Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[jonadam]

University of Alaska system cuts 40 programs while still considering institutional mergers.

As an illustration of how much the problems predate COVID-19:

Programs that were cut were chosen from a larger list of programs previously selected by university administrators, university officials said. Thirteen of them had previously been suspended, some as early as 2013.

I'm guessing many of those "suspended" programs had no students in them by this point.

We've discussed Alaska at length last year when big cuts to finances were proposed by the governor along with the insistence that the system only needed one campus.

This week we learned that Jim Johnsen, the president of U of Alaska will become the next president of the U of Wisconsin system. His training as a top-down business executive did not sit well with the Alaska faculty. Perhaps he is going to drive consolidation in the UW system, which we have also discussed at length here. Many of the UW campuses have worrisome demographic and financial.

Breaking news: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2020/06/12/sole-finalist-uw-system-president-withdraws/3175165001/

Dr. (?) Johnsen withdrew from consideration. There was a lot of backlash in both states about his potential appointment, so I think that's why

[Hibush]

University of Alaska system cuts 40 programs while still considering institutional mergers.

As an illustration of how much the problems predate COVID-19:

Programs that were cut were chosen from a larger list of programs previously selected by university administrators, university officials said. Thirteen of them had previously been suspended, some as early as 2013.

I'm guessing many of those "suspended" programs had no students in them by this point.

We've discussed Alaska at length last year when big cuts to finances were proposed by the governor along with the insistence that the system only needed one campus.

This week we learned that Jim Johnsen, the president of U of Alaska will become the next president of the U of Wisconsin system. His training as a top-down business executive did not sit well with the Alaska faculty. Perhaps he is going to drive consolidation in the UW system, which we have also discussed at length here. Many of the UW campuses have worrisome demographic and financial.

Breaking news: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2020/06/12/sole-finalist-uw-system-president-withdraws/3175165001/

Dr. (?) Johnsen withdrew from consideration. There was a lot of backlash in both states about his potential appointment, so I think that's why

Johnsen wrote " "I appreciate the strong support from the search committee at Wisconsin, and for all those who supported my candidacy, but it's clear they have important process issues to work out." 

I read between the lines that as bad as the situation is in Alaska, with no sign of shared values between the government and the university, and no trust between the faculty and system administration, the conditions in Wisconsin are substantially worse.

[picard]

An update on the financial situation of Hampshire College as it reached an agreement to avoid faculty layoffs during the upcoming academic year, by institution across-the-board salary reductions for its faculty and administration:

https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2020/06/hampshire-college-accord-avoids-faculty-layoffs.html

Hampshire College faculty and administrators have reached an accord on a negotiated agreement that will avoid faculty layoffs for the coming academic year, the college announced Thursday.

Hampshire president Ed Wingenbach hailed the agreement as a statement to the college's commitment to maintaining high quality under difficult circumstances. It calls for across-the-board salary reductions, rather than layoffs or furloughs, to allow its full faculty to remain on board.... The president will take a 50% salary reduction for 2020-21.

Doing so required notable concessions from the faculty. Salary reductions will be progressive, with higher-salaried senior faculty absorbing higher cuts (in both dollar value and percentage) to protect the salaries of junior faculty members, visiting faculty members, and faculty associates.

Faculty and administration agreed to a Voluntary Separation Plan (VSP) that, among its provisions, allows separating faculty members to retain their affiliation with Hampshire.

[spork]

I think the fact that Amherst College, which is only four miles away and has a $2.5 billion endowment, has not tried to subsume Hampshire into itself, or at minimum acquire its real estate, shows how little reason there is to keep Hampshire open. 

[sinenomine]

I've long suspected that UMass is waiting until Hampshire folds, at which point they'll come in and grab the real estate.

I think the fact that Amherst College, which is only four miles away and has a $2.5 billion endowment, has not tried to subsume Hampshire into itself, or at minimum acquire its real estate, shows how little reason there is to keep Hampshire open.

[polly_mer]

The idea for Hampshire originated in 1958 when the presidents of Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, as well as the University of Massachusetts Amherst, appointed a committee to reexamine the assumptions and practices of liberal arts education.

Their report, "The New College Plan," advocated many of the features that have since been realized in the Hampshire curriculum: emphasis on each student's curiosity and motivation; broad, multidisciplinary learning; and close mentoring relationships with teachers.

In 1965, Amherst College alumnus Harold F. Johnson donated $6 million toward the founding of Hampshire College.

With a matching grant from the Ford Foundation, Hampshire's first trustees purchased 800 acres of orchard and farmland in South Amherst, Massachusetts, and construction began. Hampshire admitted its first students in 1970.

https://www.hampshire.edu/discover-hampshire/history

[mamselle]

^ Right....

Hampshire was the co-created brainchild of those schools...they may individually harbor secret, cynical hopes of re-couping on any losses via some take-over mechanism, but it may not be so simple as a buy-out per se.

M.

[polly_mer]

^ Right....

Hampshire was the co-created brainchild of those schools...they may individually harbor secret, cynical hopes of re-couping on any losses via some take-over mechanism, but it may not be so simple as a buy-out per se.

M.

I was thinking the other way that even the invested parents have declared the experiment a failure.

[marshwiggle]

^ Right....

Hampshire was the co-created brainchild of those schools...they may individually harbor secret, cynical hopes of re-couping on any losses via some take-over mechanism, but it may not be so simple as a buy-out per se.

M.

I was thinking the other way that even the invested parents have declared the experiment a failure.

Anyone know how many of the features they incorporated in the "new" place they actually adapted to their own institutions? That would reflect how sold they were on it. Especially since they had half a century to do so.

[polly_mer]

"The Vermont State Colleges could face operating deficits anywhere from $19 million to $46 million next year as the pandemic further depresses enrollment."

[polly_mer]

Facing a shortfall of at least $121M, CU Boulder announces pay cuts.

Virginia Tech is discussing pay cuts up to 20%.

I'm sure Wahoo has been keeping track of the almost 100 four-year schools that have cut athletic programs for the budget.

[Hibush]

I'm sure Wahoo has been keeping track of the almost 100 four-year schools that have cut athletic programs for the budget.

Not 100 schools, but 100 teams. "Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic."

With so many of the teams being from closed schools, it does not make the eliminations seem like sports disinvestment is a common budget tactic.

Furthermore, "No school from a Power Five conference is known to have dropped any sports."  So schools with the biggest athletic budgets have not scaled back at all.

Some ADs may have thought from time to time that it would be easier to run the program without the rest of the institution, but those 44 teams are not likely to carry on after the school closure.

[apl68]

The Virginia Tech article noted that they find themselves in the awkward position of having to make serious cuts in operations while still being committed to going ahead with close to $200 million in construction programs.  It's going to be even more embarrassing if those shiny new buildings open and there's no money available to actually make use of them.

[Wahoo Redux]

I'm sure Wahoo has been keeping track of the almost 100 four-year schools that have cut athletic programs for the budget.

Not 100 schools, but 100 teams. "Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic."

I have not, actually, but thanks for the heads up. 

I wish our uni would kill its athletics now, but that doesn't seem to be in the works.  We are not as desperate as other places, however.

[apl68]

I'm sure Wahoo has been keeping track of the almost 100 four-year schools that have cut athletic programs for the budget.

Not 100 schools, but 100 teams. "Of the 78 teams lost in Divisions II and III and the NAIA, 44 were from three schools that closed at least in part because of financial fallout from the pandemic."

I have not, actually, but thanks for the heads up. 

I wish our uni would kill its athletics now, but that doesn't seem to be in the works.  We are not as desperate as other places, however.

I noticed a quote in the article that mentioned that larger athletic programs have "a ton of fat" to cut before cutting whole teams.  If those programs really are viable cash cows, then it's time to start milking them harder!