the money, took in $49 million in its last fiscal year and ended up with $228 million in assets, according to tax records.
Seems like only yesterday: Hillary Clinton's last high-profile visit to UNLV was in November 2007 at a CNN-hosted Democratic presidential primary debate against future President Barack Obama and a slate of other also-rans
High roller? The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is just blocks away from Sin City's famous casino district (background), but it's doubtful Hillary Clinton will cash in her $225,000 check for poker chips
Tim Miller, executive director of the conservative America Rising political action committee, said on Sunday that that 'if Hillary is going to run for President she might be advised to take a lengthy sabbatical from her $200k per pop speaking tour and private shopping sprees at Bergdorfs to try and reconnect with what’s happening back here on Earth.'
The Clintons own stately homes in Washington, D.C. and upstate New York, along with a pricey apartment in New York City.
According to 24/7 Wall Street, they are the wealthiest living former first couple.
Democrats, especially those likely to be loyal to Vice President Joe Biden in the 2016 presidential race, are now joining with Republicans in bashing the former first lady for being financially tone deaf in a bad economy.
'I don't know whether it’s just that she’s been "Madam Secretary" for so long, but she’s generating an imperial image,' former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian told The Washington Post on Sunday.
'She’s been living 30, going on 40 years with somebody bringing your coffee to you every morning. Is it more Downton Abbey than it is America?'
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