Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[EdnaMode]

Not sure where the money is going because their tuition is among the highest in the Big Ten.

Administrative bloat. Main campus has an absurd number of redundant administrators. They sign our emails so I know.

For grins, I decided to compare my doctoral alma mater to Penn State using publicly available data. Two institutions of similar size, similar number of students, smaller campuses dispersed across the state, similar types of programs offered in engineering, the sciences, humanities, etc. so a relatively equal comparison. Penn State has nearly twice the number of administrators (at similar salaries) and charges twice the in-state tuition of my alma mater. I think you may be correct, they seem to have an astounding amount of administrative bloat going on, and that may be where at least some of the financial problems come from. And the whole state seems to have problems in higher ed funding, from what others have posted. If I taught there, I'd be very concerned.

[selecter]

What publicly available info can show administrative bloat? I can imagine trying to glean it form IPEDS, or maybe from the top end of a form 990, but don't know what could get at it with accuracy.

[EdnaMode]

What publicly available info can show administrative bloat? I can imagine trying to glean it form IPEDS, or maybe from the top end of a form 990, but don't know what could get at it with accuracy.

There is data on The Chronicle for the pay and number of non-instructional employees, data on CUPA-HR (if you have a login), individual institutional websites often post data due to sunshine laws, and I'm sure my undergrad alma mater isn't the only place where the student newspaper publishes the salary of every single employee every year. I just had a bit of time on my hands and went searching for data. Is it 100% accurate? Probably not, but it's there if you look for it and can give a good idea of the number of administrators at a given institution. Just using the overall category of 'non-instructional employees' on the Chronicle's site shows that Penn State has a LOT more of those than my grad school alma mater so I wonder what all those people are doing and how necessary they all are?

[deepsouth]

Delta State University in Cleveland, MS releases a fiscal sustainability plan.

https://www.deltastate.edu/news-and-events/2024/05/delta-state-university-announces-plan-to-ensure-fiscal-sustainability/

[spork]

News from across the pond:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnwd2q2x5o

[apl68]

News from across the pond:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnwd2q2x5o

I can see legitimate concerns over abuses of student visas.  But the Government's move on them may have been destructively ham-fisted.  Trying to tell universities to bring in fewer international students after allowing them to become so dependent up them in the first place is not going to be an easy policy.  Kind of like places like Venice that are trying to curb the consequences of excessive tourism after letting that become their main industry.

This quote puzzled me:

The Migration Adversary Committee (MAC) issued a report earlier this month which said there was no widespread evidence a post-study visa for international students is being "abused".

Migration Adversary Committee?  I know that migrants have their detractors in Britain, but come on!  Maybe that was supposed to be "Advisory?"

[Hibush]

The Migration Adversary Committee (MAC) issued a report earlier this month which said there was no widespread evidence a post-study visa for international students is being "abused".

Migration Adversary Committee?  I know that migrants have their detractors in Britain, but come on!  Maybe that was supposed to be "Advisory?"

A reasonable question. But the British PM's attitude towards education, and the migrants who seek it, is adversarial. The headline today is "Sunak pledges to replace 'rip-off' degrees with skilled apprenticeships."

So the name may be correct and candid.

[secundem_artem]

News from across the pond:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nnwd2q2x5o

I can see legitimate concerns over abuses of student visas.  But the Government's move on them may have been destructively ham-fisted.  Trying to tell universities to bring in fewer international students after allowing them to become so dependent up them in the first place is not going to be an easy policy.  Kind of like places like Venice that are trying to curb the consequences of excessive tourism after letting that become their main industry.

This quote puzzled me:

The Migration Adversary Committee (MAC) issued a report earlier this month which said there was no widespread evidence a post-study visa for international students is being "abused".

Migration Adversary Committee?  I know that migrants have their detractors in Britain, but come on!  Maybe that was supposed to be "Advisory?"

My soon-to-be-ex sister in law taught marketing at a Canadian Community College.  (The CDN CC systems bears little resemblance to the American model).

She complained a lot that huge numbers of her students were on student visas,  did little work, paid little attention, had mostly legal jobs and had the sole goal of becoming a Landed Immigrant (same as US Green Card).

But, such students pay well for the privilege so it was never clear to me who was taking advantage of whom. 

[kaysixteen]

Hmmm... will they still get that Landed Immigrant card if they flunk out?

[Langue_doc]

In our neck of the woods,

Marymount Manhattan to Merge With Northeastern
The Upper East Side college's alumni include Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president.

Marymount Manhattan blamed declining enrollments and rising operating costs for an outlook that was "not sustainable" despite a $28 million endowment. The college had about 1,450 students last fall, down from 1,915 in 2017.

Marymount Manhattan has run annual deficits of more than $1 million a year since 2020 after posting a surplus of roughly $900,000 the year before. But Fiorella and Peter Naccarato, Marymount Manhattan's interim president, said their concern was the future and the expected decline in the number of college-age students in the Northeast.

[apl68]

But, such students pay well for the privilege so it was never clear to me who was taking advantage of whom. 

One hand washes the other--but each complains that the other is giving it a soaking.

[apl68]

In our neck of the woods,

Marymount Manhattan to Merge With Northeastern
The Upper East Side college's alumni include Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president.

Marymount Manhattan blamed declining enrollments and rising operating costs for an outlook that was "not sustainable" despite a $28 million endowment. The college had about 1,450 students last fall, down from 1,915 in 2017.

Marymount Manhattan has run annual deficits of more than $1 million a year since 2020 after posting a surplus of roughly $900,000 the year before. But Fiorella and Peter Naccarato, Marymount Manhattan's interim president, said their concern was the future and the expected decline in the number of college-age students in the Northeast.

That is an alarming drop in enrollment.  You figure a school like that must have an annual tuition greater than many people's mortgages.

That Manhattan campus must be sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of real estate.  A beggar on a golden throne.

[Hibush]

In our neck of the woods,

Marymount Manhattan to Merge With Northeastern
The Upper East Side college's alumni include Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president.

Marymount Manhattan blamed declining enrollments and rising operating costs for an outlook that was "not sustainable" despite a $28 million endowment. The college had about 1,450 students last fall, down from 1,915 in 2017.

Marymount Manhattan has run annual deficits of more than $1 million a year since 2020 after posting a surplus of roughly $900,000 the year before. But Fiorella and Peter Naccarato, Marymount Manhattan's interim president, said their concern was the future and the expected decline in the number of college-age students in the Northeast.

That is an alarming drop in enrollment.  You figure a school like that must have an annual tuition greater than many people's mortgages.

"Northeastern charged $63,141 for tuition and fees in the academic year that is ending, $21,271 more than Marymount Manhattan"
Apparenly MM was not charging enough. Their deficit was almost $1,000 per student but apparently they could not raise net tuition that much.

[spork]

More news from across the pond -- York:

https://yorkmix.com/fears-that-up-to-700-jobs-could-go-as-university-of-york-looks-to-cut-34m/

[Wahoo Redux]

Philadelphia School of the Arts fails