Colleges in Dire Financial Straits

[marshwiggle]

Meanwhile more recently, students have recognized that the jobs they want will all require English fluency and they all want to practice their English--a couple of friends do the "You speak French-I'll speak English--and we'll correct each other" thing...others just make a point of emailing or writing in English and expecting me to reply likewise.

So, the language issues in Canada might be similar--where there are societal trends, economic causes may not be far behind...

M.

Plus, I'd expect French to continue to decline in global economic importance, both in absolute terms and relative to English, so these students aren't making choices only based on the status quo, but also on the basis of future expectations.

The important thing to understand about French in Canada is that francophones are only a majority in Quebec. There are francophone minorities in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Manitoba, and a few elsewhere. The result is that outside of Quebec, most francophones will be fairly bilingual, of necessity,  so studying in English won't be a big problem for most. Also, except in Quebec, anyone who wants to work in an urban area will need to work in English.

So the "captive market" for French PSE outside of Quebec is pretty small.

[Golazo]

On the midwifery program, unless there are a lot of hidden costs that actually make the program a true money loser, I'm not sure that the rest of Polly's logic  follows. If all of a university's programs have the problems of a small boutique program, then I think the problems mentioned are real. But at break-even, a small program with a strong regional reputation does a lot for the university in attracting students and student interest and other community positives that can lead to real assets.

Our nursing doctorate is never going to make much money (size caps, expensive), but it adds to our regional reputation, and makes our UG nursing degree more attractive. But what really makes us money is the pre-nursing students who become psychology or social work or envrio studies or political science majors after deciding nursing is not for the (or if some of prerequisites classes make that call for them).

Should we start a new thread in the general forum on foreign policy? I do work in this area and don't really agree with either of the perspectives here.

[Parasaurolophus]

Should we start a new thread in the general forum on foreign policy? I do work in this area and don't really agree with either of the perspectives here.

Go for it!

[polly_mer]

Our nursing doctorate is never going to make much money (size caps, expensive), but it adds to our regional reputation, and makes our UG nursing degree more attractive. But what really makes us money is the pre-nursing students who become psychology or social work or envrio studies or political science majors after deciding nursing is not for the (or if some of prerequisites classes make that call for them).

There's no comparable premidwife program that will feed into other majors. The midwife program was already only admitting 10% of applicants.  I doubt there's any rollover benefit to the university for increasing interest in an already full program.  While it's possible that some aspiring midwives change majors during the preclinical program that includes social science, that's only a handful of people since the cohort starts at only 30. 

Super Dinky admitted dozens of prenursing students every year along with the 25 direct BSN admits.  In twenty years of tracking, zero prenursing students ever were admitted to the BSN program, but many graduated from SD with bachelor degrees.

He shared the story of midwifery student Alison Kroes, who "moved more than 10 times for placements, completed unpaid placements and acquired significant student debt, and faced extended separation from [her] support systems." West said she now has "no clear path to graduation or registration to the profession."

Ref: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/laurentian-university-midwifery-school-cut-reaction-1.5989455

Laurentian has already redirected the midwife program site.  However, Ryerson also in Ontario has a midwife program with an active site: https://www.ryerson.ca/midwifery/program/

During the Clinical Program, you will spend six terms in full-time clinical placements:

Four terms are spent in Midwifery Placements

Two terms are spent in Interprofessional Placements

The Clinical Program:

Requires a full-time commitment; part-time study is not available

Involves significant on-call expectations (typically 24 hours a day)

Requires the use of a car to attend births in hospitals, clients' homes and other out-of-hospital settings

Can be completed in 2.5 years

It is not possible to maintain employment while enrolled in clinical courses. While the majority of students are placed in the geographic region of their choice, there is a possibility that you may need to relocate for some placements.

While trying to find out exactly what's involved in becoming a midwife in Canada, I keep encountering a lot of angst about rural Ontario's indigenous people receiving adequate medical care.  Midwives are not uniformly distributed in Canada.  Ontario alone has about half of all the midwives in Canada, but that's still only 15% of births in Ontario: https://canadianmidwives.org/midwifery-across-canada/

The angst about Ontario rural poor should be shared for other regions, but they don't have midwives.

If the current thousand midwives and those in training aren't sufficient, then why cap at only 30?  That seems like a lack of placements, much like the caps on nursing in the US.

[polly_mer]

Should we start a new thread in the general forum on foreign policy? I do work in this area and don't really agree with either of the perspectives here.

Go for it!

If you like.  However, the energy discussion didn't go well, the science education discussion didn't go well, and little of higher ed as a system discussions go well because the peanut gallery here thinks their opinion is just as good as an expert.

I'd be interested in seeing what you write and how it compares to other experts I know.  I'm much less interested in participating in the discussion due to my day job and knowledge I'm not allowed to share.

[Wahoo Redux]

Should we start a new thread in the general forum on foreign policy? I do work in this area and don't really agree with either of the perspectives here.

Go for it!

If you like.  However, the energy discussion didn't go well, the science education discussion didn't go well, and little of higher ed as a system discussions go well because the peanut gallery here thinks their opinion is just as good as an expert.

I'd be interested in seeing what you write and how it compares to other experts I know.  I'm much less interested in participating in the discussion due to my day job and knowledge I'm not allowed to share.

Oh for pete's sake, Polly.

[polly_mer]

Should we start a new thread in the general forum on foreign policy? I do work in this area and don't really agree with either of the perspectives here.

Go for it!

If you like.  However, the energy discussion didn't go well, the science education discussion didn't go well, and little of higher ed as a system discussions go well because the peanut gallery here thinks their opinion is just as good as an expert.

I'd be interested in seeing what you write and how it compares to other experts I know.  I'm much less interested in participating in the discussion due to my day job and knowledge I'm not allowed to share.

Oh for pete's sake, Polly.

.

Have you checked in that discussion?  How's it going?

[Hibush]

The leaders of Wheelock College, which was submsumed by Boston University a couple years ago, have a new book out.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/21/authors-discuss-their-new-book-when-colleges-close

A couple of takeaways:

1. If your institution's projections look bad, find a partner while your educational operation still has financial value.

2. If you are a small LAC, it may feel comfortable to merge with another small LAC. However, they are in the same boat and don't offer a positive prognosis. Merge with an institution that has good prospects because they have a different student base and mission.

The authors include a "lessons for leadership" at the end of each chapter, which some forumites will find ironic.

[apl68]

They definitely deserve credit for recognizing that their long-term future did not look good and being proactive about it.

Wonder how the Wheelock faculty who found themselves placed in other departments at Boston University have been faring?  They (and their new colleagues) have no doubt had some adjustments to make in the new situation.

[spork]

LaGrange College:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/21/lagrange-college-cut-several-programs-employees.

IRS Form 990s show deficits about every other year since the 2008 recession, with contributions accounting for up to a third of total revenue. Program service revenue is regularly only about 75% of expenses. This college is a financial zombie.

[apl68]

LaGrange College:

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/21/lagrange-college-cut-several-programs-employees.

IRS Form 990s show deficits about every other year since the 2008 recession, with contributions accounting for up to a third of total revenue. Program service revenue is regularly only about 75% of expenses. This college is a financial zombie.

They seem to have a long pedigree and quite a good reputation.  But they're rather small--under a thousand students.  That hurts in a world that is not friendly to small institutions of higher ed.

[Hibush]

CHE has a long piece on PASSHE and its chancellor of three years. There are some signs of optimism.

Chancellor Greenberg has peen very open about the alternatives. One is consolidation of some individually unsustainable campuses, another is dissolving the system and letting the colleges operate independently, the third is closing one or several campuses.

As mentioned here many times, the PA legislature is completely hopeless for leading a positive change or endorsing one from the governor. They only care about keeping the local campus open without offending Penn State U. (Penn State has been busy opening campuses statewide that cannibalize PASSHE students, which contributes to the problem. Was Spanier responsible for that too?)  Thus the obvious answer of adding enough money to cover the cost of operations is not a major factor.

The third alternative looks logical from the outside, but it turns out that "closing one medium-size Passhe campus would cost at least $250 million, in part due to absorbing the campus's debt, and is 'the quickest way to exhaust our reserves.'"

The second would result in many campuses failing and a few succeeding. That is the most market-driven model. The accumulated debt would presumably vanish through bankruptcy.

They actually have faculty working on the first option, with the idea that they can build whatever they think will work. That beats the traditional approach of cobbling together the remnants and calling it a program.

[seibaatgung]

So, if people perceive value in studying something, there are lots of ways they can do it that are not economically difficult for the institution. (Since the enrollment for my elective courses is high enough, they pay for themselves, so they're not in danger of being cancelled.)

Those classes don't pay for themselves if they are not bringing additional enrollment to the institution.  The huge gen ed courses mentioned upthread are irrelevant to the enrollment side of revenue calculations.

Students choose colleges based on various factors including major, location, amenities, mission, and money out of pocket.  A student may choose a S(mall)LAC for class size or a S(elective)LAC for the true liberal arts experience of 1/3 major, 1/3 gen ed, and 1/3 free electives.  However, within rounding of no one enrolls in a given place as a full-time, degree-seeking student for one or two specific courses taught by contingent faculty. 

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/01/19/petition-calls-stanford-reverse-cuts-cantonese-language-program comes immediately to mind as an example of the thinking that ignores the reality of enrollment.  31 people per term taking a low-credit conversational elective is not driving enrollment in the Stanford East Asian studies department.  The assertion that students were picking Stanford in part because of Cantonese courses only matters if Stanford is short on other highly qualified applicants and there's somewhere else offering plenty of relevant seats (unlikely with under 300 people total taking Cantonese courses in the US each year).

A given institution may be losing out on students by having too few interesting electives and no popular majors to regional comprehensive with a bigger variety of majors, courses, and amenities, but the big draw for full-time, degree-seeking enrollees isn't any one gen ed course, even if the university has Stephen King teaching a writing course or Yo-Yo Ma teaching music appreciation.

A big reason enrollment isn't higher in Stanford's Cantonese program is that it wasn't approved to fulfill the University's language requirement. 
Stanford could slash a host of programs and still be seen as better than the next best cluster of schools like Dartmouth, Notre Dame.  Why hasn't it?  Most academic programs are not about driving enrollment, but educating students. 

[spork]

329 employees of Becker College, which is closing, will be unemployed by the end of June:

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2021/05/01/becker-college-worcester-leicester-layoffs-massachusetts-warn-closing-june-employees/4905553001/ .

[apl68]

329 employees of Becker College, which is closing, will be unemployed by the end of June:

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2021/05/01/becker-college-worcester-leicester-layoffs-massachusetts-warn-closing-june-employees/4905553001/ .

Okay, that's the small college formed in the 1970s by the merger of two tiny older institutions (One dating back to the 1780s).  They seem to have had a long history of changing their mission to adapt to changing times, including the creation of a video game design institute about ten years ago.  You can't accuse them of a hidebound failure to try to adapt.  In this case it still wasn't enough.  Especially when you're trying to compete for students in a very crowded regional field.