Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Anselm]

A merger between the Arkansas State University System and Henderson State University will provide a key opportunity for both universities to grow into the future, officials from both universities said Thursday.

This reads like something out of Bloomberg or the WSJ. 

[spork]

Cincinnati Christian University will close at the end of the semester: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/10/28/cincinnati-university-to-shutter-mid-year.html.

University of Saint Francis (IN) eliminates MFA; majors in history, philosophy, and math; entire political science program; etc.: https://image.s6.sfmc-content.com/lib/fe8f1272736d017c76/m/4/a63155f8-fadb-49a7-b4db-6c9031de81ba.pdf.

[Hibush]

University of Saint Francis (IN) eliminates MFA; majors in history, philosophy, and math; entire political science program; etc.:

Eliminating 15 majors will affect only 30 students. Were those majors already dead?
They are laying off 11 professors, though.

[apl68]

Cincinnati Christian University will close at the end of the semester: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/10/28/cincinnati-university-to-shutter-mid-year.html.

Falling enrollment, falling student retention, and debt.  It sounds like an all-too-familiar story.

[Hibush]

Cincinnati Christian University will close at the end of the semester: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2019/10/28/cincinnati-university-to-shutter-mid-year.html.

Falling enrollment, falling student retention, and debt.  It sounds like an all-too-familiar story.

From CHE:
With little planning, the university started a football program, laid off administrative staff and faculty members to cut costs, and revised its academic mission. But its retention and graduation rates suffered.

So the more-football-fewer-classes plan didn't work at all. Forumites have been skeptical of this approach.

Putting someone in charge who is trying to pull the assets out of the instituion is also unhelpful.
"President Ronald E. Heineman is a former board member who was also appointed chief restructuring officer by the bank. That situation led Heineman to put the interests of the bank that extended credit to Cincinnati Christian above the interests of the institution itself. He also owes more than a million dollars in unpaid state taxes.

The university has now spent the entirety of its $4-million endowment.  The school owed nearly $6 million to Central Bank and Trust, which has claim to all of the university's assets"

[tuxthepenguin]

So the more-football-fewer-classes plan didn't work at all. Forumites have been skeptical of this approach.

If you want to call NAIA football.

[polly_mer]

Morehouse College has decided to not implement the announced plan for furloughs and reducing contributions to the 403(b) plan

Morehouse announced the cuts last month to fill a $5 million budget gap owed by 500 current students in unpaid tuition and fees.
...
[The president of Morehouse] warned the college remains "significantly challenged" to meet its monthly operating costs of about $5 million a month.

Thus, the college is missing an entire month of operating costs at the start of the year.  That seems like a problem, especially with recent articles like:

https://theundefeated.com/features/trump-signs-executive-order-on-hbcus/ (but not enough follow-through)

https://theundefeated.com/features/state-of-hbcus-address-calls-for-more-federal-funding-accreditation-oversight/ (accreditors are harsher on HCBUs in some cases)

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/20/alexander-blocks-hbcu-funding-bill-proposes-broader-package-legislation (the current funding bill is not even getting the suggested band-aid)

[picard]

An update on Linfield College's restructuring initiative, which now plans to offer early retirement and buyouts to faculty members:

By the time [new president] Davis arrived, Linfield had already taken a number of cost-cutting measures. In a February 2019 message to the Linfield community, Davis shared a summary of cuts the board of trustees had already approved over the last four years: 

    Elimination of administration and staff positions
    Hiring freezes of administration, staff and faculty positions
    No general salary increases for employees
    Reduction in retirement benefits
    Operating budget cuts
    Reduction in capital spending (monies used to maintain and/or upgrade facilities)
    Use of one-time funds; e.g. sales of property
    Tuition increases
    Offering early retirement to qualified employees

"A part of the College's restructuring and academic prioritization process will be to eliminate some faculty positions that were consistent in a time when we had more than 1600 students, but are not sustainable in our present circumstances (1240 students)," wrote Davis last February. "

Full story: https://www.opb.org/news/article/linfield-college-budget-enrollment-trends/

[polly_mer]

Marlboro is now being absorbed by Emerson after talks with Bridgeport fell through.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/06/emerson-plans-absorb-marlboro

[spork]

Marlboro is now being absorbed by Emerson after talks with Bridgeport fell through.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/06/emerson-plans-absorb-marlboro

More details: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/07/marlboro-will-become-part-emerson-college.

I wonder how many of the former Marlboro faculty are going to relocate. Only a couple look to be at or near retirement age.

[rth253]

St. Cloud State is laying off 4 tenured faculty and 4 tenured librarians. Enrollment has dropped about 20%-25% in the past 10 years. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/19/tenured-faculty-laid-st-cloud-state

[Caracal]

Marlboro is now being absorbed by Emerson after talks with Bridgeport fell through.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/06/emerson-plans-absorb-marlboro

More details: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/07/marlboro-will-become-part-emerson-college.

I wonder how many of the former Marlboro faculty are going to relocate. Only a couple look to be at or near retirement age.

I'd assume most? But maybe I'm wrong. The cost of living in Boston is brutal, but I wonder if a lot of faculty already have a partner living or working in the Boston area and some might be living there already.

[Hibush]

Marlboro is now being absorbed by Emerson after talks with Bridgeport fell through.

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/11/06/emerson-plans-absorb-marlboro

More details: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/11/07/marlboro-will-become-part-emerson-college.

I wonder how many of the former Marlboro faculty are going to relocate. Only a couple look to be at or near retirement age.

I'd assume most? But maybe I'm wrong. The cost of living in Boston is brutal, but I wonder if a lot of faculty already have a partner living or working in the Boston area and some might be living there already.

Marlboro had 24 faculty (17 tenured and 7 untenured) who are being offered untenured, but tenure-track positions. Marlboro is effectively giving Emerson $40 million in endowment funds to accept those faculty into tenurable faculty positions. That is not quite enough endowment to support 24 faculty, but the tuition from ~100 potential transfer students might help.

[picard]

This WSJ article from last Thursday (Nov 7) highlight the struggle of Occidental College, a SLAC based in a suburb of LA,  of trying to pursue a 'high road' admission strategy of recruiting low-income, first generation minority students by giving them generous scholarships and tuition discount, while eschewing the temptation of playing 'the admission game' of recruiting wealthy HS kids with subpar SAT scores and credentials who would also provide substantial donation to the college, as promoted by now indicted private college adviser Rick Singer.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-admissions-adviser-rick-singer-called-this-school-said-no-thanks-11573036202

Occidental managed to significantly diversify its student's body, but it came at a cost of an unstable financial stability and lower investment in services and fancy amenities for its students:

Today, Occidental is 49% nonwhite and attracts fewer wealthy students than the vast majority of its peers. It also boasts one of the highest percentage of poor and working-class students receiving Pell Grants and has one of the highest rates of economic mobility of its peers, according to Harvard economist Raj Chetty and Occidental.

But financial stress has followed. In 1995 Occidental's endowment ranked 120th in the nation. By last year it was 208th. The school has lost ground partly because of its commitment to enroll poor and working-class students who need grants. Occidental's need-blind enrollment program climbed from 11% of the budget in the mid-1980s to 24% by 1993...

The school eventually had to dip into its endowment to pay the bills. And today, while it maintains a strong reputation and a middling $434 million endowment, it still faces underlying fiscal issues.

In September, Moody's Investors Service revised the outlook on Occidental's $84 million in debt, which has a solid Aa3 rating, to negative from stable, citing the school's "commitment to affordability" and lagging fundraising.

These headwinds mean dormitories are cramped and nearly half are without air conditioning. The steel lawn-irrigation system installed in the 1930s is thoroughly rusted out. The campus is pretty and tranquil, but amenities pale when compared with those offered elsewhere: lazy rivers, palatial fitness centers, climbing gyms, high-tech libraries and swanky apartment-style dorms...

Unlike other schools, it doesn't heavily prioritize athletes or legacies in admissions.

[mamselle]

So it's being punished for doing everything (except fundraising) right.

Hhmmm...

M.