2008 Woodie Awards
Economic crisis growing issue for schools
Tony Pugh
Issue date: 11/24/08 Section: News
WASHINGTON D.C. (MCT) - Shrinking endowments, state funding reductions and families struggling to pay tuition are forcing many colleges and universities to cut staff and spending or to delay construction and development plans.
From well-heeled Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Dartmouth to large public institutions such as the California State University system, many schools are facing difficult financial decisions stemming from the nation's economic standstill.
Last week, the California State University system announced plans to trim 10,000 students across its 23 campuses in the next school year because of funding problems caused by a state budget crisis. The CSU system - the nation's largest, with nearly 450,000 students - will make the cuts by moving up application deadlines and raising academic standards for incoming freshmen.
"We have been, for the last two years, over-enrolled by over 10,000 students that the legislature has not funded," CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said. "We can't continue to admit more and more students without receiving adequate funding."
Neil Theobald, the vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University, said recently that his staff was seeing more affluent families struggling with tuition payments.
"Based on the applications, these are families that look like they can afford college, but with the economic conditions, I think they have investments that have gone poorly over the last several months," Theobald said.
Families who would have considered an expensive Ivy League education now may opt for less-expensive private schools. Others may choose even cheaper public colleges.
Community colleges, however, are facing their own economic problems. State budget cuts and declines in funding from local property tax revenue have forced many of them to scale back popular programs that are more costly to offer and require additional state money.
"Unfortunately, the most expensive programs that correlate to the highest-wage jobs are the ones that are most at risk," said Stephen Katsinas, the director of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama.
From well-heeled Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Dartmouth to large public institutions such as the California State University system, many schools are facing difficult financial decisions stemming from the nation's economic standstill.
Last week, the California State University system announced plans to trim 10,000 students across its 23 campuses in the next school year because of funding problems caused by a state budget crisis. The CSU system - the nation's largest, with nearly 450,000 students - will make the cuts by moving up application deadlines and raising academic standards for incoming freshmen.
"We have been, for the last two years, over-enrolled by over 10,000 students that the legislature has not funded," CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed said. "We can't continue to admit more and more students without receiving adequate funding."
Neil Theobald, the vice president and chief financial officer at Indiana University, said recently that his staff was seeing more affluent families struggling with tuition payments.
"Based on the applications, these are families that look like they can afford college, but with the economic conditions, I think they have investments that have gone poorly over the last several months," Theobald said.
Families who would have considered an expensive Ivy League education now may opt for less-expensive private schools. Others may choose even cheaper public colleges.
Community colleges, however, are facing their own economic problems. State budget cuts and declines in funding from local property tax revenue have forced many of them to scale back popular programs that are more costly to offer and require additional state money.
"Unfortunately, the most expensive programs that correlate to the highest-wage jobs are the ones that are most at risk," said Stephen Katsinas, the director of the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama.
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