Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

Right. Like boiling the frog. Both Stritch and Southern Vermont College (a closing I was MUCH closer too) just seemed to have tried to whistle past the graveyard. Most places TRY something, and at least wring their hands a little bit.

"Super Dinky College" seems to have done a lot of that in its later years as well.

[rhetoricae]

I've always thought a dean ought to educate faculty a bit on exactly this sort of thing, as I've heard department chairs say things like, "I know for a fact that our department brings in 2.2M per year!," when in fact they are -500K annually, once expenses are figured.

Then I spent some time as dean, and did next to nothing to educate faculty along those lines.

Our instutition has a Budget Advisory Council every fiscal year, as the budget is being figured out for the next year. A specific number (& roles) of faculty members are required to serve (in addition to adjunct-specific representation, various staff roles, members of student Senate, etc) every year. I've been on it for the last 2 years, for one reason or another, and it's extremely informative -- gives a lot of insight into how our multi-million dollar state funded CC's budget works, what it looks like, and what it entails. I've learned a lot & one of the roles of those on the council is to pass this information on to others in their sphere, answer questions, etc. -- all of which I do. (I'm just an Asst Prof in a faculty leadership role, for now, not a Dean or anyone's boss/chair.)

Even so, I've had conversations with faculty who have been here for 20+ years, have served on the budget advisory council multiple times (including recently) & who still seem to have no idea that there is a general fund budget, and then grant-based budgets, and when complaining about a new low-level admin-critter hire they don't understand how that person's role is specific to a grant, not part of the general fund budget pool for salaries, and will likely be gone once the grant ends -- so they complain that college funds are misspent.

As with students, sometimes educational opportunities alone aren't enough. :P

[spork]

As reported by Inside Higher Ed, Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

[mythbuster]

The continuing saga of Birmingham-Southern. Just shows how important it is to have close audits of your books for financial aid.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/financial-health/2023/04/19/path-forward-birmingham-southern

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Marian University, Wisconsin

IHE: Graduate Theological School, Georgia

[apl68]

IHE: Marian University, Wisconsin

IHE: Graduate Theological School, Georgia

Well, at least in Marian's case it seems to be an attempt to head off a crisis rather than a sudden, desperate reaction to one.

They mention cutting majors that "students just aren't pursuing anymore," so I assume they're getting rid of most of their liberal arts majors.  But they're also eliminating majors in "homeland security" and "social justice," which sound rather trendy.  Those sound like attempted major programs that just didn't pan out in terms of enrollment.  Which is fair enough, I guess.  Not every attempt to start a new major program is going to succeed.

[Ruralguy]

People in academia for two deacdes should really know the difference between general unrestricted accounts and restricted endowment or grant accounts. Not that hard. Also, faculty are the first to complain that they have inadequate help, then complain about administrative bloat when someone is hired.

[downer]

People in academia for two deacdes should really know the difference between general unrestricted accounts and restricted endowment or grant accounts. Not that hard. Also, faculty are the first to complain that they have inadequate help, then complain about administrative bloat when someone is hired.

I've never heard a faculty member hope a new administrator is hired. I guess maybe they are in favor of Writing Centers or similar facilities, but again, I've never heard a faculty member wish there was more such support. The main complaint I have heard is that faculty wish that HR and the Wages dept were more helpful.

I've had helpful deans occasionally. Most other admins are a curse for faculty.

[Mobius]

There are a few of us who would like national searches for deans. We'd also like associate deans and chairs to not be in interim roles. We need leaders willing to make tough choices. Too many faculty want admins that "advocate" for their units, whatever that means. I truly think some faculty think a dean can get what the college needs if they just try hard enough.

[spork]

Fiddling around the edges of the curriculum is not going to save Marian. Its endowment is only ~ $12 million and it has lost a third of its FTE undergraduate enrollment since FY 2007. Its FTE grad enrollment decreased by two-thirds over the same period.

[apl68]

Yet another liberal arts program gets eliminated due to declining student interest:

French major gets an au revoir at UALR

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will eliminate its bachelor of arts degree in French -- and affiliated faculty members -- because of low student interest, following a recommendation by the chancellor and approval by the University of Arkansas System board of trustees Wednesday.

UALR Chancellor Christina Drale actually proposed to eliminate French in 2020 due to a "steep decline" in student interest and the trend of removing language requirements from most programs, but after campus review, she was persuaded to give French a reprieve to see if it could regain viability, she said. That didn't occur, and program enrollment has continued to decline.

Drale used the 2020 benchmark threshold of a full-time equivalent student to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 12, and a student semester credit hours to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 200. In 2019, the French program was at a "low" student-faculty ratio of 8-to-1 -- falling to 7-to-1 this year -- and the student semester credit hour ratio in 2019 was 123-to-1, while the ratio fell in fall 2022 to 108.5-to-1.

Eliminating the program "seems like a wise move to me," said trustee Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock.

More in the article about UALR's retrenchment since COVID:

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2023/apr/20/french-gets-an-au-revoir-at-ualr/

[Hibush]

French major gets an au revoir at UALR


Drale used the 2020 benchmark threshold of a full-time equivalent student to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 12, and a student semester credit hours to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 200. In 2019, the French program was at a "low" student-faculty ratio of 8-to-1 -- falling to 7-to-1 this year -- and the student semester credit hour ratio in 2019 was 123-to-1, while the ratio fell in fall 2022 to 108.5-to-1.

Eliminating the program "seems like a wise move to me," said trustee Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock.

Providing quantitative information in the absence of context is clearly a good way to persuade trustees.

I think French and German as foreign languages are really taking a hit in the US since a lot of people in those countries speak fluent English, and our non-anglophone economic and academic partners work in Spanish or Mandarin.

[Wahoo Redux]

Additional State Budget Decrease of $66 Million Will Hurt University System of Georgia Institutions

The decision comes as 20 of the University System of Georgia (USG)'s 26 public colleges and universities are already set to receive less money next fiscal year under the state's funding formula due to enrollment declines. The budget impact on those 20 institutions under the funding formula means they already face a loss of $71.6 million in state funds for FY24.

[apl68]

French major gets an au revoir at UALR


Drale used the 2020 benchmark threshold of a full-time equivalent student to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 12, and a student semester credit hours to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 200. In 2019, the French program was at a "low" student-faculty ratio of 8-to-1 -- falling to 7-to-1 this year -- and the student semester credit hour ratio in 2019 was 123-to-1, while the ratio fell in fall 2022 to 108.5-to-1.

Eliminating the program "seems like a wise move to me," said trustee Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock.

Providing quantitative information in the absence of context is clearly a good way to persuade trustees.

I think French and German as foreign languages are really taking a hit in the US since a lot of people in those countries speak fluent English, and our non-anglophone economic and academic partners work in Spanish or Mandarin.

With the partial exception of Spanish, which is after all the native language of a now massive population within the U.S., the European languages all seem to have lost their cachet.  I think there's a widespread perception now that they're all just dead white-people stuff.

[Wahoo Redux]

French major gets an au revoir at UALR


Drale used the 2020 benchmark threshold of a full-time equivalent student to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 12, and a student semester credit hours to full-time equivalent faculty ratio of 200. In 2019, the French program was at a "low" student-faculty ratio of 8-to-1 -- falling to 7-to-1 this year -- and the student semester credit hour ratio in 2019 was 123-to-1, while the ratio fell in fall 2022 to 108.5-to-1.

Eliminating the program "seems like a wise move to me," said trustee Sheffield Nelson of Little Rock.

Providing quantitative information in the absence of context is clearly a good way to persuade trustees.

I think French and German as foreign languages are really taking a hit in the US since a lot of people in those countries speak fluent English, and our non-anglophone economic and academic partners work in Spanish or Mandarin.

With the partial exception of Spanish, which is after all the native language of a now massive population within the U.S., the European languages all seem to have lost their cachet.  I think there's a widespread perception now that they're all just dead white-people stuff.

This is what happens when you have an employment focus for higher ed.  If you don't need French to get a job, why need French?  C'est la vie