Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[apl68]

Thanks ahead of time for your help in understanding how likely two-year community colleges are to close... I'm working in a medium-sized (roughly 10,000 students) public two-year community college and am trying to figure out how vulnerable we may be in the future!

In terms of closing, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 most vulnerable, your institution is -5.Two-year CCs with 10,000 students are not going to close right now in the absence of something like an attack by space aliens.

Yes, a school that size will easily have a large enough constituency to have friends in the state's legislature.  Nor is it going to be consolidated or busted down to vo-tech status overnight, even given the Covid-19 disruption.  Some programs might close, and the gen-ed programs might erode, but they're not going away all at once.

[spork]

Guilford College has furloughed more than half of its non-faculty employees:

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/10/colleges-announce-furloughs-and-layoffs-financial-challenges-mount.

Furloughs at other schools discussed in the article.

[spork]

Columbia College, South Carolina:

The president has resigned; she was named interim president in 2017 and was hired as president in 2018. The new interim president was president 1988-1997.

The college ran deficits FYs 2011 through 2017. Undergraduate FTE in 2018 was 1,200; the year before it was 1,360. It is trying to go co-ed and plans to admit male students possibly beginning in 2021.

[polly_mer]

Northwest Missouri State is the example in an IHE article about how states are cutting public funds for next year.  Losing 9% of an already tight budget isn't going to be good and the stimulus isn't enough to even cover the loss of room and board from this spring.

Another example from the article is Rutgers University.

Rutgers University lost $73 million. The cut hurts, considering Rutgers will receive only $54 million from the federal stimulus package -- a figure a Rutgers spokeswoman called "woefully short." Including the state cut, the university is slated to lose $200 million in just the next three months, including $50 million in room and board refunds, she said.

[Hegemony]

I feel as if we have all suddenly moved into the category of "Colleges in Dire Financial Straits."  My U is an already-underfunded mid-tier flagship state university, and we are hemorrhaging money. We've lost $25 million on the students being sent home from university housing, and a lot of students are dropping classes this term — who knows whether they'll re-enroll if there are more terms of online teaching, as there may well be. All hiring is frozen. Some departments have been told they can't accept grad students for next year.  Staff have been laid off in their hundreds and some non-tenure-track people have already been told they will not be renewed.  Now the discussion is whether to cut tenure-track salaries or close departments, or both. 

However, we all notice that the expensive sports construction is going ahead as planned, and the expensive new coach positions are still being advertised. (Salary: ~$800,000.)  I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this like dedicated funding streams, but it is not making any of the rest of us feel like sacrificing for the common good.

[Wahoo Redux]

However, we all notice that the expensive sports construction is going ahead as planned, and the expensive new coach positions are still being advertised. (Salary: ~$800,000.)  I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this like dedicated funding streams, but it is not making any of the rest of us feel like sacrificing for the common good.

Publicize. 

[polly_mer]

Some departments have been told they can't accept grad students for next year.

University of Arizona has withdrawn funded graduate offers, but grad students who want to attend without funding are still admitted if they commit soon.

Discussion on the UA situation continues at http://dailynous.com/2020/04/08/u-arizona-retracts-ph-d-funding-pandemic/

[polly_mer]

However, we all notice that the expensive sports construction is going ahead as planned, and the expensive new coach positions are still being advertised. (Salary: ~$800,000.)  I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this like dedicated funding streams, but it is not making any of the rest of us feel like sacrificing for the common good.

Publicize.

What difference do you think it will make?  "Everyone" already knows that athletics at many places have resources that could be used for something else like faculty or academic support.  People like athletics and many of those people have the money and other resources to make their wishes known.

It's sort of like thinking that Harvard's abrupt eviction of dorm residents or University of Chicago's failure to refund tuition for labs that aren't nearly as good online will somehow matter.  Nope, if they call tomorrow, almost no one will refuse based on this one incident.

[Wahoo Redux]

However, we all notice that the expensive sports construction is going ahead as planned, and the expensive new coach positions are still being advertised. (Salary: ~$800,000.)  I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this like dedicated funding streams, but it is not making any of the rest of us feel like sacrificing for the common good.

Publicize.

What difference do you think it will make?  "Everyone" already knows that athletics at many places have resources that could be used for something else like faculty or academic support.  People like athletics and many of those people have the money and other resources to make their wishes known.

It's sort of like thinking that Harvard's abrupt eviction of dorm residents or University of Chicago's failure to refund tuition for labs that aren't nearly as good online will somehow matter.  Nope, if they call tomorrow, almost no one will refuse based on this one incident.

You do realize, Polly, that your automatic response is ALWAYS to deny that there is anything to be done.

I disagree.  These are not ordinary times.  And no, not "everyone" knows these things. Perhaps it will not do any good.  Or it might.  You don't know.

[sockknitter]

I feel as if we have all suddenly moved into the category of "Colleges in Dire Financial Straits."  My U is an already-underfunded mid-tier flagship state university, and we are hemorrhaging money. We've lost $25 million on the students being sent home from university housing, and a lot of students are dropping classes this term — who knows whether they'll re-enroll if there are more terms of online teaching, as there may well be. All hiring is frozen. Some departments have been told they can't accept grad students for next year.  Staff have been laid off in their hundreds and some non-tenure-track people have already been told they will not be renewed.  Now the discussion is whether to cut tenure-track salaries or close departments, or both. 

However, we all notice that the expensive sports construction is going ahead as planned, and the expensive new coach positions are still being advertised. (Salary: ~$800,000.)  I'm sure there are all kinds of reasons for this like dedicated funding streams, but it is not making any of the rest of us feel like sacrificing for the common good.

I don't know how bad things are at my institution, because our largest college within the university had already started the academic year several million dollars in the hole thanks to our new funding model. Despite our president's efforts to encourage students to live on campus (let's start a football team!), we are still largely a commuter school. We're issuing partial refunds on housing and board, but maybe our low residential numbers is the silver lining for us.

[polly_mer]

I disagree.  These are not ordinary times.  And no, not "everyone" knows these things. Perhaps it will not do any good.  Or it might.  You don't know.

Honest question, what specific publicity actions do you recommend taking and why will that work now when it never has in the past?

The University of Iowa has stated it will be making cuts to its athletic budget: https://dailyiowan.com/2020/04/09/iowa-ad-gary-barta-anticipates-financial-changes-within-athletic-department-amid-covid-19/

However, it's pretty unlikely that they will just cut everything and give up athletics entirely.  You might want to read up on what value athletics has to institutions and why even losing money directly on athletics can be worth the tradeoff to the institution in other ways.

It's true that no one can predict exactly what will happen with absolute certainty.  However, based on decades of reading higher ed literature and why college athletics just don't go away, even when they are clearly losing money, the smart bet is on cutting things that are easier to rebuild quickly than athletics.  If we're just talking teaching, hiring even 1000 good teachers is much easier when the money comes back than rebuilding a good athletics program from scratch.

It's true that no one knows exactly what will happen, but humans are humans.  Americans believe in athletics as part of college.  Unlike the trends in majors and adjunct attrition that likely will be accelerated as a cost-savings measure, there wasn't any large scale trend in athletics that can be accelerated under the guise of "hard" budget decisions that are actually just not letting a good crisis go to waste.

[jimbogumbo]

I disagree.  These are not ordinary times.  And no, not "everyone" knows these things. Perhaps it will not do any good.  Or it might.  You don't know.

Honest question, what specific publicity actions do you recommend taking and why will that work now when it never has in the past?

The University of Iowa has stated it will be making cuts to its athletic budget: https://dailyiowan.com/2020/04/09/iowa-ad-gary-barta-anticipates-financial-changes-within-athletic-department-amid-covid-19/

However, it's pretty unlikely that they will just cut everything and give up athletics entirely.  You might want to read up on what value athletics has to institutions and why even losing money directly on athletics can be worth the tradeoff to the institution in other ways.

It's true that no one can predict exactly what will happen with absolute certainty.  However, based on decades of reading higher ed literature and why college athletics just don't go away, even when they are clearly losing money, the smart bet is on cutting things that are easier to rebuild quickly than athletics.  If we're just talking teaching, hiring even 1000 good teachers is much easier when the money comes back than rebuilding a good athletics program from scratch.

It's true that no one knows exactly what will happen, but humans are humans.  Americans believe in athletics as part of college.  Unlike the trends in majors and adjunct attrition that likely will be accelerated as a cost-savings measure, there wasn't any large scale trend in athletics that can be accelerated under the guise of "hard" budget decisions that are actually just not letting a good crisis go to waste.

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I am pretty confident the discussions about cuts in athletic departments in the SEC, Big10, Pac 12, ACC and Big 12 wii be substantially different than in the rest of the NCAA because of the past revenue from the FBS Championship, NCAA tournament and their television networks. Similarly, the Ivies with their large endowments. The former don't need to subsidize athletics as much, and the latter just don't notice the cost in the general fund.

The rest? Athletics subsidies are a much bigger percentage of general fund expenditures. When THOSE schools announce substantial athletic cuts I'll pay attention.

[dismalist]

Well, what goes around comes around: Don't we have something here: The athletic resources help prepare students for jobs! :-)

[Wahoo Redux]

I disagree.  These are not ordinary times.  And no, not "everyone" knows these things. Perhaps it will not do any good.  Or it might.  You don't know.

Honest question, what specific publicity actions do you recommend taking and why will that work now when it never has in the past?

I'm getting tired of answering the same challenges.  I've answered that particular one several times. 

I don't know what will work now.  I am just suggesting we try.

Yes sweetie, I know you think you are very wise and knowledgeable because, gosh you're smart, you've sat on some committees once.  Okay, that's some snark.  But I've talked about athletics and my alma mater a number of times.  You simply don't present anything that's not common knowledge.

If you want to talk, please pay attention.

And now is a much different time than any time in the past.  In fact, 2020 is unprecedented in a number of ways.  You recognize that, don't you?

[secundem_artem]

I disagree.  These are not ordinary times.  And no, not "everyone" knows these things. Perhaps it will not do any good.  Or it might.  You don't know.

Honest question, what specific publicity actions do you recommend taking and why will that work now when it never has in the past?

I'm getting tired of answering the same challenges.  I've answered that particular one several times. 

I don't know what will work now.  I am just suggesting we try.

Yes sweetie, I know you think you are very wise and knowledgeable because, gosh you're smart, you've sat on some committees once.  Okay, that's some snark.  But I've talked about athletics and my alma mater a number of times.  You simply don't present anything that's not common knowledge.

If you want to talk, please pay attention.

And now is a much different time than any time in the past.  In fact, 2020 is unprecedented in a number of ways.  You recognize that, don't you?

You are making this personal.  Knock it off.  I get it - you're frustrated.  Fair enough.  But once this devolves into "sweetie" and "you are very wise", you are not serving your argument well.  As LarryC once told me on the old fora "You're better than this. Stop it."