Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Ruralguy]

About 16 years ago I was told I wouldn't be able to just continue repairing my HVAC, I'd have to replace it.
Haven't done it yet, though a more modern system probably could heat and cool more efficiently.

[Puget]

About 16 years ago I was told I wouldn't be able to just continue repairing my HVAC, I'd have to replace it.
Haven't done it yet, though a more modern system probably could heat and cool more efficiently.

Not to derail this thread, but now is the time to look into heat pumps.

[mythbuster]

We replaced out entre HVAC system this last year with heat pumps. They are NOT cheap! HVAC as a whole the prices have gone through the roof in the last 2 years or so. Partly due to supply chain issues, and partly because of increased awareness of energy efficiency.
   We now have a monthly payment (interest free) that is bigger than a car payment to pay off our new heat pumps. Our old units were 20+ years old so it was overdue, and we hope to see the power bills slows drop- we are on balanced billing so it will take a while to see the change in the monthly bills.

[apl68]

I'm open to going with heat pumps for my house when the time to make a major HVAC replacement comes (Hopefully not anytime too soon!).  As for the library...I'm not sure it would even be possible to retrofit the type of system we have to work with heat pumps.  If it was, it would undoubtedly be fearfully expensive, perhaps in the same ballpark as a year's normal operating budget.  I know that the figure quoted for going with an alternative system that we asked about last year was pretty appalling.

They really lost an opportunity to build a long-term energy efficient building when they built this place in the early 2000s.  The members of the planning committee were all members of a generation that grew up in an era of abundant cheap energy, and probably just never learned to think in terms of energy efficiency.

[Puget]

I started a "heat pumps and other home energy improvements" thread to avoid derailing this one:
https://thefora.org/index.php?topic=3694.0

[apl68]

Thanks, Puget.

Getting back to this thread, Henderson State University, which has appeared here several times, got a new chancellor a few weeks ago. 


https://armoneyandpolitics.com/berry-henderson-chancellor/


He has done good work at Southern Arkansas University in recent years.  I used to know him.  He's a good guy.  HSU is in a lot better hands than many of the institutions on this thread seem to have been.  Although the new chancellor still has his work cut out for him.

[selecter]

You will have to juke and move around a paywall, but this article (https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/college-saint-rose-told-bondholders-closure-vote-18547706.php) includes an internal 30-slide presentation of strategies, projections, fantasies, and lots and lots of red numbers that should be a cautionary tale to many of us.

[jimbogumbo]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2023/12/17/purdue-global-owes-128-million-to-its-for-profit-partner-it-may-not-be-able-to-pay/?sh=11f6c5e27998

[secundem_artem]

If online for-profit were such a great idea, we'd all be doing it & making more money.  Once again, the promises of the tech bros come up empty.  The one thing the online advocates always forget is that, with a residential college, eventually your 18 yr old idiot kid leaves home & mom & dad get some peace & quiet.

For those with a real taste for risk, why not open an online, for-profit satellite campus somewhere in Malaysia, China or Singapore.  Then watch the money roll in out.

[dismalist]

If online for-profit were such a great idea, we'd all be doing it & making more money.  Once again, the promises of the tech bros come up empty.  The one thing the online advocates always forget is that, with a residential college, eventually your 18 yr old idiot kid leaves home & mom & dad get some peace & quiet.

For those with a real taste for risk, why not open an online, for-profit satellite campus somewhere in Malaysia, China or Singapore.  Then watch the money roll in out.

The promises of the tech entrepreneurs are not sufficient to cause failure. It's the non-tech administrations of colleges and universities that believe those promises that cause the problem. The non-tech admins in a non-profit do not bear sufficient risk themselves.

No, open an on-site for profit campus somewhere in a low wage country. Get the swimming pools sorted out. That'd do the trick! :-)

[lightning]

Mitch Daniels, the administrator who put his name on the dumb idea, is not even around, so he could be fired and disgraced.

That's the problem with some of these entrepreneurial ideas. The underlying secret business model is for someone to make bank, regardless of whether or not the business model of the touted idea is truly viable or not.

In the case of Purdue Global, Mitch Daniels got out after he made bank (but before he was made accountable as the one who ushered in the dumb idea), and that's all that really mattered.

[Hibush]

At least someone in the Purdue-Kaplan deal prevented Purdue and Indiana from being able to pay any Purdue Global debt. That has proven important protection.

The article jimbogumbo linked indicates that in addition to the outstanding $128 million bill to Kaplan for royalties, fees and services, the business doesn't make money. "Purdue Global, the report says, had a net operating revenue loss of $95 million, it has about $142 million in current liabilities, and just $2.6 million in the bank."

That looks like dire financial straits to me. Will Purdue Global go bankrupt like a conventional for-profit business?

[dismalist]

Non-profits are not subject to involuntary bankruptcy, i.e. creditors cannot force bankruptcy. But the non-profit can seek protection from its creditors under the bankruptcy laws.

Not enough risk on the non-profit directors for efficient decisions.

[methodsman]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2023/12/17/purdue-global-owes-128-million-to-its-for-profit-partner-it-may-not-be-able-to-pay/?sh=11f6c5e27998

Oops. I just applied for a job there.

[Mobius]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2023/12/17/purdue-global-owes-128-million-to-its-for-profit-partner-it-may-not-be-able-to-pay/?sh=11f6c5e27998

Oops. I just applied for a job there.

Don't worry. Every place like this is in trouble, in case you were wondering.