Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[Golazo]

I had never realized that Concordia was a kind of "brand name" for Lutheran schools around the country.  There were 10 at the beginning of the last decade.  Now there are only six.  Wonder whether they can preserve those?

The Concordia system belongs to the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, a far more conservative body than the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which despite the evangelical in its name is not very). Most of the better known Lutheran universities are affiliated with ELCA (ie St. Olaf). Both denominations are losing members at great rates.

The Concordia schools are similar to Wheaton(IL) and other such colleges that require their faculty to affirm Christianity and have a "teaching (conservative) Lutheran values) mission that I expect is going to be a challenge for most of them given demographic and religious trends.

[apl68]

I had never realized that Concordia was a kind of "brand name" for Lutheran schools around the country.  There were 10 at the beginning of the last decade.  Now there are only six.  Wonder whether they can preserve those?

The Concordia system belongs to the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, a far more conservative body than the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which despite the evangelical in its name is not very). Most of the better known Lutheran universities are affiliated with ELCA (ie St. Olaf). Both denominations are losing members at great rates.

The Concordia schools are similar to Wheaton(IL) and other such colleges that require their faculty to affirm Christianity and have a "teaching (conservative) Lutheran values) mission that I expect is going to be a challenge for most of them given demographic and religious trends.

I suspected that the Concordias were the creation of a particular Lutheran denomination.  I seem to recall somebody on the Fora speculating--perhaps after one of the earlier Concordia closings--that there just weren't enough Lutherans to keep all the schools running in some regions.  I wonder how much of their funding came from the church?

[jimbogumbo]

Concordia (Moorhead MN) is an Evangelical Lutheran Church America affiliate. ELCA is really liberal, unlike the Missouri Synod, which is the parent of the Concordias that have been closing. Here is a link to ELCA affiliates, which include several financially troubled LACs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ELCA_colleges_and_universities

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

Details on Laurentian's financials:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-02/rbc-toronto-dominion-snared-in-canada-university-bankruptcy
"Laurentian had C$321.8 million in liabilities as of April 30, according to a report filed by the monitor in the case, Ernst & Young. "
Given single digit annual deficits reported in other articles this implies either:
a) they maintained those deficits for decades
b) they recently embarked on an unfunded spending spree (new building mentioned by Parasaurolophus?)

Both options suggest mismanagement by the administration. I am also wondering if letting it go bankrupt and establishing something new would be cheaper than bailing it out.

[apl68]

Henderson State University's new leadership now expressing optimism for the long-term future--although in the short term enrollment is down 21% (11% if you allow for dropping concurrent enrollment students).  They now owe the state $7 million in zero-interest loans, with no plans at this time to take on more debt.



https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/feb/03/hsu-beginning-its-new-chapter-in-asu-system/

[polly_mer]

Henderson State's new admin is not believing the data or are not yet in possession of the full picture.

[polly_mer]

Because CC transfer was on this thread recently, https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/lbnu21/developmental_math_reform/

[Hibush]

A contrasting theme, for those who worry about the fate of the 0.1%.

A recent article argues that an existential threat to regional elite colleges is the national homogenization of the super elite. This has crippled the value proposition of fancy regional schools, and turned a few once-local schools into the national magnets.

A few generations ago, it was assumed that the sons of the local gentry would remain in the area and rise to high office in local and state business, politics, and philanthropy—goals that were best served if they attended a local elite college and joined the right fraternity, rather than being educated in some other part of the country. College was about upper-class socialization, not learning, which is why parochial patricians favored regional colleges and universities.

While the regional elites are unlikely to end up on the lists we tend to review to find topics for this thread, it might be interesting to keep an eye out. Which ones are having trouble getting the full-pay local students who either feel compelled to go the the national school, or see less expensive local options as being equivalent in educational and social value?

[mythbuster]

I just read the article to see what schools he considered to be the "regional elites". Never mentions any other than Harvard and Yale, and those are the clear example f national elites. So the grand point is. . . globalization happens?
   My undergrad alma mater is likely to be a prime example of this phenomenon. We have successfully moved from being a good regional private school, to being "The Harvard of our Region" to now being a globally known name, with a satellite campus in the Far East. With that movement, the other schools in the area have the opportunity (I guess?), to fill the niche left behind and take some of those local students that we passed over in favor of the international ones and the ones from far flung states.
   Still not quite clear on why this is a problem.

[spork]

I just read the article to see what schools he considered to be the "regional elites". Never mentions any other than Harvard and Yale, and those are the clear example f national elites. So the grand point is. . . globalization happens?
   My undergrad alma mater is likely to be a prime example of this phenomenon. We have successfully moved from being a good regional private school, to being "The Harvard of our Region" to now being a globally known name, with a satellite campus in the Far East. With that movement, the other schools in the area have the opportunity (I guess?), to fill the niche left behind and take some of those local students that we passed over in favor of the international ones and the ones from far flung states.
   Still not quite clear on why this is a problem.

I wouldn't classify the effects on higher ed of shifting socioeconomic class structure in the USA as an huge immediate "problem," but (1) nationalization of the market for admission to super-elite universities and (2) increased economic inequality probably means a long-term decrease in the number of full-pay students attending the institutions that had in the past been the go-to class markers for the local/regional aristocratic families.

I'm thinking of the college food chain along the I-85 corridor to I-95 from Richmond to Washington, DC. Davidson College is probably well-insulated, given its reputation and its endowment of just under a billion dollars. But I can't think of another smallish liberal arts-style college in that region that might attract children of the super-rich in 2021.

[Ruralguy]

In that entire region you mention, especially if you also include the area between the eastern interstate highways and the mountains, probably of the privates, only Davidson and University of Richmond are safe. Probably a handful are not in immediate trouble, but don't quite have buffers like those schools. I'm sure in their heyday some were seen as local elites with basically everyone paying full price. Now, nobody does.

[kaysixteen]

'Concordia' is a take-off on Martin Luther's 'Book of Concord', still one of the main denominational underpinnings, at least in theory, of Lutheranism as a distinctive confession of Christianity.   That said, as noted, the ELCA is enormously liberal, and more or less only 'Lutheran' in historical/ ethnic senses.   It is thus unsurprising that such a denomination no longer sees widespread interest in a specifically denominational college education.

[mamselle]

You're mixing apples and kumquats, Kay, sorry to say....

The ELCA doesn't oversee the Concordia system, the more conservative Missouri Synod (which refused to join the 1970s era merger of the ELC and the LCA on the grounds that the new blended group did not agree that Jonah was literally swallowed by a whale..and other things) does.

There's also an even more conservative (essentially Germanic-language) Lutheran group that just merged its two seminaries a couple years ago.

Keeping track of the players in these things is mind-bending sometimes....

M.

[Hibush]

In that entire region you mention, especially if you also include the area between the eastern interstate highways and the mountains, probably of the privates, only Davidson and University of Richmond are safe. Probably a handful are not in immediate trouble, but don't quite have buffers like those schools. I'm sure in their heyday some were seen as local elites with basically everyone paying full price. Now, nobody does.

What are the other schools that were the place for local gentry of Southeastern metropolises? Duke? Emory? UVA? 

How much are local full-pay students leaving them in favor of national prestige Harvard or local solid education NCSU/UGA/VaTech?

[Ruralguy]

Gosh, nobody is leaving Duke or Emory as far as I know.

They *are * leaving the small colleges  in the rural areas outside of the cities between DC and Atlanta.