Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

Holy Family College (WI) is closing:

https://blog.holyfamilycollege.edu/news/holy-family-college-to-discontinue-all-operations-at-the-end-of-summer-term.

Their Wikipedia entry says that they had about 500 students.  Looks like another tiny school where the margins just weren't sustainable any longer.

It's a great shame.  They were a college for 85 years, and had been a school for half a century before that.

[whynotbc]

At the decent but not highly ranked SLAC I am at, we are over 15% above target. Not clear what the financial aid is looking like nor if we are planning on larger melt then normal. Typically, at this point we are 5-10% above target and end up about 4-8% above target, which has put stress on the student services side of things.

[TreadingLife]

At the decent but not highly ranked SLAC I am at, we are over 15% above target. Not clear what the financial aid is looking like nor if we are planning on larger melt then normal. Typically, at this point we are 5-10% above target and end up about 4-8% above target, which has put stress on the student services side of things.

Impressive! That is not the situation at my decent but not highly ranked LAC. We've been making our classes just barely, and it seems like the primary criteria is "Can you fog a mirror?" And we wonder why our graduation rate trends downward.
I'm guessing your tuition discount rate is 50% or lower? Possibly still in the 30s? Ah, those were the days. I won't even share ours. It is code-red bad. A full pay student is like a unicorn around here. I'm sure they exist somewhere, in a land far away, where net tuition revenue is stable or increasing.

Also, I noticed your name is 'whynotbc'. This is probably not why you chose your name, but I went to Boston University and Boston College (BC) sucks! (If you aren't familiar with the BU/BC rivalry, then this will seem random and unnecessary.)

[spork]

Ohio's expenditure on higher ed is slashed:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/06/ohio-cut-public-college-funding-110-million-over-2-months.

[bacardiandlime]

Also, I noticed your name is 'whynotbc'. This is probably not why you chose your name, but I went to Boston University and Boston College (BC) sucks! (If you aren't familiar with the BU/BC rivalry, then this will seem random and unnecessary.)

I assumed it was a reference to British Columbia!

[apl68]

Ohio's expenditure on higher ed is slashed:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/06/ohio-cut-public-college-funding-110-million-over-2-months.

Not unexpected in the midst of an economic upheaval...but boy, that's going to hurt.

[polly_mer]

I guarantee nobody is being asked to teach engineering or medicine for free.

As regular college courses for which people would otherwise command a great salary?  I agree with probably not.

As a continuing stream of requests for outreach for the poor, underprivileged, underserved, and underrepresented?  For the past 15ish years, I have had more than one request a month for my time and energy in that way.  When I'm at elite enough institutions, I have more than one request per week in my email box. 

In the past month, I am up to about one request per day because of all those students who are being left behind and it would mean so much to them for a STEM professional to adopt a section/group/individual to provide additional activities, if not out and out extended teaching (hint, hint).

If I can't find time to engage with a class, how about just agreeing to mentor a promising student?  Look at those shiny undergrad/grad faces.  How can you say no when someone just needs a little mentoring with regular long-distance calls.

Take on an intern?  We still have slots and students are our future.  Just peruse the attached CVs for students we've already recruited.  It doesn't cost you anything except your time.

Give a webinar as outreach to our really, really special group of deserving faces?  How can you look at those faces and say no?  Have you no heart?

The pitch is always: it's only a few hours of your time and you have so much. 

Yep, and if I only had one of these requests once per year, then I could do it.  However, with the sheer volume of requests, most of them have to be declined or not even read (autofile is my ally) because I have other responsibilities that are paying for my family to live inside and eat regularly.

The discussion where I am often turns to how do we get people to do more outreach including possibly picking up teaching a formal class every so often.  Even paying standard project rates isn't a big enough carrot because we have so many other demands on our time and energy. 

In short, we're asked all the freakin' time and we learn to say no for our own benefit.

[Diogenes]

Exploitation much?

I might consider it if my dean, provost, and president also worked the semester for free.

They couldn't possibly. They spend too much money on $5 lattes and avocado toast. 

[Wahoo Redux]

""Windfall for Small Colleges" from IHE.

As with most IHE reporting, this seems like pretty balanced overall.  The "small colleges" in question seem to be getting relatively small amounts of money per the formula, but the headline seems misleading to me.

[Hibush]

Wells College president questions continuation.  A small rural school that went coed relatively recently, and tried a big drop in tuition to attract more students.
"If New York State continues its mandate that our campus remain closed through all or part of the fall semester, Wells simply will not receive enough revenue to continue operations," Gibralter said. "A substantial amount of the College's operating budget comes from room and board revenue, so without enough students participating in our residential life, the College cannot afford to reopen."

Motto---Where bright futures thrive

[spork]

Wells College president questions continuation.  A small rural school that went coed relatively recently, and tried a big drop in tuition to attract more students.
"If New York State continues its mandate that our campus remain closed through all or part of the fall semester, Wells simply will not receive enough revenue to continue operations," Gibralter said. "A substantial amount of the College's operating budget comes from room and board revenue, so without enough students participating in our residential life, the College cannot afford to reopen."

Motto---Where bright futures thrive

I commend him for his honesty with the public.

[Hibush]

This recently hit the wire
https://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2020/may/08/lu-declares-financial-exigency/826858/

You can't even find Lincoln University of Missouri in the database. It would have been interesting to see their ratings prior to this announcement. My college has a "high" rating. Sure, Jan.

Copied from another thread for reference.

[polly_mer]

Wells College was already on probation with Middle States for finances and planning: https://auburnpub.com/news/local/wells-college-officials-hopeful-about-probation-status-ending/article_379fdcff-614e-5cf3-aa0b-a3418c02033e.html

[polly_mer]

Regular readers of this thread might want to see the daily updates on higher ed institutions and state support at http://recessionreality.blogspot.com/

[Hibush]

Medaille College in Buffalo, NY. President claims emergency powers, faculty immediately vote no confidence. The college of about 2,200 students has 79 full-time instructional staff. Edmit financial health = low; Forbes financial health grade = D.