Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Aster]

They have the most interesting wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College

[secundem_artem]

They have the most interesting wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College

Their school colors are apparently Purple, Blue, Red, Maroon & White.  Not sure I've ever seen a school with 5 colors.

[marshwiggle]

They have the most interesting wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampshire_College

Their school colors are apparently Purple, Blue, Red, Maroon & White.  Not sure I've ever seen a school with 5 colors.

Maybe that's in line with their curriculum; students can choose the colours they prefer, rather than being restricted to a couple of prescribed ones.

[mamselle]

Those 5 colors represent the 5 schools that contributed to the founding of the college.

Hampshire might be the successor to Antioch of Ohio....

M.

[nonntt]

University of North Dakota -- "My University Is Dying":

https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190925-my-university-is-dying?key=mi0Bff1vaLHL09_no2EmgwlkeISLqFEXU6hHBR5Xg-oUISdXGi9vqV1vTblBhhP3d0JvbzRaUFdpT19uVkhZOVlKTEItQjIyRFcwUFZkak5MelVKa3YwNHdoZw

This is a Twitter link to the Chronicle Review. Not paywalled for now.

"No one from my college, which is the largest at UND, a flagship state school, went up for tenure last year, because there was no one left who was eligible to apply."

I've talked to insiders at Montana and North Dakota. Montana lost enrollment due to scandal and bad press, and the students went to MSU instead, as one poster already mentioned. (I once asked a colleague at MSU what the secret to their success was, as they had raised enrollments 50% in their humanities program. They gushed about the dedicated teaching in their department. Later I discovered that MSU's overall enrollment had risen by 50% thanks to the woes of the U of M, solving that mystery.)

As for UND, the article gives a very accurate description of what things have been like there for the last 5-6 years. Lots of bread and butter programs cut down to the bone and then some, with severe impacts on program quality that administrators refuse to see. Just recently things have improved a tick, though, since they pawned off their hapless president on the U of Colorado, and there was even a pay bump for the first time since the early 2010's.

[lightning]

University of North Dakota -- "My University Is Dying":

https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190925-my-university-is-dying?key=mi0Bff1vaLHL09_no2EmgwlkeISLqFEXU6hHBR5Xg-oUISdXGi9vqV1vTblBhhP3d0JvbzRaUFdpT19uVkhZOVlKTEItQjIyRFcwUFZkak5MelVKa3YwNHdoZw

This is a Twitter link to the Chronicle Review. Not paywalled for now.

"No one from my college, which is the largest at UND, a flagship state school, went up for tenure last year, because there was no one left who was eligible to apply."

I've talked to insiders at Montana and North Dakota. Montana lost enrollment due to scandal and bad press, and the students went to MSU instead, as one poster already mentioned. (I once asked a colleague at MSU what the secret to their success was, as they had raised enrollments 50% in their humanities program. They gushed about the dedicated teaching in their department. Later I discovered that MSU's overall enrollment had risen by 50% thanks to the woes of the U of M, solving that mystery.)

<SNIP>

Oh, for Pete's sake. Give some credit to MSU!

[picard]

Meanwhile at Elizabethtown College, a group of students and alumni are planning a protest against the administration's reorganization plans, which calls for the elimination of several liberal arts majors and strengthening its STEM-related ones:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/e-town-college-students-alumni-to-protest-liberal-arts-cuts/article_d1391884-f1e4-11e9-89f5-f7f7e983417c.html

[picard]

University of Central Arkansas is offering retirement buyout for up to 178 faculty and staff members, as part of a restructuring plan in the face of expected decrease in new enrollment:

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/oct/12/early-retirement-part-of-uca-plan-20191/

[polly_mer]

Meanwhile at Elizabethtown College, a group of students and alumni are planning a protest against the administration's reorganization plans, which calls for the elimination of several liberal arts majors and strengthening its STEM-related ones:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/e-town-college-students-alumni-to-protest-liberal-arts-cuts/article_d1391884-f1e4-11e9-89f5-f7f7e983417c.html

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/elizabethtown-college-cutting-staff-theater-and-philosophy-programs-to-combat/article_8bd13c38-913e-11e9-80d5-c7bc0564da47.html  indicates

In those programs are 22 students, all of whom will be able to complete their programs
...
As of May 21 — when the email was sent — the college received 379 deposits from first-time, first-year students, Strikwerda said. The 2020 preliminary operating budget "was built and approved for an entering class of 420," he said.
...
Theater productions in 2019-20 will go on as planned, and Elizabethtown says it will engage "outside support" for future shows.

In a move toward more in-demand offerings, the college is promoting its new physician assistant master's program as well as new majors in marketing, finance, financial economics, data science and criminal justice.

For those who, like me had never heard of this college, the current undergrad enrollment is about 1600 (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/elizabethtown-college-3262) so a 420 entering class isn't absurd.  "Every full-time student at Elizabethtown College is expected to live in a college-owned residential facility, but students can qualify for an exemption if they are classified as commuters." (ibid).  99% of undergrads at Elizabethtown College are full-time (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?212197-Elizabethtown-College).

Elizabethtown College has a religious affiliation with Church of Brethren about whom Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits.  Relevant to our continuing discussion is having only 120k members in the US (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Brethren).  The loss of peace studies resonates with alumni and friends due to the religious emphasis on pacifism.

According to College ScoreCard, the most popular academic programs for recent graduates include:

Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services (16%)
Health Professions and Related Programs (14%)
Engineering (10%)
Biological and Biomedical Sciences (10%)
Social Sciences (9%)

The Carnegie Classification for Undergraduate Instructional Program is: Balanced arts & sciences/professions, some graduate coexistence .

Thus, it looks to me like the time to be concerned about losing the liberal arts at E-town was years ago, not this summer.

[Hibush]

Elizabethtown College has a religious affiliation with Church of Brethren about whom Wikipedia has some interesting tidbits.  Relevant to our continuing discussion is having only 120k members in the US (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Brethren).  The loss of peace studies resonates with alumni and friends due to the religious emphasis on pacifism.

Thus, it looks to me like the time to be concerned about losing the liberal arts at E-town was years ago, not this summer.

We could use more peace studies programs now, not fewer.

Of the "peace denominations," the Quakers probably have the easiest time attracting outsiders to a college based on the doctrinal values. The others, Brethren and Mennonite, can be too austere. I hope the peace-studies programs at Quaker-affiliated schools continue to thrive.

Despite only having 120,000 members, the Brethren have six colleges. That's a big commitment.

[picard]

Meanwhile at Elizabethtown College, a group of students and alumni are planning a protest against the administration's reorganization plans, which calls for the elimination of several liberal arts majors and strengthening its STEM-related ones:

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/e-town-college-students-alumni-to-protest-liberal-arts-cuts/article_d1391884-f1e4-11e9-89f5-f7f7e983417c.html

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/elizabethtown-college-cutting-staff-theater-and-philosophy-programs-to-combat/article_8bd13c38-913e-11e9-80d5-c7bc0564da47.html  indicates

For those who, like me had never heard of this college, the current undergrad enrollment is about 1600 (https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/elizabethtown-college-3262) so a 420 entering class isn't absurd.  "Every full-time student at Elizabethtown College is expected to live in a college-owned residential facility, but students can qualify for an exemption if they are classified as commuters." (ibid).  99% of undergrads at Elizabethtown College are full-time (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?212197-Elizabethtown-College).

Thus, it looks to me like the time to be concerned about losing the liberal arts at E-town was years ago, not this summer.

Sadly Elizabethtown's problems resemble those many SLACs in the Midwest and Northeastern regions - small, residential LAC which might be offering high-quality education delivered by dedicated faculty members in small-size classes for those who attend it, but of which future are uncertain due to 1) decreasing enrollment (thanks to decreasing number of new HS students from these regions), 2) low endowment (less than $150 to $200 million, E-town stands at $76 million as of 2017), and 3) the inability to adapt to new higher education environment as indicated by declining number of HS students, declining number of college students interested in liberal arts majors, and decreasing number of traditional 18 to 22 year old students in many of states in these regions - those who meet the criteria of 'full-time, residential' students indicated above.

I was a SLAC graduate from a college in the Midwestern region. I still recalled fondly time I studied there two decades-plus ago. I still believe the experience I had as an undergrad at that institution (e.g., the intimate learning and  the one-on-one interaction with faculty members) had helped me to choose and pursue career in academia - something I probably would have never chosen had I gone to college in a larger institution. However, these days I wonder whether my college and many others similar to it within the region would still be around in the next 10 years, let alone in the next 50 to 100.

I know its been struggling for sometime w/similar issues that E-town and other SLAC featured on this thread, but so far it has managed to survive and I have not heard its troubles reported in the papers (at least not yet). But I dread the prospect of it going under and I wonder whether its day of reckoning will be coming sooner or later :(.

[kaysixteen]

Colleges run by real,,healthy religions denominations can expect to survve as long as the denomination desires to -have it do so.

[polly_mer]

Colleges run by real,,healthy religions denominations can expect to survve as long as the denomination desires to -have it do so.

The keys here are:

(1) healthy.  6 full-time colleges seems like a lot for a religion that only has 120k members, especially as overall college-going population declines.
(2) as long as the denomination desires to have it do so and desires enough to jump all the hoops by the accreditors.  Eastern Nazarene seems not long for this world after Massachusetts shot down the plan to consolidate with another religious institution of the same denomination several states away.  The Jesuits dropped support for Wheeling University after a big enough change in mission.

[Anselm]

University of North Dakota -- "My University Is Dying":

https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190925-my-university-is-dying?key=mi0Bff1vaLHL09_no2EmgwlkeISLqFEXU6hHBR5Xg-oUISdXGi9vqV1vTblBhhP3d0JvbzRaUFdpT19uVkhZOVlKTEItQjIyRFcwUFZkak5MelVKa3YwNHdoZw

This is a Twitter link to the Chronicle Review. Not paywalled for now.

"No one from my college, which is the largest at UND, a flagship state school, went up for tenure last year, because there was no one left who was eligible to apply."

I've talked to insiders at Montana and North Dakota. Montana lost enrollment due to scandal and bad press, and the students went to MSU instead, as one poster already mentioned. (I once asked a colleague at MSU what the secret to their success was, as they had raised enrollments 50% in their humanities program. They gushed about the dedicated teaching in their department. Later I discovered that MSU's overall enrollment had risen by 50% thanks to the woes of the U of M, solving that mystery.)

As for UND, the article gives a very accurate description of what things have been like there for the last 5-6 years. Lots of bread and butter programs cut down to the bone and then some, with severe impacts on program quality that administrators refuse to see. Just recently things have improved a tick, though, since they pawned off their hapless president on the U of Colorado, and there was even a pay bump for the first time since the early 2010's.

How can North Dakota be hurting for money with the big shale oil boom? 

[kaysixteen]

Elizabethtown is run by the Church of the Brethren but will also regularly get numerous students from other related pietist and Anabaptist sects.  Indeed, it is the home to the Young Center for the study of Anabaptist and Pietist Groups, likely the best such center and the home of Donald Kraybill, the leading scholar of the Amish and Mennonites today.