Lynchburg looks great to me. Of course, I’m from Martinsville.
I am enjoying these little tours! It looks like a beautiful part of the country.
Re the issue of small niche colleges and their potential vulnerability in the future, I read in the local paper today that the president of Haverford College, who had been in the position under two years, has already jumped ship and is heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The story (from the Met’s vantage point) was posted on the New York Times website yesterday. Yet today there’s no mention of it in either the Chronicle of Higher Education or Insider Higher Ed.
Weird, and makes me think of trees falling in the forest . . .
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/campus_inq/Haverford-College-president-leaving-to-head-MEt.html
Interesting, LTL. Coincidental overlap in the nature of the destinations of the departing presidents? Departures after short tenures?
After SBC decided to close, you can’t help but look at endowment numbers with an eye to their restrictions and what percentage of them is being used for annual operating costs. You also assume that no college president wants to close a school on their watch. This is not a commentary on Haverford or its solvency. Just that the impending closing in VA may impact assumptions about events at LACs, whether there are similar variables at play or not.
Weiss, the President at Haverford, is an art historian with an MBA. There are, what, perhaps half a dozen positions in his field as prestigious as heading the Met? These positions come up infrequently, and you have to take your opportunities when they arise.
I sincerely doubt that his leaving for the Met has anything to do with the financial health of Haverford.
Neither is Haverford a “niche college.”
This is the kind of job that a guy like Weiss has likely fantasized about since grad school. One day out of the blue you get a phone call…
Has nothing to do with Haverford and everything to do with the Met.
My point in bringing up Haverford wasn’t to suggest that Weiss’s leaving has anything to do with Haverford’s financial health.
And @merc81, you may not consider Haverford “niche” because of its elite stature, but “niche” is kind of like “prestige” in that it’s in the eye of the beholder. It is intentionally very small (~1200 students) even by LAC standards, and the fact that the two big trade journals covering higher ed issues didn’t think the quick departure of Haverford’s new president warranted a mention, let alone a full-blown article, is noteworthy IMHO.
Also this:
So Weiss came in and essentially instituted a similar FA policy to what Lafayette College (where he spent five years) is doing? That’s an understandable choice, but it also suggests that Haverford can no longer compete with the no-loan schools, which are generally among the most elite colleges and universities.
Re Haverford’s finances, their bond ratings were downgraded two years ago:
Clearly that no-loan policy wasn’t sustainable and the college’s board and administration made a decision to eliminate it. Only time will tell if that hurts them in other ways down the road. I can’t imagine anybody at Haverford thinks Weiss’s leaving while the college is in the middle of a capital campaign is a good thing.
A Bryn Mawr friend was bemoaning how Haverford drew off potential BM students when it went coed. Interesting to see that their endowment, at 495 mil, is so much smaller than BM’s, at 850 mil+.
Haverford is a GREAT college. I so wanted to send my son there - enough that I had him tour it twice!
It’s still an elite LAC that is little known amongst the masses outside the greater Phila area. That’s enough for me to call it niche. Niche isn’t bad or an insult.
@LucieTheLakie: I like your allusion to tress falling in a forest (do they make a sound?), not because I agree with your point as I understand it, but because I think it accentuates your point well.
Regarding Haverford:
– The only way that Haverford may be regarded as niche, in my opinion, is in their relative de-emphasis of sports (no hockey, football, swimming/diving).
– A no-loan financial aid policy is a seriously bad idea. A student should be financially invested in their education. Colleges should not be using money as a singular lure to attract students.
– Regarding institutional finances, which I understand not to have been your point, this is how Haverford compares to some other colleges:
College: Endowment Per Student
Haverford: $410,000
Hamilton: 410,000
Bryn Mawr: 400,000
Duke: 370,000
Brown: 350,000
Vassar: 340,000
Columbia: 320,000
Middlebury: 300,000
Colgate: 260,000
UPenn: 230,000
Cornell: 220,000
Wesleyan: 200,000
Tufts: 140,000
Georgetown: 80,000
(The New York Times, Graphic : The Most Economically Diverse Top Colleges)
Someone mentioned Washington and Lee upthread. One of the reasons it’s got much better prospects is that Lexington really is a cute little town: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Artists+In+Cahoots/@37.785249,-79.442239,3a,90y,45.64h,82.99t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSNytgU3lAvmcSqPL2IusoQ!2e0!4m9!1m6!2m5!1sart+galleries!3m3!1sart+galleries!2sWashington+and+Lee+University,+204+W+Washington+St,+Lexington,+VA+24450,+United+States!3s0x884ccbb8212373d7:0xb0db8cef3470a83c!3m1!1s0x884ccbbbe0cf99d7:0xe391b7277b94fa43
^^ Clarification: relative de-emphasis of intercollegiate sports.
WOW! Here come the handkerchiefs:
It is hard to read beyond the opening line
But it gets better:
Seriously?
Fwiw, the Atlantic, which used to be a truly reasonable voice in terms of discussing higher education, seems to be losing its objectivity. On the side of the SBC article, there is a related link to http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/the-governor-who-maybe-tried-to-kill-liberal-arts-education/385366/ and a title worthy of TMZ or the Huffington Lampost.
Alia Wong, you ain’t James Fallows!
Several elite colleges do not include loans in their financial aid packages, but do expect student (work earnings) contributions in the $4,000 to $5,000 range (although a student could alternatively take student loans, and/or apply outside merit scholarships if s/he gets any).
A financial aid policy with an expected student contribution of $0 is highly unusual.
Lexington is cute but also very small. That two blocks is 90% of downtown. I was having breakfast there once when an older man came in and told the locals that the bank had a “big spread” out celebrating something. After breakfast we walked over to see–the big spread was some store bought cookies and an urn of coffee. Life in a small town.
All of Central Va from C’Ville south to Smith Mountain Lake and west to the Shenandoah Valley is very pretty. That’s why we retired here==plus the great old homes for great prices (outside C’Ville which is very high) and the relaxed pace of life. We can be on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 15 minutes. With our Starbucks in hand.Many great backroads to explore.
Indeed, but despite earlier battles, most schools have relented in grabbing the external scholarships (by reducing the awards) and, as you noted, allowed students to cover the ESC through such funding. It was, however, not automatic and it took some work by the scholarship organizations to make this happen.
Old downtown Lynchburg also getting the cute thing going on larger scale. Maybe 12 blocks. Several streets. Lots of rehab work ongoing. Loft apts in old manu buildings. Is it done–not yet but in 10 years vast changes. Also an old hotel to become new again.
I should say but way of explanation that when we stopped in Staunton for Our Mary Baldwin tour it was First Friday. there was a celebration downtown with music and treats and everything was open. It was Christmas time and there were lights up. it was stunning. We also stayed at the historic Robert E Lee hotel. Perhaps that’s why for us Lynchburg did not compare. I would like to move to Staunton.
The no-loans policy still applies, but only for students whose parents make less than 75k (or so) - it really was neither fair nor sustainable when it applied to all. They also say clearly that they will only admit three international students who need financial aid, per year, but will fully fund these lucky few.