<p>Hi - My daughter is a just accepted (ED) Smith student for the coming fall. Just saw an article in the paper about the drop in the Smith endowment and the potential cutting of programs etc and am wondering how this is being perceived on campus? I also work at a well known University which has been in the news lately for the same reasons but I worry that Smith is smaller and more easily affected by the situation.
Also worry this will affect programs like Praxis and study abroad.
I'd appreciate any insight from current students.
Thanks</p>
<p>I guess you could characterize the campus climate as nervous, but calm. The administration has been very open with students about how much the endowment has lost and what they're planning to do about it. They're doing everything they can to minimize the effect on students, and have the college bear the cost instead. Things like shrinking the size of our physical plant, having professors teach an extra class each so we don't have to hire as much new faculty or overstretch the class size, even pay cuts. </p>
<p>We're luckier than a lot of schools because we do have such a large endowment, so even though we've lost a lot, we're not in too much serious danger. Since the administration is being communicative, students aren't really gossiping about it or freaking out. Right now the attitude is that we're all in this thing together, and everyone is doing their best, and hopefully we can ride it out smoothly.</p>
<p>Thanks - that is a very reassuring answer. I also have to say that this is the case in a lot of colleges at the moment so I'm not sure why this one made the news except that it is somewhat local for us. My D is really excited about Smith and I think the fact that the administration is being so open is a very good sign.</p>
<p>Even after the drop, the Smith endowment is substantially higher than it was three years ago. I think Christ is wisely being pro-active to ensure quality of academic and campus life if the market does not recover.</p>
<p>I was at Smith during a previous economic downturn, where we had to cut the budget by 10% overall. In fact, I served on a committee that worked on trimming the dining budget--an issue that at Smith became very controversial. At that time, and I assume today, Smith's major priorities were to preserve academic quality and financial aid, followed closely by doing right by their faculty and staff. I think they did a very good job acting on those priorities several years ago, and from my experience working with the administrators in charge of these matters, I have every confidence that they'll do the same today. I wouldn't keep donating money to the college if I felt otherwise.</p>
<p>I was just at Smith for a visit and spoke with one of my old profs and a friend in the admissions about updates at Smith. As said, Christ is making financial aid the most important item on her priority list- she's willing to compensate in order to maintain promise to meet 100% demonstrated needs of the students. I did hear, however, from the prof that after this year, his J-term course will be cancelled due to lack of grant money. Smith will just make do in order to maintain academic quality and its financial commitments to its students.</p>