Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

I keep reading that as a DEMON affiliation.  Now that would be a powerful asset in trying times....

Funny how easy it is to misread some words.  I used to read The Journal of Plant Physiology as The Journal of Plant Psychology.  Which would be an entirely different discipline....

[Hibush]

I keep reading that as a DEMON affiliation.  Now that would be a powerful asset in trying times....

Funny how easy it is to misread some words.  I used to read The Journal of Plant Physiology as The Journal of Plant Psychology.  Which would be an entirely different discipline....

They had to name that journal Plant Signalling and Behavior to avoid confusion or criticism.

At the same time, plant physiology has gone out of fashion, so those journals are changing names to keep up with the trends.

[jimbogumbo]

Not dire, but certainly gloomy in Utah: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/10/17/utah-colleges-could-face-huge-cuts-2025

[apl68]

Not dire, but certainly gloomy in Utah: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/10/17/utah-colleges-could-face-huge-cuts-2025

Ten percent across-the-board cuts sound pretty dire, especially when you know that most of the burden will surely end up being borne by the usual humanities programs that only take up a few percent of the institutions' budgets to start with.  They're going to be axing whole programs, and gutting whole disciplines.

[bio-nonymous]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/another-public-flagship-may-cut-dozens-of-majors

UConn getting ready to shred programs--the usual suspects + some...

They are trying to make a 15% budget cut to help with a $70+ million deficit.

[Hibush]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/another-public-flagship-may-cut-dozens-of-majors

UConn getting ready to shred programs--the usual suspects + some...

They are trying to make a 15% budget cut to help with a $70+ million deficit.

It sounds as if the target of the announcement is the legislature, not the faculty.  " 'The provost office is basically trying to show the legislature that they can draw blood — that they're serious as they ask for more money,' [UConn prof & AAUP president Chris] Vials said."

"Vials said that while the programs under review have a smaller number of majors, they host popular classes that are full every semester and play a key role in recruiting faculty."

They are reviewing 70 majors have graduated <100 students over the last 5 years. UConn has 20,000 undergrads, so each of these majors has <0.5% of the enrolment. That break would probably be far lower at a small school.

Some departments have option of merging majors to make each one bigger. The Lit, Language and Culture Dept has nine small majors, eight of which have little enrollment. Can they consolidate? (My department did something like that and went from several weak majors to two very strong majors.)

[quasihumanist]

Some departments have option of merging majors to make each one bigger. The Lit, Language and Culture Dept has nine small majors, eight of which have little enrollment. Can they consolidate? (My department did something like that and went from several weak majors to two very strong majors.)

We have similar incentives to eliminate small majors, and similarly (possibly intentionally) stupid ways of distinguishing programs.

Eventually, we will have the Everything major, with 200 different options.

We will also have the Everything department, with 200 different sub-departments (each with their own associate chair, and the bigger sub-departments will have assistant associate chairs or something too).

[lightning]

Some departments have option of merging majors to make each one bigger. The Lit, Language and Culture Dept has nine small majors, eight of which have little enrollment. Can they consolidate? (My department did something like that and went from several weak majors to two very strong majors.)

We have similar incentives to eliminate small majors, and similarly (possibly intentionally) stupid ways of distinguishing programs.

Eventually, we will have the Everything major, with 200 different options.

We will also have the Everything department, with 200 different sub-departments (each with their own associate chair, and the bigger sub-departments will have assistant associate chairs or something too).

Yup.

And, none of those sub-chairs will be paid like a chair of a standalone department. It will be some well-intentioned sad-sack full professor who will become embittered once he/she finds out that they've been scammed of their time.

[TreadingLife]

In depth look at the financial stress at Brandeis.
https://www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2024/10/19/amid-declining-enrollment-brandeis-is-in-an-intensifying-budget-crunch/?p1=hp_featurestack

[secundem_artem]

The wheels of change grind slowly at Artem U but it is crystal clear that things are about to get really shitty over the next year or so.  Faculty governance is about to be a fond memory. 

[selecter]

Bummer. Fingers crossed. And there's always the hope that a nearby college dies first. (I wish I was kidding.)

[secundem_artem]

Bummer. Fingers crossed. And there's always the hope that a nearby college dies first. (I wish I was kidding.)

Don't laugh. We are surrounded by a number of 1200 student LACs that some people are just hoping will go belly up so we can avoid the pain. The sad reality is that at least some of them are in better shape than we are.

[dismalist]

Bummer. Fingers crossed. And there's always the hope that a nearby college dies first. (I wish I was kidding.)

Don't laugh. We are surrounded by a number of 1200 student LACs that some people are just hoping will go belly up so we can avoid the pain. The sad reality is that at least some of them are in better shape than we are.

This fact well supports the notion that the non-profit equivalent of forced bankruptcy and consequent Mergers and Acquisitions would relieve much pain.

[aprof]

Update on St. Augustine's:
Saint Augustine's University's $7 million loan comes with 26% interest, risk of loss of university property

Other points of interest:

• Most of the campus was put up as collateral
• Most of the loan is going to overdue payroll taxes and other money owed to US DoEd
• The school has dropped from 1,108 students in '22-'23 to 200 students this year.

I can't see how this ends in any way other than the venture capital firm acquiring the campus.

[jimbogumbo]

Apparently things are dire in Utah even when they aren't: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2024/11/08/utah-colleges-face-budget-cuts-despite-record-enrollment