Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

IHE:  Two stories in "Quick Takes" on layoffs:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/layoffs-maryland-institute-college-art

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/second-round-layoffs-erie-cc

One on an art institute closure:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/18/failed-attempt-merger-kills-san-francisco-art-institute

These are hard times for art institutes.

[AmLitHist]

Also from IHE:  Erie CC does a second round of layoffs.

At a CC myself, I continue to worry. So far we're OK--down some % today, but our campus is notorious for last-minute enrollments. It always a concern, though. We're building shiny new buildings, whether anyone is here to use them or not....

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE:  Two stories in "Quick Takes" on layoffs:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/layoffs-maryland-institute-college-art

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/second-round-layoffs-erie-cc

One on an art institute closure:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/18/failed-attempt-merger-kills-san-francisco-art-institute

These are hard times for art institutes.

I also had a dream of working as an academic at an art institute somewhere.  Seeing these just kills me.

[apl68]

Henderson State University professor of biology James Engman talks about how he has just taken his final group of students on a study abroad trip to Belize.  His department is one of the many being axed. 


https://www.hotsr.com/news/2022/jul/17/watch-hsu-professor-takes-biologystudents-on/


Just one example of the horizon-broadening opportunities that students in the region will no longer have in the future.  Have to say, though, the article is written in such a way that it makes the trip sound more like a kind of subsidized vacation than a study abroad opportunity, which is not the image you want to convey when trying to make the case for continuing things like this elsewhere.

[mythbuster]

The trip sounds similar to many that we run to the Galapagos etc. This kind of trip is the culminating event after a semester long course in the topic on campus. The faculty teach the course and lead the trip. My guess is that students had assignments associated with each stop on the trip that they needed to complete. ID the fish, interview the fisherman etc. It works well as an end of semester synthesis of topics already discussed. And I wouldn't read too much into the fact that they stayed at "resorts" - often these are just where you get the best deals to accommodate large groups.

These types of course and trip combos are much more possible for our students who are lower SES and cannot take he time off from jobs for a full study abroad semester. Two weeks they can swing, but not much longer than that.

I am a bit surprised at the lack of diversity among the students in the photo though. I wonder if not knowing how to swim is a hidden barrier?

[apl68]

The trip sounds similar to many that we run to the Galapagos etc. This kind of trip is the culminating event after a semester long course in the topic on campus. The faculty teach the course and lead the trip. My guess is that students had assignments associated with each stop on the trip that they needed to complete. ID the fish, interview the fisherman etc. It works well as an end of semester synthesis of topics already discussed. And I wouldn't read too much into the fact that they stayed at "resorts" - often these are just where you get the best deals to accommodate large groups.

I know this, and you know it, but nuances like this may not come across to ordinary taxpayers and so forth who read about student study abroad trips.  I wish the article had done a better job of getting what all the trip involves across.  The prof no doubt spelled it all out in his interview, but this is what made it into the article.

[Harlow2]

IHE:  Two stories in "Quick Takes" on layoffs:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/layoffs-maryland-institute-college-art

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/07/18/second-round-layoffs-erie-cc

One on an art institute closure:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/07/18/failed-attempt-merger-kills-san-francisco-art-institute

These are hard times for art institutes.

I also had a dream of working as an academic at an art institute somewhere.  Seeing these just kills me.

As did I.  I was accepted to a grad program at MICA and was very impressed (ended up elsewhere a bit closer to my then-home).  Several of my professors attended San Francisco. This is distressing news.

[Wahoo Redux]

This one is just a cluster #$@!

IHE: Education Department Shuts a 'Free' Program for Union Members

[Hibush]

This one is just a cluster #$@!

IHE: Education Department Shuts a 'Free' Program for Union Members

Good idea to offer it, bad idea to misappropriate funds to pay for it. Sometimes I wonder about the financial controls at some places. I have many layers of administrative staff who would each stop an initiative like this.

[Morden]

Laurentian University, a public institution in Ontario, is reaching the end of its court process. And its president announced he is retiring.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/more-than-38m-in-lu-scholarship-bursary-donations-is-gone-court-filing-shows-1.5998652
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/laurentian-president-steps-down-1.6528309

[Wahoo Redux]

IHE: NJ City U "collapses"

It's complicated, apparently.

[Hibush]

Young White adults who left home in the past decade tended to end up in New York. Their Black peers were most likely to end up in Atlanta. And for their Hispanic and Asian friends, the top destination was Los Angeles, according to a high-powered new analysis from researchers at the Census Bureau and Harvard University.

These maps show how tough it will be to recruit Asian, Black and Hispanic students to the many Northeast colleges and universities in the big blank swath from Kenyon in eastern Ohio to Bates in southern Maine. How effective can those schools be if they fail to reflect the demographics of America's academic future?

[mamselle]

Are you thinking SLACs, primarily, or are you including R1/Ivies, which are more diversified in the area you describe?

M.

[dismalist]

Young White adults who left home in the past decade tended to end up in New York. Their Black peers were most likely to end up in Atlanta. And for their Hispanic and Asian friends, the top destination was Los Angeles, according to a high-powered new analysis from researchers at the Census Bureau and Harvard University.

These maps show how tough it will be to recruit Asian, Black and Hispanic students to the many Northeast colleges and universities in the big blank swath from Kenyon in eastern Ohio to Bates in southern Maine. How effective can those schools be if they fail to reflect the demographics of America's academic future?

This is fascinating! However, if I interpret the maps correctly, there is little reason for fearing clustering, for the dark colors on the maps represent a very low percentage of those in each group who moved. It's far from a uniform distribution, but what looks like clusters involve very few people.

Here, our eyes are leading us astray.

ETA: That's a criticism of the Washington Post citation. Your point is that you wish for more clustering, especially to the Northeast, which makes more sense.

[Hibush]

Are you thinking SLACs, primarily, or are you including R1/Ivies, which are more diversified in the area you describe?

M.

The big schools will be fine, I think. And the urban ones. In fact, Kenyon and Bates, the best of their particular kind, are probably fine also for maintaining enrollment and revenue. But the smaller privates and regional public campuses are not tops will be fighting for the declining number of local students and struggling to develop the ethnic diversity that a lot of prospective students want to see.