Hi - We’re interested in Ithaca College and have applied but I just noticed that they’ve laid off about 25% of staff (and faculty?) because of dropping enrollment. Part of it’s said to be related to COVID difficulties but enrollment was dropping before. Does anyone know why? It seems like a good school and a warm community. Anyone have thoughts about the future of the school?
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They were 100% online last fall and had no students there except a very few. This upset a lot of students, especially because Cornell, just down the street was open and had rampant testing of every student 2x/week. My guess is that Ithaca College had to lay off staff because no one was on campus and that perhaps a lot of students wound up transferring because of this issue with not having students come back after they initially said there were bringing them back. I believe they are bringing them back to IC for second semester on campus though so maybe they will be able to rehire staff.
You can probably research this by reading the Ithaca Voice newspaper online.
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Thanks. It looks like enrollment had been dropping significantly before the pandemic, which is one of my concerns. Your insights are helpful – and I’ll check the local news.
Ithaca has been planning for a smaller student body over the last few years, in response to generally smaller numbers of college age students across the board. Covid accelerated the process. They announced some information today, with cuts, and some majors no longer an option. We’ve watched a number of other colleges who have ignored smaller population issues struggle and then close completely in New England, so while hard to go through, it made sense that Ithaca was planning for the future.
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Bumping this topic back up. Daughter was just accepted and there are many aspects that make IC sound like a great fit, but I am concerned about the continuing declining enrollment and what that will mean to staff/student morale and potential majors getting cut. Any insight?
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