Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Wahoo Redux]

Just in case anyone is interested in buying Green Mountain College's campus.

http://www.maltzauctions.com/auction/363014/155-acre-college-campus/

"Potential Alternative Uses Include Religious Compound, Assisted Living, Housing, Summer Camp, Addiction Retreat and Many Others"

If you are feeling snoopy, they have a document with detailed financial and condition information, but you have to sign an NDA to see it.

Maybe those on the Fora can chip in to get at least the $3M minimum bid together! :-)

I'm in for $5.  Do I get to choose my office?

[Hibush]

frankly the thing is waning for sure all over

Not sure about that - check the southern states, and MA.

The rural Northeast did a good job isolating, so there has been low pressure. That created fertile ground for denialists, who are abundant in Western PA where Allegheny is located. I expect reckless behavior to set in soon. This area might look like Mississippi by the time the Fall semester is supposed to start.

Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) is already one of Pennyslvania's new hotspots, tripling its caseload from two weeks age and leading the charge into an ugly fall for school reopening. 

Which brings us back to the perennial topic of the oversupply of public colleges in depopulating Western PA.

Erie County has decided that they don't have enough colleges and will open a new community college, charging IHE story

The boosters are not looking to compete with LACs in educational vision. "We envision a world-class workforce development center that will serve as an economic engine to provide socio-economic mobility and equity for everyone in our community."

They may compete economically with the pricy PASSHE public colleges, though. The annual tuition is targeted at $2,400. Edinboro seems most at risk; they also offer AAs. Northern PA Regional College thought they were the CC serving Erie County, so it's leaders are puzzled/miffed.

[polly_mer]

Colorado higher ed facing a tough year, particularly the already underfunded institutions, as Colorado faces a budget shortfall of $3.3B

[Puget]

Colorado higher ed facing a tough year, particularly the already underfunded institutions, as Colorado faces a budget shortfall of $3.3B

Yes, it is bad-- I did my PhD there and still have many colleagues there. They are starting from an already low bar, with one of the lowest state contributions to higher ed (CU Boulder gets <5% of revenue from the state).

One of the problems in CO is that it is way too easy to amend the state constitution by ballot initiative, so over the decades nearly all of the state budget has been set aside for restricted purposes-- most of these are fine in and of themselves (K-12, roads, etc.), but collectively it leaves the state government almost no room to adapt to changing needs. On top of that, the people in their infinite wisdom way back in 1992 based a "tax payers bill of rights" which significantly restricts the ability to raise revenue and save for a rainy day. It didn't matter so much for a long time because the economy was booming with lots of new tech jobs and tourism, so efforts to repeal it never quite made it. But now the monsoon has come and they don't have many tools to address it. 

[apl68]

Our state just restored some recent cuts to higher education.  It turns out they didn't lose as much revenue as anticipated due to the pandemic, so they had some left to put back in.  At least schools like HSU that were already having problems aren't about to be worse off.

[polly_mer]

Colorado higher ed facing a tough year, particularly the already underfunded institutions, as Colorado faces a budget shortfall of $3.3B

Yes, it is bad-- I did my PhD there and still have many colleagues there. They are starting from an already low bar, with one of the lowest state contributions to higher ed (CU Boulder gets <5% of revenue from the state).

One of the problems in CO is that it is way too easy to amend the state constitution by ballot initiative, so over the decades nearly all of the state budget has been set aside for restricted purposes-- most of these are fine in and of themselves (K-12, roads, etc.), but collectively it leaves the state government almost no room to adapt to changing needs. On top of that, the people in their infinite wisdom way back in 1992 based a "tax payers bill of rights" which significantly restricts the ability to raise revenue and save for a rainy day. It didn't matter so much for a long time because the economy was booming with lots of new tech jobs and tourism, so efforts to repeal it never quite made it. But now the monsoon has come and they don't have many tools to address it.

I continue to be amused and frustrated as I follow the national news.  For example, the typical annual budget for CU is about half the budget for our entire state.  Yet Colorado is listed as underfunding education and my state (on a per-student basis) is above average.

[Wahoo Redux]

Colorado higher ed facing a tough year, particularly the already underfunded institutions, as Colorado faces a budget shortfall of $3.3B

Yes, it is bad-- I did my PhD there and still have many colleagues there. They are starting from an already low bar, with one of the lowest state contributions to higher ed (CU Boulder gets <5% of revenue from the state).

One of the problems in CO is that it is way too easy to amend the state constitution by ballot initiative, so over the decades nearly all of the state budget has been set aside for restricted purposes-- most of these are fine in and of themselves (K-12, roads, etc.), but collectively it leaves the state government almost no room to adapt to changing needs. On top of that, the people in their infinite wisdom way back in 1992 based a "tax payers bill of rights" which significantly restricts the ability to raise revenue and save for a rainy day. It didn't matter so much for a long time because the economy was booming with lots of new tech jobs and tourism, so efforts to repeal it never quite made it. But now the monsoon has come and they don't have many tools to address it.

I continue to be amused and frustrated as I follow the national news.  For example, the typical annual budget for CU is about half the budget for our entire state.  Yet Colorado is listed as underfunding education and my state (on a per-student basis) is above average.

Could you explain that a little more, Polly?  I'm not sure I followed. 

[jimbogumbo]

For K-12 Colorado is at around 40th per pupil of the 50 + DC. K-12 is definitely underfunded. That is what I see mentioned most for underfunding.

[jimbogumbo]

For K-12 Colorado is at around 40th per pupil of the 50 + DC. K-12 is definitely underfunded. That is what I see mentioned most for underfunding.

For higher ed Colorado is sixth from the bottom for 50 + DC + PR.

https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators/states/indicator/state-support-for-higher-education-per-fte-student/table

[spork]

University of Akron trustees vote to eliminate 97 full-time faculty positions. Must. Subsidize. NCAA Division I. Athletics.

[polly_mer]

The CU system is listed as having an annual budget of $4.8B under normal conditions.

That is more than half the amount that our state is discussing as the total budget (I.e., everything the state funds, not just higher ed) for the whole year.  Per Wikipedia, that's more than the budget for the entire state of Delaware; 13 states are listed as having total budgets of $10B or less.

Education gets listed as underfunded, but there's too much need for many things and too little money to go around.

I live in an affluent community in a poor state whose main funding sources took a big hit in the past few months.  I don't have a lot of sympathy for the higher ed systems that are facing minor-percentagewise cuts that are dollar amounts bigger than our whole budget for social service line items.

[jimbogumbo]

The CU system is listed as having an annual budget of $4.8B under normal conditions.

That is more than half the amount that our state is discussing as the total budget (I.e., everything the state funds, not just higher ed) for the whole year.  Per Wikipedia, that's more than the budget for the entire state of Delaware; 13 states are listed as having total budgets of $10B or less.

Education gets listed as underfunded, but there's too much need for many things and too little money to go around.

I live in an affluent community in a poor state whose main funding sources took a big hit in the past few months.  I don't have a lot of sympathy for the higher ed systems that are facing minor-percentagewise cuts that are dollar amounts bigger than our whole budget for social service line items.

I simply don't get your comparisons (I guess a better way to say that is they are specious). That is why I gave PPS figures.

[polly_mer]

My point goes to the continuing discussion that blanket calls more money for higher ed education tends to ignore the realities of having many priorities and limited money.

CU is not hurting for money in an absolute sense nor are any of their competitors.  They will weather this just fine and college education will continue to exist in the US.

However, many states cannot afford to be propping up every tiny little higher ed institution that currently exists because the states have too little money.  The discrepancies between various entities means step one is to look at the overall dollar amount available and step two is then to prioritize.

Starting from 'we have to keep X essentially the same' doesn't work.

[jimbogumbo]

More from Akron: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/16/budget-bloodbath-university-akron

[TreadingLife]

More from Akron: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/16/budget-bloodbath-university-akron

The union says names were selected regardless of rank or tenure status.

I didn't see the word "financial exigency" used in the article. How are they able to pick and choose faculty at random, even those with tenure status, if they aren't eliminating entire programs (which they already did)?