Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[selecter]

Sorry. Paywall on that one. This one isn't as detailed ... but has the basics ...
https://www.news10.com/news/the-college-of-saint-rose-to-address-financial-issues/

[dismalist]

Thank you so much for the ungated version. It is well worth reading.

While the usual is being done at the college, the most significant decision is probably: The changes will also allow the College to build upon the momentum generated by new offerings, including the 2-in-4 program, in which students can earn a bachelor's and master's degree in four years ... .

Once we're at 0-in-4 we're close to home!

In bad times there is nothing like competition to energize kicking down barriers which have become artifacts. :-)

[Hibush]

Sorry. Paywall on that one. This one isn't as detailed ... but has the basics ...
https://www.news10.com/news/the-college-of-saint-rose-to-address-financial-issues/

The interim president is an alumna who has experience making an arts nonprofit organization financially sustainable. That is a positive sign in that she knows how to center on the mission and make the dreaded budget cuts in light of that.

I'm skeptical though about reviving the nursing program. Their one-time leadership in that discipline won't have momentum seven decades after they dropped it. They won't even have alumnae. Another thread here goes into the irrational expectation that administrators bring to new nursing programs.

[Aster]

The mean time for university students to complete a bachelor's degree in my region is 6.5 years.

The College of St. Rose must be a super elite institution if they're cranking out graduates with a combined bachelor's and master's in 4 years.

[dismalist]

The mean time for university students to complete a bachelor's degree in my region is 6.5 years.

The College of St. Rose must be a super elite institution if they're cranking out graduates with a combined bachelor's and master's in 4 years.

Median? :-)

[TreadingLife]

With the College's recent efforts pertaining to administrators and staff, a projected $15.8 million deficit has been reduced to $9.6 million. While those reductions were significant, a nearly $10 million structural deficit is not something the College can continue to carry

So this was a pre-COVID structural deficit? Yikes.

They are planning for a staggered in-person fall. If this doesn't come to fruition, their pain will only grow.

[apl68]

Sorry. Paywall on that one. This one isn't as detailed ... but has the basics ...
https://www.news10.com/news/the-college-of-saint-rose-to-address-financial-issues/

The interim president is an alumna who has experience making an arts nonprofit organization financially sustainable. That is a positive sign in that she knows how to center on the mission and make the dreaded budget cuts in light of that.

I'm skeptical though about reviving the nursing program. Their one-time leadership in that discipline won't have momentum seven decades after they dropped it. They won't even have alumnae. Another thread here goes into the irrational expectation that administrators bring to new nursing programs.

Other posters have indicated that nursing programs are rather expensive to create and operate.  Even assuming that the start-up program was a success and eventually turned into a money maker, it would surely take a long-term investment to make a go of it.  A college that is already in dire financial straits isn't a good candidate for pulling it off.

[Aster]

... and the return of a nursing degree, in which Saint Rose was a leader before the program was discontinued in the 1950s.

Wow. That's reaaally reaching back in time.

[spork]

College of Saint Rose will be gone within five years. SUNY-Albany is less than three miles away, is 25% less expensive, and salaries after graduation are significantly higher.

[secundem_artem]

Back to Galloway for a second.

He rated Artem U as "struggling".

In the last few months, Artem U has cut pension contributions, furloughed staff, and had across the board salary cuts.  Last month, the first dean headed for the exits.

Galloway's math may be questionable, but his conclusion re: Artem U seems to be empirically correct.

[Hibush]

... and the return of a nursing degree, in which Saint Rose was a leader before the program was discontinued in the 1950s.

Wow. That's reaaally reaching back in time.

Those laurels may have gotten too crinkly to rest on.

[spork]

... and the return of a nursing degree, in which Saint Rose was a leader before the program was discontinued in the 1950s.

Wow. That's reaaally reaching back in time.

Those laurels may have gotten too crinkly to rest on.

I don't know the specific history of College of Saint Rose, but many of these at-one-time-religiously-affiliated schools originated as "safe" places where women could receive training in the occupations that were available to them at the time -- teachers (i.e., the normal schools), nurses, and, from about the 1940s onward, secretaries. Not only are nursing programs expensive to operate and require meeting professional accreditation standards, the women who might have enrolled in them in 1949 now have many more career options.

[spork]

Unity College is moving to online-only instruction and will probably liquidate physical assets in an attempt to stay solvent:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/04/unity-college-end-campus-instruction.

[apl68]

Also from IHE, the University of Arizona has bought for-profit Ashford University:


https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/backlash-begins-against-university-arizonas-acquisition-ashford-university


A lot of anger being expressed over a public institution seeking to turn a predatory for-profit into a cash cow.

[Wahoo Redux]

Also from IHE, the University of Arizona has bought for-profit Ashford University:


https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/04/backlash-begins-against-university-arizonas-acquisition-ashford-university


A lot of anger being expressed over a public institution seeking to turn a predatory for-profit into a cash cow.

Our colleges have to survive somehow.