Is Dartmouth Going Broke?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>Some recent posts on the "Didn't Know Things were so Bad at Harvard" Thread address Dartmouth's financial stability:</p>

<p>HANOVER, N.H. (AP) -- The president of Dartmouth College says more layoffs are possible to address a significant drop in the school's endowment.</p>

<p>President Jim Yong Kim told the Valley News Monday after meeting with faculty that the shortfall from endowment losses is bigger than expected.</p>

<p>Kim announced earlier this month that endowment losses of $835 million had created a $50 million gap in operating revenue</p>

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<p>Dartmouth has announced some hefty unspecified budget cuts coming. They are also reducing their endowment burn rate to from the current 6.3% (not 8.1%) down to between 5.0 and 5.5%:</p>

<h2>TheDartmouth.com | Dartmouth aims to cut $100 million from budget over next two fiscal years </h2>

<p>TheDartmouth.com</a> | Dartmouth aims to cut $100 million from budget over next two fiscal years</p>

<p>This the quote that caught my attention, and suggests things are not good at Dartmouth:</p>

<p>Quote:
The financial aid program, which was unaffected by the College’s previous budget reduction, will be examined as the College seeks to outline the forthcoming budget cuts, Kim said. Board of Trustees Chairman Ed Haldeman ’70 told The Dartmouth Saturday evening that the Board did not provide any further stipulation about how the program might be altered, if at all.</p>

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<p>Since the new financial aid policy is just a few years old, it just leads me to think that if they have to rethink the financial aid policy, they will go back to being need sensistive/aware fior international students. </p>

<p>They may consider putting loans back in the FA package, and eliminate the free tuition for families making under 75k (they will probably roll back to the previous 40K).</p>

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<p>Sybbie,</p>

<p>Do you think these (possible) changes would apply to students who are to be enrolled (if accepted) in 2010?</p>

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<p>compass: The financial aid policies would probably not be changed back until at least the class of '15 acceptance round. However, I would expect, like all schools, as the economy goes back up, so will Dartmouth’s funds.</p>

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<p>The article linked in Post #1 said this:</p>

<p>“I can’t imagine being part of a college that is only open to people who can pay,” Kim said. “So we will absolutely maintain our commitment to need-blind admission.”</p>

<p>Kim said that there may be ways in which the College’s financial aid program can be “tweaked” such that it works “more effectively.”</p>

<p>"We are going to make sure people who are currently Dartmouth students don’t find themselves unable to afford a Dartmouth education,” he said.</p>

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<p>what about internationals? do you think they might change to need aware for this years admissions?</p>

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<p>It would be way too late to do that.</p>

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<p>I wonder just what will be felled by the $50 Million ax? Departments? Breakfasts, like at Harvard? summer sports? $50 Million in a year is a lot.</p>

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<p>It will take cutting a lot more than breakfasts to save $50 million. Perhaps the likely way will be to curtail growth and/or construction they had planned to do. That’s what Harvard did - the ongoing Alston expansion was stopped in its tracks. If there is no planned growth to delay or cancel, then it take hard cut into existing programs to make the number.</p>

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<p>The new Life Sciences building going up cost $93 million. Do you think that Dartmouth would halt its construction instead of considering checking whether or not applicants checked the financial aid box? Considering financial aid as part of the admissions process, although extremely unfair, would save the college millions of dollars. Also, the expansion in class size doesn’t seem to be doing much. At about 50K per year that’s an extra $5 million per year except considering average financial aid, and the additional spending needed because of the increase in class size, Dartmouth is making very little from having more students. We should see if we can get the numbers for financial aid packages for the class of 2014. It would be interesting to see the effects the decrease endowment has on accepted students and the money they are granted.</p>

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<p>My guess is that if financial aid were trimmed back, international applicants (not current students) may be the first to be impacted. However, the Kim appointment is in part intended to raise the visibility of Dartmouth outside the US.<br>
Dartmouth is basing its moves on a growth in the endowment of 5% this fiscal year. The US markets are up 20% this fiscal year so far, with foreign markets and commodities (which a lot of private equity investments are based upon) up even more. Since recent enhancements of financial aid were made with such fanfare, it is certainly possible there will be no diminution of the financial aid policy in the end.</p>