<p>For those who have been following higher educations news, things are grim, very grim. Colleges and universities are seeing their budgets for the immediate future greatly reduced and their endowments shrink. According to Yale Daily News, "Colby College in Maine has lost 25 percent of its endowment, which peaked at $630 million. Swarthmore College’s $1.4 billion endowment fell 15 percent to under $1.2 billion, and Rutgers’ $548 million fund declined 20 percent. The endowment of University of Texas at Austin declined almost $1 billion. " According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the University of Washington has lost tens of millions thanks to its banker, several hundreds other schools are seeing their immediate cash supply dwindling making paying immediate bills and payrolls difficult. BU, of course, has halted their construction and hiring.</p>
<p>Through all of this BC has been awfully quiet. Unnervingly quiet. I haven’t seen or heard any sign of cease in construction or freeze in hiring, yet. There is no update on how the endowment is doing. So (A) we have dodged a bullet and will continue flying high, or (B) the hole is so deep that the administrators don’t dare to tell us for fear of massive panic. So far the only hint I have of BC cutting back is that students must leave for winter vacation so the school can save heating money. Anyone has news or dirt on what’s going with BC finance?</p>
<p>yes, I would appreciate a very serious answer as well…
the only way i was coming to BC was with the 75 percent tuition they were giving me…
if that’s gone, i kinda need to know sooner than later, i deferred my admission a year for traveling purposes</p>
<p>oh and to add to that, i think i can confirm that they arn’t doing horrible, i just read an article and as of October 30th they went ahead and finalized there 1.5 billion dollar spending plan to expand the campus… saying they were confident that donor givings would come in and that the economy would be back in an upswing within the next 7 years.
(part of this plan which started now includes putting another 250 million into financial aid)</p>
<p>I have the feeling this means they didn’t bottom out… 1.5 billions a lot of money to spend on expansion during a recession :P</p>
<p>In case anyone has missed it, here’s President Leahy’s addressing the issue:</p>
<p>"The most immediate impact of the economic downturn on Boston College as an institution has been a decrease in our endowment, similar to what has happened to investment portfolios of other colleges and universities. This year our overall budget totals $773 million, and approximately 10% of that amount comes from endowment earnings. While Boston College depends on investment income significantly less than many of our peers, the decline in our endowment certainly affects our revenue
projections and must be compensated for in our budget process. </p>
<p>Our cash position remains strong,and we will continue to maintain necessary liquidity. Need for financial aid will increase as some BC families struggle with lost jobs and diminished home values. We want to be able to help as much as possible students and parents facing financial challenges, and I encourage them to contact our Financial Aid office to discuss options. It will be critical to have additional funds available for financial aid. To do so, all units at BC should take steps necessary to save at least 2% of their total general operating budgets this year; these funds will be placed in a reserve account to assist needy students as required during the upcoming semester and the 2009-2010 academic year. </p>
<p>Work on the budget for our next fiscal year, which starts on June 1, 2009, has been underway for several months and will be ready for consideration by the BC Board of Trustees in March. Financial deliberations and choices will give priority to continuing Boston College’s commitment to need-blind admissions, meeting full demonstrated financial need of accepted students, and pursuit of academic and student formation goals articulated in the Strategic Plan adopted by our Trustees in February, 2006."</p>
<p>They stopped construction on Gasson to reallocate resources to financial aid, among other, more important initiatives. BC hasn’t been hurt that badly because they have a stronger reliance on tuition relative to other schools, who depend more so on donation</p>