Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[spork]

City College in SF has served underserved populations for years on a shoestring. Frankly, they do an incredible job with the tiny resources available to them. This is a shockingly bad thing.

+1 Organizations and governments that are supposed to be funding them have been figuring out ways to cheat them. It is a shameful situation that is not one on the usual cases of bad management.

There have been news headlines and dire warnings about CCSF for, oh, maybe as long as it's been running deficits. I believe those warnings have included messages from CCSF's accreditor.

The preliminary pink slips amount to 30% of full-time faculty in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. So maybe CCSF will eventually end up being staffed entirely by adjuncts with full-time jobs elsewhere because of lack of government funding (I am not familiar with how CC's in California are funded -- whether it's city, county, or state, or a mix).

[ciao_yall]

City College in SF has served underserved populations for years on a shoestring. Frankly, they do an incredible job with the tiny resources available to them. This is a shockingly bad thing.

+1 Organizations and governments that are supposed to be funding them have been figuring out ways to cheat them. It is a shameful situation that is not one on the usual cases of bad management.

There have been news headlines and dire warnings about CCSF for, oh, maybe as long as it's been running deficits. I believe those warnings have included messages from CCSF's accreditor.

The preliminary pink slips amount to 30% of full-time faculty in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. So maybe CCSF will eventually end up being staffed entirely by adjuncts with full-time jobs elsewhere because of lack of government funding (I am not familiar with how CC's in California are funded -- whether it's city, county, or state, or a mix).

CC's are mostly funded by the state.

CCSF is now going through the circular blaming squad. Faculty blames Chancellor blames Board blames former Chancellor blames Department Chairs blame Crooked Accreditor blames San Francisco Politics blames...

[kaysixteen]

There is also the related matter of how far back one's googling should go, and whether those listserv posts from the 90s written by a college kid should be considered relevant, etc.

As to the older version of calling up Professor X at the applicant's grad school and asking for informal scoop, even if the applicant had not listed Prof. X as a reference, why is this a legit thing?  Does it not give license to Prof. X to lie, etc., about the applicant, with no recourse, etc.?  This is the sort of thing HR rules today more or less forbid, for these sorts of reasons.

[spork]

Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) was put on probation by HLC:

https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Wheeling%20University%203.4.21.pdf

Wheeling has been running deficits every year since the 2008 recession, except for 2016.

[biop_grad]

Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) was put on probation by HLC:

https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Wheeling%20University%203.4.21.pdf

Wheeling has been running deficits every year since the 2008 recession, except for 2016.

I remember something about a crazy restructuring there a couple years back.  They are definitely circling the drain.

[spork]

Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) was put on probation by HLC:

https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Wheeling%20University%203.4.21.pdf

Wheeling has been running deficits every year since the 2008 recession, except for 2016.

I remember something about a crazy restructuring there a couple years back.  They are definitely circling the drain.

Wheeling-Jesuit's board of trustees: nest of snakes.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/06/11/tied-bishop-scandal-wheeling-jesuit-chairman-steps-down-months-after-exigency

Edited to add: this is what happens when a university is governed by child rapists and embezzlers.

[apl68]

Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) was put on probation by HLC:

https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Wheeling%20University%203.4.21.pdf

Wheeling has been running deficits every year since the 2008 recession, except for 2016.

I remember something about a crazy restructuring there a couple years back.

Me too.  Seems like they've been on this thread, or its predecessor at the CHE, more than once.

They have over $10 million in outstanding loans.  Their strategic plan calls for "increasing enrollment by at least 80%."  In a time of declining demographics, at an institution which has slashed its course offerings pretty dramatically in recent years.  Not hard to see why the HLC describes this as "unrealistic."

[marshwiggle]

Wheeling University (formerly Wheeling Jesuit University) was put on probation by HLC:

https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_BoardActionLetters/HLC%20Action%20Letter%20-%20Wheeling%20University%203.4.21.pdf

Wheeling has been running deficits every year since the 2008 recession, except for 2016.

I remember something about a crazy restructuring there a couple years back.

Me too.  Seems like they've been on this thread, or its predecessor at the CHE, more than once.

They have over $10 million in outstanding loans.  Their strategic plan calls for "increasing enrollment by at least 80%."  In a time of declining demographics, at an institution which has slashed its course offerings pretty dramatically in recent years.  Not hard to see why the HLC describes this as "unrealistic."

I'd have gone with "discovering huge gold deposits under the parking lot".

[Mobius]

Wheeling doesn't own it's campus. Sold it to the local diocese in 2017 and leases it back for $2,400 a month.

[hazelshade]

Mills College to close as an undergraduate institution. In an announcement today (video linked), their president stated that the Board has decided that after this fall, they will no longer enroll new first-year undergraduate students and that they expect to confer their final degrees in 2023. They intend to begin a shift from being a standalone, degree-granting college to becoming a free-standing institute that cultivates women's leadership, pursues racial and gender equity, and offers formative learning and research opportunities to those underserved by other institutions.

[Hibush]

Mills College to close as an undergraduate institution. In an announcement today (video linked), their president stated that the Board has decided that after this fall, they will no longer enroll new first-year undergraduate students and that they expect to confer their final degrees in 2023. They intend to begin a shift from being a standalone, degree-granting college to becoming a free-standing institute that cultivates women's leadership, pursues racial and gender equity, and offers formative learning and research opportunities to those underserved by other institutions.

That is sad to see, but the warning signs have long been there.

This description makes me curious about the business plan. On the surface it sounds as if they are ending expensive activities that don't generate enough revenue, to focus on expensive activities that don't generate any revenue.

[namazu]

Mills College to close as an undergraduate institution. In an announcement today (video linked), their president stated that the Board has decided that after this fall, they will no longer enroll new first-year undergraduate students and that they expect to confer their final degrees in 2023. They intend to begin a shift from being a standalone, degree-granting college to becoming a free-standing institute that cultivates women's leadership, pursues racial and gender equity, and offers formative learning and research opportunities to those underserved by other institutions.

That is sad to see, but the warning signs have long been there.

This description makes me curious about the business plan. On the surface it sounds as if they are ending expensive activities that don't generate enough revenue, to focus on expensive activities that don't generate any revenue.

Sounds to me like they are planning to host paid (and/or grant-supported) workshops, conferences, and retreats.

[apl68]

Mills College to close as an undergraduate institution. In an announcement today (video linked), their president stated that the Board has decided that after this fall, they will no longer enroll new first-year undergraduate students and that they expect to confer their final degrees in 2023. They intend to begin a shift from being a standalone, degree-granting college to becoming a free-standing institute that cultivates women's leadership, pursues racial and gender equity, and offers formative learning and research opportunities to those underserved by other institutions.

Another periodic guest of the "Dire Financial Straits" threads has now shut down.  It's a little unfortunate that we can't go back and check any predictions regarding their long-term survival that might have been made.

Unlike many other schools on this thread, Mills seems not to have been just another generic regional SLAC.  They stood out from the crowd.  Not in a way that helped their undergrad program enough, though.

They've still got assets and connections that they probably think will help them to get a leg up on the conference, retreat, etc. business in their chosen niche.  They've also still got what sounds like a rather substantial regional art museum.  Not that museums are all that profitable, but it's still something that could serve as an attraction.

[mythbuster]

The Mills campus is beautiful, and certainly has the potential to be developed into a conference and meeting center. Not sure if that's enough to pay the bills in the Bay Area though. I find it interesting that they plan to let in new students this Fall, but are not planning for those students to stay a full 4 years.

[spork]

Mills College to close as an undergraduate institution. In an announcement today (video linked), their president stated that the Board has decided that after this fall, they will no longer enroll new first-year undergraduate students and that they expect to confer their final degrees in 2023. They intend to begin a shift from being a standalone, degree-granting college to becoming a free-standing institute that cultivates women's leadership, pursues racial and gender equity, and offers formative learning and research opportunities to those underserved by other institutions.

Predicted in 2017:

https://activelearningps.com/2017/07/24/mills-college-when-the-bus-leaves-the-station-and-youre-not-on-it/.