Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

The situation reminds me of a certain public library in the state some years back.  The librarian brought in some impressive exhibits and other programs at the library, and remodeled an historic building in the gentrifying downtown to serve as a new branch.  He won lots of accolades.  Then he died of cancer, and it was soon revealed that he had done all this with borrowed money.  Somehow he had been allowed to borrow far more money than the library could pay back.  They had to cancel programs, cut hours, and lay people off to service their debt and keep going. 

The degree-holding librarians pushed forward a respected, about-to-retire longtime paraprofessional to serve as interim director and announce the cuts and layoffs.  Which I thought was very unfair, and represented an abdication of responsibility by the more formally qualified staff.  They had to do two different job searches before they could find a qualified candidate willing to serve as director, since no librarian in the state wanted anything to do with the situation.  She has done a remarkable job of retrenchment, so I suppose maybe that's a hopeful sign for HSU that there can be life for an institution after disastrous mismanagement.

[dismalist]

The situation reminds me of a certain public library in the state some years back.  The librarian brought in some impressive exhibits and other programs at the library, and remodeled an historic building in the gentrifying downtown to serve as a new branch.  He won lots of accolades.  Then he died of cancer, and it was soon revealed that he had done all this with borrowed money.  Somehow he had been allowed to borrow far more money than the library could pay back.  They had to cancel programs, cut hours, and lay people off to service their debt and keep going. 

...

Precisely!

The librarian seems to have been playing end-game.

But, who authorized the borrowing, and who lent the funds?

[apl68]

The situation reminds me of a certain public library in the state some years back.  The librarian brought in some impressive exhibits and other programs at the library, and remodeled an historic building in the gentrifying downtown to serve as a new branch.  He won lots of accolades.  Then he died of cancer, and it was soon revealed that he had done all this with borrowed money.  Somehow he had been allowed to borrow far more money than the library could pay back.  They had to cancel programs, cut hours, and lay people off to service their debt and keep going. 

...

Precisely!

The librarian seems to have been playing end-game.

But, who authorized the borrowing, and who lent the funds?

A Board of Trustees and a lender who weren't paying enough attention, evidently.  I can't imagine ever talking my Board into authorizing anything like that.  Or even trying to.

[Mobius]

I don't have the answers, and there isn't political will to make college a lot cheaper. Wound that help Henderson State or are retention issue deeper than students not having money?

[spork]

Henderson State University was burned to the ground by corrupt financial mismanagement that lasted for a decade. Tenured faculty whose positions were eliminated under the current plan have been given one-year contracts. They will lose their jobs as of summer 2023.

Watch for Florida Memorial University. In FY 2020, it was able to write off $30 million in debt but still posted an $11 million deficit. In FY 2021, it had a $5.6 million deficit. As of FY 2020, its undergraduate FTE enrollment was down 40% from FY 2005. It had less than 50 graduate students.

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: Necessary Cuts or a 'Downward Spiral'?

Seems like both things are true.

[Jennifer Shanoski, president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers] worries the district is in a "downward spiral," where professors get cut because there aren't enough students, which limits students' course options, frustrates them and risks the district losing more students.

"It's like this self-propagating problem," she said. "I fully expect they will cut us again next year."

Jannett Jackson, interim chancellor at the district, said strategically cutting courses that enroll fewer than 25 students is an unfortunate but necessary step to shore up the district's financial health amid enrollment declines. Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

[marshwiggle]

IHE: Necessary Cuts or a 'Downward Spiral'?

Seems like both things are true.

[Jennifer Shanoski, president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers] worries the district is in a "downward spiral," where professors get cut because there aren't enough students, which limits students' course options, frustrates them and risks the district losing more students.

"It's like this self-propagating problem," she said. "I fully expect they will cut us again next year."

Jannett Jackson, interim chancellor at the district, said strategically cutting courses that enroll fewer than 25 students is an unfortunate but necessary step to shore up the district's financial health amid enrollment declines. Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

This part seems like a no-brainer that no-one should have a problem with. (No-one should expect to get paid for teaching zero students.)

[jimbogumbo]

OTOH, at my place three students is a net gain for the university if the instructor is an adjunct.

[Wahoo Redux]

Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

This part seems like a no-brainer that no-one should have a problem with. (No-one should expect to get paid for teaching zero students.)
[/quote]

No one is saying run the courses with no students, Marshy.

What some are saying is that, no matter how you parse it, this signals the decline and devolution of this institution as fewer students sign up for fewer course offerings.

[marshwiggle]

Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

This part seems like a no-brainer that no-one should have a problem with. (No-one should expect to get paid for teaching zero students.)

No one is saying run the courses with no students, Marshy.

I was referring to this:

Jennifer Shanoski, president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers] worries the district is in a "downward spiral," where professors get cut because there aren't enough students, which limits students' course options, frustrates them and risks the district losing more students.

"It's like this self-propagating problem," she said. "I fully expect they will cut us again next year."

If there are no students registered in a course, it's not part of the downward spiral. It's exactly the right situation to cancel a course.

[apl68]

Some of our news articles on this thread have touched on something like this.  Once word gets around that an institution is in decline, there is a tendency for potential students not to give it a chance.  This accelerates the decline.  It's one reason why struggling colleges try so hard to conceal just how bad a shape they're in--they're afraid that everybody will decide they're finished, and that decision will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Although the motive is understandable, this sort of thing is how schools can end up going bust right in the middle of the academic year and leaving students and faculty in the lurch.

[dismalist]

It's like with bankruptcy. First it happens slowly, then it happens quickly.

[Wahoo Redux]

Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

This part seems like a no-brainer that no-one should have a problem with. (No-one should expect to get paid for teaching zero students.)

No one is saying run the courses with no students, Marshy.

I was referring to this:

Jennifer Shanoski, president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers] worries the district is in a "downward spiral," where professors get cut because there aren't enough students, which limits students' course options, frustrates them and risks the district losing more students.

"It's like this self-propagating problem," she said. "I fully expect they will cut us again next year."

If there are no students registered in a course, it's not part of the downward spiral. It's exactly the right situation to cancel a course.

Oh Marshy...

[Wahoo Redux]

Some of our news articles on this thread have touched on something like this.  Once word gets around that an institution is in decline, there is a tendency for potential students not to give it a chance.  This accelerates the decline.  It's one reason why struggling colleges try so hard to conceal just how bad a shape they're in--they're afraid that everybody will decide they're finished, and that decision will turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Although the motive is understandable, this sort of thing is how schools can end up going bust right in the middle of the academic year and leaving students and faculty in the lurch.

This is what I am afraid is happening with our institution.  We keep getting cuts and Kremlin-level doublespeak from administration as student and the community are getting angry.  We have had some good news regarding large donations, but these have done nothing to buoy the university, and our press is generally bad.  Even our teams are losing.  Our retention and graduation rates are terrible and getting worse.  And we are losing about 500 students a semester.

[marshwiggle]

Of the 56 course sections cut this term, there were just three students registered per class on average, and 53 percent of the sections had no students registered.

This part seems like a no-brainer that no-one should have a problem with. (No-one should expect to get paid for teaching zero students.)

No one is saying run the courses with no students, Marshy.

I was referring to this:

Jennifer Shanoski, president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers] worries the district is in a "downward spiral," where professors get cut because there aren't enough students, which limits students' course options, frustrates them and risks the district losing more students.

"It's like this self-propagating problem," she said. "I fully expect they will cut us again next year."

If there are no students registered in a course, it's not part of the downward spiral. It's exactly the right situation to cancel a course.

Oh Marshy...

So can you explain to me how students not having the option to take a course that they didn't want enough to sign up for frustrates them? (I'm guessing that you're suggesting somehow this IS part of a downward spiral, but given the reasoning above it wouldn't seem to apply to this situation. Of course, you could be cryptically implying something completely unrelated, in which case I have no idea what.)