Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[jimbogumbo]

Yes to what apl said upthread. One of The really big problems is that those areas were for decades supplied with local students who stayed in the area after they graduated. The institutions are being hit with both the more recent demographic shifts including fewer local students due to birthrate, out-migration relative to in-migration and the manner in which we as a country are not educating young rural and minority kids in a way that prepares them for college.

[Wahoo Redux]

Pardon me. I should have said "relevance to income". As you have noted earlier, like it or not, that's a big deal in peoples' minds. (And most people will equate that with the actual employment choices available.)

I'd be happy to hear of rural areas where very few people pursuing higher education (or their parents) are concerned about whether or not this will affect their future earnings.

Ad nauseam, my good friend, you say the same thing that has been said ad nauseam and is never in contention in the first place.

And that attitude is part of what is happening to education.  Actually, having taught in a rural area with a great many 1st-gen students, the college degree represents something much bigger and more profound than just income.

But you are pardoned anyway. 

[Wahoo Redux]

New Jersey university profs set to strike

[Stockmann]

It strikes me that a lot of the issues that are being blamed for some of these schools being in dire straits are systemic issues not directly to do with HE at all - and can't be solved by these institutions at all. Demographic issues, obviously, but even the thing about commuting - I'm pretty sure the students in my (non-US) institution are generally poorer, and commutes of over an hour are not uncommon - but there's a large network of cheap public transportation in the area, whereas I'm sure for most of these US institutions, horseback and mountain bike are more realistic options than public transportation (and I'm not saying horses and mountain bikes are realistic options). For a lot of these places, it doesn't sound like their HE institutions have a future other than by getting big(ger) taxpayer subsidies - and those don't look like they're forthcoming (who wants to pay for them?).

[Wahoo Redux]

For a lot of these places, it doesn't sound like their HE institutions have a future other than by getting big(ger) taxpayer subsidies - and those don't look like they're forthcoming (who wants to pay for them?).

Yup.

And maybe some of these campuses in question should be closed and will be closed.

[marshwiggle]

For a lot of these places, it doesn't sound like their HE institutions have a future other than by getting big(ger) taxpayer subsidies - and those don't look like they're forthcoming (who wants to pay for them?).

Yup.

And maybe some of these campuses in question should be closed and will be closed.

The big question is whether there should be some co-ordination in this, so that it happens with a minimum of chaos, rather than just letting everything occur haphazardly. For instance, if there are several institutions in a geographical area which are all struggling, there are probably some of them whose closing would be less painful for the entire region, including the other institutions, than others.

[Mobius]

Pennsylvania just did this by consolidating six universities down to two. Only time will tell. I can see it struggling with students reluctant to move (even a small distance) if a program is only offered at a certain campus.

[spork]

Wells College, Aurora, NY.

[downer]

Wells College, Aurora, NY.

I don't see any news items about Wells. What's the dealio?

[Hibush]

Wells College, Aurora, NY.

I don't see any news items about Wells. What's the dealio?

They have a new director of admissions who comes from Ithaca College, a school that may be on sounder financial footing after letting 116 faculty FTE go during covid. It will be a challenging job!

[Wahoo Redux]

For real?

UWM asks faculty to volunteer to work in the dining hall

Labor shortage or worse? 

[marshwiggle]

For real?

UWM asks faculty to volunteer to work in the dining hall

Labor shortage or worse?

From the article:

On Friday, Sept. 2, the school administrators sent faculty and staff an email asking them to volunteer their time to cook and serve food and help clean up those dining halls.

That is freaking insane. (Not just the volunteer part, but that they're so ridiculously understaffed in the first place.)

[Mobius]

For real?

UWM asks faculty to volunteer to work in the dining hall

Labor shortage or worse?

From the article:

On Friday, Sept. 2, the school administrators sent faculty and staff an email asking them to volunteer their time to cook and serve food and help clean up those dining halls.

That is freaking insane. (Not just the volunteer part, but that they're so ridiculously understaffed in the first place.)

They could hire students and pay the going wage for food service.

[apl68]

For real?

UWM asks faculty to volunteer to work in the dining hall

Labor shortage or worse?

I'm guessing labor shortage, with utterly shameless and clueless leadership in Dining Services and elsewhere in administration.  I mean, really!  You could just about see polly's "Super Dinky College" pulling something like this toward the end, but this is a large public university.

[mythbuster]

We currently have a custodial staff of 10 for a campus of 15,000. They had to call in a temp service to cover the dorms. So I believe that it's a labor shortage. What they should do instead is convert all those jobs to student work study.