<p>"College life may look different in the not-so-distant future: Students squinting out dirtier windows, faculty offices with full wastebaskets and no phones, sporting events in which opponents never meet, and paper course catalogs existing only as artifacts of the wasteful old days."</p>
<p>Consider:</p>
<p>"At Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., the womens swim team held a virtual swim meet with Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania, about 112 miles away. Each team swam in its home pool, then compared times to determine the winners. (We probably saved $900 on bus travel, said William G. Durden, Dickinsons president.)"</p>
<p>Makes you wonder, where all this is leading?</p>
<p>Reminds me of that Star Trek episode–computers calculated how many casualties an enemies’ bombs would cause and that number of people were required to report to a liquidation center where they would be terminated!</p>
<p>We were advised to keep the General Admissions course book DD received when she entered as a freshman. We were told that if they change the graduation requirements, the current students are usually grandfathered and having that first book with all of the graduation requirements and course descriptions helps when figuring out what had been required. Other than that, the courses that are available each term are listed on the computer and she has never received another of the "general " catalogs since.</p>
<p>I read that UNC-Asheville eliminated “move in” days (including those for freshmen), and eliminated reading days before final exams. Frankly, those cuts do bother me. I could live with my kid going to a school with virtual swim competitions every now and then, or an over flowing waste basket. I do think that move in time and study time is important!</p>
<p>Why don’t they just stop swim meets all together and just submit each swimmer’s best or average time (however they want to determine it) from each team, and be done with it.</p>
<p>Where I work, they cut back the office trash collection to every other day, and saved enough custodian time that they will not need to hire additional custodians for the two new dorms being built. Considering that nobody on my team generates enough trash to fill a wastebasket in a day (or even several days), I think that was a pretty smart move.</p>
<p>The course catalog and the year-end giving report to alumni are going from print to digital and saving tens of thousands of dollars in printing and mailing costs.</p>
<p>They’ve also talked about eliminating phones in individual dorm rooms, because virtually all students have their own cell phones.</p>
<p>With some exceptions, exterior windows are washed only once every seven years at our university, and custodians will only enter our offices once a week to empty trash. The undergraduate library has their windows washed more frequently on the first floor (they have some spectacular views), but they have to pay extra for it. The second and third floor windows are on the seven year cycle.</p>
<p>We’re getting a 3% pay cut in the form of furloughs. I can’t complain too much especially when compared to what’s happening in California. What a disaster for the UCs and CSUs. It may take them years to recover. Maybe we can pick up some of their people or at least they wouldn’t be poaching ours.</p>
<p>I am in a semi-academic institution but I suspect every institution is doing its part to cut back on expenses. Our latest savings have involved toilet paper. Instead of standard rolls, maintenance has switched us to the large roll dispensers. The paper is pretty poor quality and also substantially narrower than standard. I have decided to do my part. I am also cutting back. I used to work long hours. Now I am cutting back to 8 hours. I will be able to turn off the office lights much earlier.</p>
<p>College is to prep professionals, not for indulging in sport activities, sorority life, social weekends, luxurious accomodations with cleanning personal. We seem to have forgetten that.</p>
<p>Where I work, phones in faculty offices are being eliminated. We all got 10% pay cuts (“furloughs”). The part in the NYT article that disturbs me is increasing course load, because I know that where I work, it won’t be applied evenly.</p>
<p>10% pay cut is a norm this days and is much better option than being unemployed. I did not get a bonus, so we just did not go on vacation, which was normally covered by my bonus. Not a biggy! At least, we have jobs and praying for them still being there for us every day.</p>