<p>Son received an email on four job openings for lab monitors on Monday. They were all gone by today. Sounds like a pretty easy job where you can work on homework most of the time. He already has an on-campus job but it's interesting how fast they went.</p>
<p>We just got word from our 3rd tier private...4% tuition increase, instead of the usual 7%, 6.4% increase in meal plan prices, and only a 2% increase in available financial aid. Housing will be going up, too, but no figures mentioned. I think this is going to be a very tough sell for them.</p>
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<p>According to the New york Times, the compromise stimulus bill includes a $2500 tax credit for college tuition:</p>
<p>"HIGHER EDUCATION TAX CREDIT This credit covers up to $2,500 of the cost of college tuition and other related expenses in 2009 and 2010. Youll need to spend at least $4,000 in a single year to get the full credit. The credit begins to phase out for individual taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes over $80,000 or $160,000 for married couples filing jointly.</p>
<p>Forty percent of the credit is refundable, which benefits low-income students paying their way through school (who may owe no federal income taxes)."</p>
<p>Reportedly the original bill had a larger tuition tax credit but it was shrunk in the compromise.</p>
<p>Stimulus</a> Bill Passes Procedural Vote in House - washingtonpost.com</p>
<p>I saw that UMass was considering raising fees in amounts from $1,500 to $3,000 (the trustee that proposed $3,000 couldn't get anyone to second his motion). Should be interesting to see how that translates to out-of-state students.</p>
<p>One-third of the increase is planned to go to aid. I guess the publics want to act like the privates. Looks like the tax credit will be eaten up pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Went to an alumni dinner last week where the president of my alma mater spoke. (Top 40 LAC). He made some interesting points. He said Alma Mater will increase the size of next year's class but only by about 20 students, as a way to get more income. He also said Alma Mater is cutting back on "buying top students" or "giving money to kids who don't need it" - aka Merit money. They will divert that money (or already did) to staying as close to Need-Blind as possible. There is still some merit money, but not as much as there used to be.</p>
<p>Before the economic crisis, Alma Mater was in the midst of a capital campaign, the goal of which was to increase the faculty by 20% without increasing the student body, to lower the faculty:student ratio. They've gotten enough donations to hire a number of new faculty next year, beyond that they are keeping the plans to hire more but may be "adjusting the time table." The interesting part was because so many colleges have hiring freezes or layoffs, Alma Mater is seeing the highest quality teaching candidates it has ever seen. He was very optimistic that we could hire some fantastic professors, and hopefully they will stay with the college for a long time. By bucking the hiring/firing trends, Alma Mater may be getting itself some truly great faculty members for the long run. I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense.</p>
<p>I also saw the UMass news. All the state schools are in trouble, but UMass was so underfunded to begin with it has nowhere to cut that won't seriously hurt. I had really wanted D to look at UMass, since I think it would be a nice fit for her, but at this point I'm wary of any school that is relying on a state legislature and tax income for a large percentage of its budget. (I say that as an employee of a public school district, who has watched programs be slashed left and right).</p>
<p>Lafa, My X (who yes, we are still on regulare speaking/emailing terms) went to 3rd tier public (and yes, makes megabucks). He is on committee at his old school, and yes they see this as upgrade year, in terms of faculty and students. X is working with them on ways to attract faculty to high COLA area, including subsidized nice housing and starting a public/private school aimed at faculty children (there is education program at this college); as there are long waits at many private schools in area.</p>
<p>Lafalum:</p>
<p>Don't know your alma mater, but Amherst has said a similar thing about hiring and not wanting to give up a chance to get some amazing people. They will cut down on perhaps visiting professors (which is too bad) and will raise the admits by about 20 a year for the next four years. I too thought it was a great opportunity especially if you have to fill the spot regardless. I wonder however, if you've got a school who has a hiring freeze and you lose your classics professor to one of these top schools who IS hiring, do you just leave that spot vacant?</p>
<p>I don't think the college I went to will have any problems... actually, if anything I would think more people would be applying there then not applying there.</p>
<p>to Modadunn
A vacant faculty position is a boon to any administrator forced to slash a budget. Not filling those vacant positions is the least painful way to proceed. There's a problem in that colleges count on having a certain number of positions vacant all the time, when people are on unpaid leave or sabattical, and they use the budget from those positions to pay operating expenses (which are usually underfunded). </p>
<p>But assuming the positions are left vacant, the effect on students is likely to be fewer classes to choose from, maybe fewer opportunities to assist with research, less one-on-one time with faculty. Faculty members will be overextended as they are forced to teach more classes. I heard that the state U's in Arizona will be doing furloughs, and have been considering a policy every non-teaching day will be an unpaid furlough day for their faculty. Given that faculty do most of their work on non-teaching days, I don't think that will be terribly popular. But the Arizona schools apparently are facing 30% budget cuts, and desperate times call for desperate measures.</p>
<p>Fauxnom, vacant positions can also be filled with adjuncts (who, IMHO, are exploited labor). Colleges need to cut the admin costs, not teaching or research.</p>
<p>That's true, kayf, but where I work, adjuncts are the first to go. It may not make economic sense (they are a real bargain), but that's how it's happening. At least at my school, though, the Pres has said faculty layoffs would be the last resort, after cuts in the administrative arena. Even so, vacant faculty lines will stay vacant, I predict.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Not filling those vacant positions is the least painful way to proceed. <<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>In business also. Better than the pain of having to let people go, unless you are the person who is required to do the work of 2 people!</p>
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<p>I agree with the latter part of this, but not the first point. It's just not true that "all the state schools are in trouble." Some of them have weaned themselves away from legislative appropriations already, not by choice but by necessity. At the University of Michigan, for example, legislative appropriations represent only 7% of the university's budget. And Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced yesterday that her proposed budget would seek a 3% cut in state aid to higher education. </p>
<p>Granholm</a> proposes 3 percent funding cut to higher education | The Michigan Daily</p>
<p>If I'm doing my math correctly, 7% (.07) X 3% (.03) amounts to a 0.21% (.0021) cut in the school's overall budget. Two tenths of one percent---that's like deferring a requisition for paper clips. I'm not saying they won't need to make adjustments; like other schools with large endowments (I believe theirs is the 7th biggest), they're feeling the pinch of declining endowment revenue. But don't assume that just because a university is public it's facing a huge reduction in legislative appropriations. This is highly variable by school and by state.</p>
<p>Just a small point: Usually people on sabbatical draw a salary with the "promise" that they will commit to a contract for a specified time following that leave. So profs on sabbatical dont really help a school's bottom line.</p>