Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Cheerful]

Piling on...

https://www.beaconjournal.com/news/20191123/bob-dyer-university-of-akron-football-is-invisible

Any place adjusting basic things like the academic work week because of football deserves to go under.

I feel bad for anybody trying to hold down an academic job there.

+1  Great article, thanks, dr_codex.

[Wahoo Redux]

b) The programs that focus on the humanities are strong and well-placed: the dance and music programs attract world-class instructors and produce performers who end up in globally-recognized companies and orchestras. We had dancers-in-residence in the 1970s from India, Africa, and the British Isles as well as teaching residencies by Tharp, Fagan, and Cunningham in dance; the art, music, and theater programs had similar input and output....and still do.

Will this still be true when the national competition for enough students in those programs becomes even fiercer?

If there are only N students nationally and J programs nationally, then some programs just won't get enough students when N/J gets to under a number around 50.  Having great faculty at all the programs for an even division of too few students doesn't work, but that's OK because the division nationally will not be even across all programs.

There is something to be said for prestige.  I suppose it is a matter of how much a college is willing to support a program that is prestigious but loses money.  Interestingly, when I put that into Google, all I get are hits on sports programs losing money.

[polly_mer]

The question is the benefit of the prestige to the whole institution.  As a non-theatre/dance/related person, Akron doesn't even appear on my radar as something worthy of praise in those areas.

However, Akron has a very good polymer engineering program and good related more common STEM programs because of the local industry.  Were I just going on what I currently know about national conditions and could make binding decisions, then I'd pick programs that are prestigious  enough to draw full-pay students from national and international pools as well as bring in excellent research money, even at the undergrad level.

[polly_mer]

The president of the Rhode Island School of Design is predicting a $50 million deficit from losses in spring 2020 through the end of fiscal year 2021.

Here is the news story about RISD; forgot to include it earlier:

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20200629/risd-facing-50-million-deficit-to-lay-off-full-time-faculty.

The union rejected plans so now there will be layoffs of full-time faculty.  That reads like faculty didn't want to accept reality and now will be smacked in the face.

Perhaps the union did not accept reality and was, indeed smacked in the face.

Or, just as likely, members heard of all these "temporary" cuts, layoffs, furloughs, decreased pension contributions etc. and said "If we say yes to this, we're not ever getting any of it back.  So screw it, we stand firm and see what happens."

I know, Polly, that you are entirely data driven.  Not everybody is, and the logic of their lives makes as much sense to them, as the numbers do in your life.

My own practice as we face similar decisions at Artem U is, "As long as I got a job, I can live with this."  But I would not fault people who make different decisions.

The faculty are now taking cuts including to retirement contributions, so no layoffs for now.

[jimbogumbo]

Pennsylvania: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/17/pennsylvania-university-system-proposes-plan-redesign

[polly_mer]

Pennsylvania: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/17/pennsylvania-university-system-proposes-plan-redesign

Reading the assertions is sad and funny.  If there aren't real changes that result in some combination of substantial reduction in faculty/staff, substantial deduplication of everything needed to run a program, and substantial reduction in facilities, then there is no cost savings.

Adding a true partnership for the same program delivered at/from multiple sites costs more than having two separate programs, regardless of whether those programs are academic, athletic, co-curricular, or extra-curricular.

Individual institutions will see change that negatively impacts some humans currently employed/enrolled or there's no shot at actual cost savings.

[jimbogumbo]

Pennsylvania: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/17/pennsylvania-university-system-proposes-plan-redesign

Reading the assertions is sad and funny.  If there aren't real changes that result in some combination of substantial reduction in faculty/staff, substantial deduplication of everything needed to run a program, and substantial reduction in facilities, then there is no cost savings.

Adding a true partnership for the same program delivered at/from multiple sites costs more than having two separate programs, regardless of whether those programs are academic, athletic, co-curricular, or extra-curricular.

Individual institutions will see change that negatively impacts some humans currently employed/enrolled or there's no shot at actual cost savings.

I served on a school board of trustees for two terms. I made that point whenever constituents told us we needed to cut costs. My response was we had already cut as much as we could in peripheral costs (which was never much as a percentage) because the bulk of the money is always in people. Savings=fewer employees. It is a cold hard fact.

[polly_mer]

Pennsylvania: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/17/pennsylvania-university-system-proposes-plan-redesign

Reading the assertions is sad and funny.  If there aren't real changes that result in some combination of substantial reduction in faculty/staff, substantial deduplication of everything needed to run a program, and substantial reduction in facilities, then there is no cost savings.

Adding a true partnership for the same program delivered at/from multiple sites costs more than having two separate programs, regardless of whether those programs are academic, athletic, co-curricular, or extra-curricular.

Individual institutions will see change that negatively impacts some humans currently employed/enrolled or there's no shot at actual cost savings.

I served on a school board of trustees for two terms. I made that point whenever constituents told us we needed to cut costs. My response was we had already cut as much as we could in peripheral costs (which was never much as a percentage) because the bulk of the money is always in people. Savings=fewer employees. It is a cold hard fact.

When the HLC peer review team visited Super Dinky, they asked explicitly about our recent program cuts and how much we saved.  Saving $1800 each for an adjunct or two per term to free up faculty to teach a needed-to-graduate upper-division course of under six students was nothing.

Having one of the relevant faculty members retire so we could replace Dr. Expensive with someone making about half his salary would have saved substantially more money.  Most of those folks were making more than our entire adjunct budget for the year while teaching 7-9 sections over the year.

Having the whole department retire (only three people or fewer in some of those departments) and contracting with the two other institutions within a ten-minute drive for relevant gen ed courses would have given larger selection at lower cost, but the administration wouldn't make deals or go through with layoffs.

[marshwiggle]

Pennsylvania: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/07/17/pennsylvania-university-system-proposes-plan-redesign

Reading the assertions is sad and funny.  If there aren't real changes that result in some combination of substantial reduction in faculty/staff, substantial deduplication of everything needed to run a program, and substantial reduction in facilities, then there is no cost savings.

Adding a true partnership for the same program delivered at/from multiple sites costs more than having two separate programs, regardless of whether those programs are academic, athletic, co-curricular, or extra-curricular.

Individual institutions will see change that negatively impacts some humans currently employed/enrolled or there's no shot at actual cost savings.

I served on a school board of trustees for two terms. I made that point whenever constituents told us we needed to cut costs. My response was we had already cut as much as we could in peripheral costs (which was never much as a percentage) because the bulk of the money is always in people. Savings=fewer employees. It is a cold hard fact.

The number I recall hearing for our university was that *salaries account for about 80% of the budget. (*I assume that includes benefits, pensions, etc.) So saving on paperclips doesn't really make a whole lot of difference.

[polly_mer]

60-80% of budget being salaries, benefits, and similar is pretty typical with teaching places having a higher percentage and research places having a lower percentage.

Things get really interesting at small enough places that infrastructure and bureaucracy costs don't scale with enrollment so that the full-time CPA with up-to-date software shows up as a noticeable non-instructional expense.

We got to answer a lot of questions at Super Dinky on how we were an undergraduate-only institution with no research and somehow our budget was only about half instructional expenses and directly related support.

Well, five full-time security guards (i.e., one on duty 24/7 to answer mundane calls like unlocking doors and jumpstarting cars while allowing vacation and sick leave) is a substantial fraction of the 25-35 full-time faculty.

Having a business office with a CFO, a full-time CPA, and three clerks to deal with paying the bills and collecting revenue is another five people who aren't teaching.

The three people in the financial aid department and the two people in the registrar's office also aren't teaching, but we can't run the college without someone doing the job.

Another five people in facilities including custodians for cleaning aren't teaching, but we can't run without them.

An IT department of 3-5 aren't teaching, but we can't run as an organization without them

All told faculty were about a quarter of the employees and we didn't have much administration.  One title was along the lines of provost and dean of faculty and overseer of athletics and overseer of co-curricular activities and enforcer of all student academic issues and first responder to parental fires and representative to most community groups.

[spork]

Faculty cuts coming at Illinois Wesleyan:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-illinois-wesleyan-university-liberal-arts-program-cuts-20200716-yo337lghgrdmnpdl4xhfarzqe4-story.html.

[quasihumanist]

60-80% of budget being salaries, benefits, and similar is pretty typical with teaching places having a higher percentage and research places having a lower percentage.

Things get really interesting at small enough places that infrastructure and bureaucracy costs don't scale with enrollment so that the full-time CPA with up-to-date software shows up as a noticeable non-instructional expense.

We got to answer a lot of questions at Super Dinky on how we were an undergraduate-only institution with no research and somehow our budget was only about half instructional expenses and directly related support.

Well, five full-time security guards (i.e., one on duty 24/7 to answer mundane calls like unlocking doors and jumpstarting cars while allowing vacation and sick leave) is a substantial fraction of the 25-35 full-time faculty.

Having a business office with a CFO, a full-time CPA, and three clerks to deal with paying the bills and collecting revenue is another five people who aren't teaching.

The three people in the financial aid department and the two people in the registrar's office also aren't teaching, but we can't run the college without someone doing the job.

Another five people in facilities including custodians for cleaning aren't teaching, but we can't run without them.

An IT department of 3-5 aren't teaching, but we can't run as an organization without them

All told faculty were about a quarter of the employees and we didn't have much administration.  One title was along the lines of provost and dean of faculty and overseer of athletics and overseer of co-curricular activities and enforcer of all student academic issues and first responder to parental fires and representative to most community groups.

It's worth noting that, when we read about staffing at at most colleges and universities 100 years ago, being part-time security or part-time custodian or part-time groundskeeper or part-time librarian or part-time clerk would have been part of the job duties of faculty.

[apl68]

60-80% of budget being salaries, benefits, and similar is pretty typical with teaching places having a higher percentage and research places having a lower percentage.

Things get really interesting at small enough places that infrastructure and bureaucracy costs don't scale with enrollment so that the full-time CPA with up-to-date software shows up as a noticeable non-instructional expense.

We got to answer a lot of questions at Super Dinky on how we were an undergraduate-only institution with no research and somehow our budget was only about half instructional expenses and directly related support.

Well, five full-time security guards (i.e., one on duty 24/7 to answer mundane calls like unlocking doors and jumpstarting cars while allowing vacation and sick leave) is a substantial fraction of the 25-35 full-time faculty.

Having a business office with a CFO, a full-time CPA, and three clerks to deal with paying the bills and collecting revenue is another five people who aren't teaching.

The three people in the financial aid department and the two people in the registrar's office also aren't teaching, but we can't run the college without someone doing the job.

Another five people in facilities including custodians for cleaning aren't teaching, but we can't run without them.

An IT department of 3-5 aren't teaching, but we can't run as an organization without them

All told faculty were about a quarter of the employees and we didn't have much administration.  One title was along the lines of provost and dean of faculty and overseer of athletics and overseer of co-curricular activities and enforcer of all student academic issues and first responder to parental fires and representative to most community groups.

That is a pretty sad teeth-to-tail ratio.  And yet, as you note, they're all necessary (I do wonder about the five security guards.  Alma Mater was nearly three times the size of Super Dinky, and I doubt we had more than two or three full-time guards). 

[polly_mer]

8 h shifts is 3 shifts/day x 7 days/week=21 shifts to cover a week.  A normal workload is five shifts per week for a 40 h workweek.

That's a minimum of four people with a shift left over every week.

It's prudent to plan for vacation, sick, and personal days.  Thus, five people is pretty reasonable to ensure minimum coverage with options on overlaps for briefings, trainings, and meetings.  One of the five is likely a supervisor who does the paperwork and helps fill gaps.

[spork]

U Missouri-Columbia projecting 18% decline in first-time freshmen and a $24 million loss in tuition revenue and state allocations.