Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Hibush]

Head of New England Commission of Higher Education gives a stark finances reality check in an IHE piece:
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/10/13/head-regional-accrediting-agency-offers-guidance-institutions-potentially-financial

The writer expresses a belief that most institutions of higher education will survive--but that they'll likely need to make some uncongenial choices about changing their business models.  Which presumably means more of the sort of retrenchment with faculty layoffs, program and major closures, etc. that we've been seeing.

I got the sense that Trustees were the main target of that article. He thought a lot of them were not paying attention to the finances at all, and often discovered too late that the place was in a deep hole and dropping quickly. Or they were generally aware of the problem, but hired a string of presidents who were not empowered to change the business strategy to something sustainable. Or they'd bring one in who would try to make drastic unilateral changes that resulted in revolt.

[selecter]

Having formerly been at a (now closed) NECHE school where the board did exactly that ... my interpretation was the same. The board has a fiscal and long-term responsibility, and some of this stuff is just black and white.

[Hibush]

Keuka College, negative net revenue FYs 2015-2018:

https://www.fingerlakesdailynews.com/2020/09/23/633774/.

Keuka was Covid-free for a lot of the semester. But a single off-campus party on October 3 served as a superspreader event with 70 positive cases and growing as of October 15. As a result the campus has closed and they are sending everyone home. That turn of events may prevent the party-goers (and many others) from graduating from Keuka. They don't have the financial buffer to withstand a shut down.

[TreadingLife]

Follow-up article to the New England Commission of Higher Education report on enrollments.

Lasell University in Newton is mentioned in the article.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/16/metro/enrollment-plummeted-many-new-england-colleges/

[jimbogumbo]

Florida A&M: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/22/lawsuit-florida-am-pushed-out-cfo-who-flagged-athletics-deficits

[sonoamused]

Ithaca College "can't furlough enough staff to make up for the shortfalls, nor increase enrollment enough to keep the same number of faculty employed."

https://www.chronicle.com/article/2020-has-been-a-hard-year-for-higher-ed-could-2021-be-worse

The last line of that article likely reflects the attitude of many administrators this year.

"We can't delay," [Ithaca's Provost Cornish] said, " that would be kicking the can down the road, and we're not going to kick the can anymore. [emphasis added]

Looks like Ithaca's administrators realize they've been playing a delaying game. They're going to try to use the pandemic as the shock that gets stakeholders to realize major change is necessary, since their sector of higher education is contracting. I expect that small colleges who don't take similar attitudes will be gone or on life support in five years. Larger colleges need to be re-thinking every aspect of their programs, too, because parents and students who've paid for a year or two of socially distanced education may be less like to be willing to pay for the "college experience" as it developed in the USA in the post WWII era.

Follow up: they are letting go at least 100 faculty; with 130 jobs going entirely.  Given the overall enrollment drop,  it looks like they were ratio-wise, overstaffed.  https://www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca-college-to-cut-130-positions/article_623d2e7a-0cc8-11eb-9772-f382e829aca4.html

[spork]

Florida A&M: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/22/lawsuit-florida-am-pushed-out-cfo-who-flagged-athletics-deficits

Over a decade ago when I would see NCAA compliance data, there were only a handful of universities regularly showing "profitable" athletic programs. For the SEC, this was usually Alabama and Auburn. I know that Florida A&M is in some other, less famous conference.

Florida A&M's CFO was probably being told to cook the books and refused.

[jimbogumbo]

Florida A&M: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/22/lawsuit-florida-am-pushed-out-cfo-who-flagged-athletics-deficits

Over a decade ago when I would see NCAA compliance data, there were only a handful of universities regularly showing "profitable" athletic programs. For the SEC, this was usually Alabama and Auburn. I know that Florida A&M is in some other, less famous conference.

Florida A&M's CFO was probably being told to cook the books and refused.

I would take all the conditionals out of your concluding sentence.

From 2014: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/growth-division-i-athletics-expenses-outpaces-revenue-increases

[spork]

Florida A&M: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/22/lawsuit-florida-am-pushed-out-cfo-who-flagged-athletics-deficits

Over a decade ago when I would see NCAA compliance data, there were only a handful of universities regularly showing "profitable" athletic programs. For the SEC, this was usually Alabama and Auburn. I know that Florida A&M is in some other, less famous conference.

Florida A&M's CFO was probably being told to cook the books and refused.

I would take all the conditionals out of your concluding sentence.

From 2014: http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/growth-division-i-athletics-expenses-outpaces-revenue-increases

"But at the median Division I school, the athletics budget rose more quickly than the institutional budget, requiring the athletics department to take a larger percentage of institutional funds."

[dismalist]

"But at the median Division I school, the athletics budget rose more quickly than the institutional budget, requiring the athletics department to take a larger percentage of institutional funds."

That's a lovely use of the word "requiring"! No one decided; it just happened, as it was required.

[The share of our household spending on wine rose, for it was required.] :-)

[polly_mer]

Not dire, but Harvard is operating at a loss this year with suspended job searches: https://insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/23/harvard-posts-operating-loss-amid-pandemic-net-assets-still-grow

[spork]

PASSHE campuses -- more than 100 full-time faculty will lose their jobs:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/02/pa-state-system-lay-more-100-faculty-members.

[FishProf]

That's a suggestive hyperlink....

(And when I first typed that, it came out hyperkink)

[polly_mer]

PASSHE campuses -- more than 100 full-time faculty will lose their jobs:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/02/pa-state-system-lay-more-100-faculty-members.

Buried at the end of the article is the statement that the system is consolidating 6 institutions into 2 institutions.  That indicates this first wave of 100 faculty members being fired is just the beginning...well, if the system is serious about consolidation to better meet students' needs and better using the state resources.

[mythbuster]

So how will they decide who of the duplicated faculty to let go? Let's say across those 6 campuses you have 12 faculty who teach American Government Systems. Now you only need 5-6 as they can teach larger classes. How do you decide who stays and who goes? It is just luck of geography? Those at the remaining 2 campuses stay put? Or will there be some sort of evaluation of who is the "best" to retain?