@speezagmom Besides just the dorms, they had the remodel of the space at 50 Broadway and the “Wow” nursing labs they have couldn’t be cheap. And now they are apparently renovating some of the classroom buildings…or had started before all this…sure it is on hold for the time being. So they have been spending quite a bit, but it may be working since they had a huge jump in enrollment this last year according to a few articles I read.
The financial health of higher ed institutions should certainly be a consideration. I work at a university and one good source of college and university information can be found at the Chronicle of Higher Education. (https://www.chronicle.com). Some of the content is behind a pay wall and some of it is not. Sometimes access can be secured through a library.
Private institutions have always been more dependent upon tuition, i.e., enrollment. So, if enrollment drops less funds come in and it is much harder to make the numbers work.
For public institutions, many have become much more dependent upon tuition as state legislatures have defunded higher education or have not kept up with inflation cost. Forty years ago 60% the budget of most publics from state appropriations. Now some like Michigan and Virginia are below 10%. Also, may programs within universities are fee dependent. For example, most study abroad offices are run completely off of fees associated with students studying abroad. It is very possible that study abroad offices could be severely reduced or shuttered for a while.
I would be most concerned about private institutions that are almost entirely dependent upon tuition and enrollment.
Most federal funding to colleges and universities go to student aid and research. In the recent CARE aid bill half of federal funding is to go directly to students. The other half is to mitigate Covid-19 deficits for certain areas of the institutions.
Just a quick “thank you” to those of you whose kids are releasing schools they know aren’t at the top of their list. And a plea from someone whose child remains on a couple of WL that are their top choices… I am really hoping that people will make decisions sooner rather than later, even though some schools have a June 1 deadline. I totally understand if you are actually waiting on more information, or waiting on a WL to move, or things like that, but i have heard of so many people saying their child is just stuck and can’t decide and keeps going back and forth among 4-5 schools… at this stage of the game, I really hope everyone who has all the information they need is very close to making a final decision so that other schools can be released and other people can make decisions also! Again, if you are actually waiting on a material piece of information, I totally get that. thanks for listening!
@TimeToFindInfo - this is a rough year. I just got off the phone with one of my students who still doesn’t have his financial aid packages for several schools. One school told him because he was selected for verification, they aren’t processing the ones for Fall 2020 until mid-May. AFTER the acceptance date. Money is a huge issue for him. You can’t buy a car without knowing the price. You can’t commit without knowing the cost of attendance. Many schools have told him that COVID19 has pushed their timelines out by weeks (apparently months in this case!) I know he is very stressed and afraid to commit to somewhere he can’t afford (and miss out on others he could have).
@onette - that is indeed stressful!! I hope he gets the info he needs soon. Situations like that, albeit frustrating, are understandable, in terms of holding up his decision -making process. I was referring more to those situations where people have all of the information they are going to get, but just seem to be unable to even narrow their choices to a couple of top contenders.
Hello CC friends. Our D just made her decision. She will attending Carnegie. Tough call. Financially scary. Super proud. Story to follow on other threads.
Wow! Congrats @Jasklo !!! Amazing result! Best of luck to your d (not that she’ll need it since she’ll be at CARNEGIE!!!)
AMAZING @Jasklo, cant wait to hear the details!!!
@Jasklo Woohoo, huge congratulations and best of luck to your family with the $ and all other aspects.
Congratulations @Jasklo !
I included the Forbes rating of each school in my initial spreadsheets (seems like a lifetime ago). This article is helpful because it breaks down the categories used to analyze and links the data set.
Wow @TenaciousC - talk about rabbit holes. I could spend days on that database, just for the fun of it. I think I am glad I didn’t know about the IPEDS db when my girls were choosing schools, I might have driven myself crazy.
@Jasklo - see you in Pittsburgh! Like I said before, my D was incredibly blown away with your talented your D is. She’s hoping to go see her in any ‘on campus’ productions, or if she auditions for anything at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. BTW – you want financially scary? I had a ‘social distancing’ drink with my neighbor last night. He’s sending his TRIPLETS to Northwestern next year. LOL.
WOW! I was shocked to see the grades on the financial stability for so many of the MT schools. Thanks for sharing. We got an offer from Rider with a nice scholarship, but I knew they were having financial issues and declining enrollment before reading this article. We rejected their offer. Now I am glad I did. Has anyone seen this type of grading for public schools?
So my daughter had narrowed to Missouri State, OCU, Northwestern and TCU (All MT) but she was leaning toward TCU because of some amazing merit-- but struggling because their dance training schedule is a bit lacking, and then boom! Out of the blue she gets accepted to Syracuse?Now what?!
She only submitted a second set of videos because we couldn’t fit any kind of live audition in our schedule. We have heard NOTHING from them despite a few emails we sent to inquire, so basically we wrote them off. So my question is—do ya’ll think Syracuse is significantly better than TCU enough to warrant the high price tag?
@SavsMom - I think many would actually put TCU ahead of Syracuse, but it’s probably splitting hairs. Both are world class from what I’ve seen. I’m partial, but I think Northwestern is by far her best choice. If your D decides to singularly pursue a career in the Performing Arts, then all of these are good choices. If she ever steers off that path, Northwestern is by far the best option. Just my two cents.
I would personally place Syracuse higher on a “top MT schools” list but I also think affordability has to be key. Don’t have her choose a school that will put her in debt. Her ability to take performing work as she can get it vs keep steady jobs to pay off loans will have a much bigger impact on her future.
The Syracuse director is taking next year off. I would google Syracuse protests as well to find out what has happened on campus this year…just an FYI.
This is SOOO very helpful!!! Ya’ll are the best!!
My daughter got all starry-eyed because Syracuse is in NY and it’s on a bunch of the lists. But the freakin’ price tag is not making mama happy.
She takes TCU for granted because it’s in our backyard. Didn’t know about the Syracuse director–that instability could affect things I suppose but have no idea.
@SavsMom congratulations on that interesting twist! Was your daughter on the WL at Syracuse? Just wondering if it’s moving because my kid has a friend on the WL who is hoping to hear news that it’s going to move before May 1.