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Fresno State's Application Deadline Moved Up Abruptly
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2009 Comment (5)In another sign of how budget problems are hitting higher ed in California, Fresno State has abruptly stopped accepting freshman applications, three weeks before the February 1 deadline, the New York Times reports. As Paper Trail wrote previously, the entire California State System is reducing enrollment by 10,000 to cut costs, and, according to Cal State system spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow, "Each campus knows their target, and they're closing as soon as they believe they have enough applications to meet their target.... So Fresno was planning to close in February, but they believed they reached their numbers earlier." Fresno State will have about 22,100 students next fall, down from 22,600 last year.
The Cal State system has a priority deadline of November 30, and nine of its campuses, including San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Poly Pomona, and San Jose, stopped accepting applications then. Fresno State, however, has an extended admissions schedule, although one that was not set in stone. "When we decided to stay open through February 1, we said on our website and our materials that the date was subject to change," said the school's director of admissions, "and we reminded counselors to have students apply early." She added that 85 percent of students submit their applications by the November 30 deadline.
The Cal State chancellor thinks other schools will follow Fresno State's lead and push up application deadlines in a hurry. "This is new for all of us," Potes-Fellow said. "We are coping with the budget crisis and learning in the process. And we can't say when the last ticket will be sold."
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Stimulus Bill Includes Boost in Pell Grants
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2009 Comment (8)The economic stimulus bill now taking shape in Congress could include a $15 billion expansion of Pell grants and a new block grant for states, which would expire after two years and could be used to build campus infrastructure. Overall, the bill could provide as much as $140 billion for education over two years.
The bill would increase the maximum grant by $500, bringing it to $5,321. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the amount is still up for debate. The Chronicle reports the bill could also consolidate a pair of existing tuition tax benefits into a single, partially refundable $3,000 tax credit used for college expenses.
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Police Investigate Segregationist Signs at Kennesaw State
Tweet Share on Facebook January 14, 2009 Comment (3)Police at Kennesaw State University have no suspects as they investigate two signs placed over Student Center water fountains last month, one that read "whites only" and the other, "blacks only," the Sentinel reports. Discovered on December 9, "the signs bring to mind a painful and oppressive time in our nation's history," said the director of student life. "The person who posted these signs either doesn't know and understand the serious nature of this history or knows and is subjectively and [secretively] expressing contempt for it."
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South Carolina Athletics Donates $15 Million to Academics
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2009 Comment (1)The University of South Carolina's athletic department has donated $15 million to the school's academic budget in an effort to alleviate the blow of state cuts, the Daily Gamecock reports. The money will be disbursed over the course of 15 years, and at least half of it will be put into funds for student financial aid.
The Southeastern Conference worked out a multimillion-dollar television contract with ESPN earlier this year, giving the USC athletic department a windfall in profits.
USC's president, Harris Pastides, then approached Athletic Director Eric Hyman, asking for help with the dire academic budget situation. "Based on the historic contract negotiated with ESPN, we thought that this great deal ought to be used in the university's time of need," Pastides said. "This will not only meet athletic needs but academic needs as well."
He added, "I don't mean to give anyone the impression that there was arm-twisting involved. This is money that was earned by the athletics department, but we're all one university."
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California May Cut Part of State Grant Program
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2009 CommentCalifornia Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a 10 percent cut to Cal Grants, the state's $880 million college financial aid program, the Los Angeles Times reports. The biggest shift would involve not covering a rise in tuition with grants—just as the University of California and California State University systems are considering 10 percent jumps in tuition.
Judy Heiman, an analyst with the state legislative analyst's office, said "decoupling" the fees and the grant funding might not cut too deeply the first year, but could quickly add up if fees continue to jump as they have in the last decade. "It will be 4-5% this year, then maybe 10% or even 20-30%," she said. "It could get to the point even students with full grants can't afford to pay fees."
The proposed changes would also eliminate some aid for returning adult students and grant money for students attending private colleges.
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Layoffs at Syracuse, Miami U., and Boston U.
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2009 Comment (3)Syracuse University laid off 48 employees last week and eliminated 71 vacant positions in order to account for $8 million in budget cuts.
The Miami University Board of Trustees said 100 employees will need to be let go, either via buyouts or layoffs, to balance the budget.
Boston University faces a $10 million budget gap. President Robert Brown told students the existing hiring freeze and hold on construction projects are likely not enough to cover the gap caused by an increase in financial aid applications and a total endowment decrease of 24.1 percent since the end of June. Brown said there will likely be layoffs but offered few other details.
Ohio University is discussing a wage freeze for the entire university. Up for debate: whether to include those earning under $30,000 in the freeze.
Bowling Green State also previously announced 43 layoffs.
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States Put Squeeze on Public Universities
Tweet Share on Facebook January 13, 2009 Comment (2)Public universities and colleges are expecting midyear budget cuts, again. Pick a state, and more likely than not, its sour economy is affecting higher education. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wrote in December that 44 states are facing budget shortfalls this year (the ones that aren't? Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming), and 24 states have already proposed college/university cuts.
Snapshots from student papers:
Florida State's FS View and Florida Flambeau reports $61 million (!!) in midyear cuts.
Recently Florida's Senate for Higher Education Appropriations committee voted to cut the budget for higher education by almost $200 million in order to help appease the overall state's budget gap of $2.4 billion.
"Our state has had 20 straight months of lower than expected collections and has therefore reduced budgets over this period of time," [Provost Lawrence] Abele said. "Up to today, our budget has been reduced a total of about $26.3 million. We expect that the current special session will reduce it another $13.1 million and that the regular session will have to reduce our budget another $22 million for a total of about $61 million dollars. That is a huge sum."
"Huge" could be an understatement here.
The Iowa State Daily reports $7.2 million in cuts for Iowa State.
The university will cut an additional $4.3 million, or 1.5 percent, from its budget after an announcement made in December by Gov. Chet Culver.
When added to the earlier mid-year budget cut announcement made in November, the total cuts in the budget will equal $7.2 million, said President Gregory Geoffroy.
The state of Washington is looking to increase tuition and decrease spending to save more than $500 million among its schools, the University of Washington's Daily writes.
To help stabilize the budget, [Gov. Chris Gregoire] proposed a 13 percent state funding cut for public, four-year colleges and universities and a 6 percent reduction in state funding for technical and community colleges. The combined state savings from the two cuts represent an estimated $343.9 million.
The governor's budget proposal also includes a 7 percent tuition increase for undergraduates at public, four-year colleges, the maximum amount allowed by Washington law. This would cost UW undergraduates an average of $453 per year.
A 7 percent increase in public, four-year college and university tuition, combined with a proposed 5 percent tuition raise for community and technical colleges, would increase the state's budget by an estimated $163 million.
The Louisiana State University system faces $29 million in cuts. The bad news? That's still a lot of money. The good news? It's about half of what was expected, and it's not as bad as some other SEC schools.
University of South Carolina system = $52 million in cuts
University System of Georgia = $29.7 million budget reduction in October
University of Alabama system = $15.8 million
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Liquor Sales Up, Beer Sales Down
Tweet Share on Facebook January 12, 2009 Comment (3)An economic indicator near and dear to many college students' hearts: Liquor sales in Michigan are up about 3 percent between fiscal years 2006 and 2007, and, similarly, sales of liquor were up in Mount Pleasant, home of Central Michigan University, the Central Michigan Life reports.
Overall, alcohol sales have been relatively unaffected by the economy because the purchase of booze is acyclical, a Central Michigan economics professor explained. But more cost-effective types of alcohol, like liquor, tend to do better than beer. "People are still going to drink," said a local liquor store owner. "People can get more bang for their buck with liquor."
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Ohio Students Protest President's Raise
Tweet Share on Facebook January 9, 2009 Comment (6)Students at Ohio University are protesting the $85,000 raise of President Roderick McDavis, the school's newspaper, the Post , reports. Students for a Democratic Society are petitioning that McDavis, who earns a $380,000 base salary, forgo his raise, much like a number of other college presidents have done so already.
The state of Ohio has cut $2 billion this past year, although higher education was mostly spared. However, the school predicts it will see a budget shortfall between $15 million and about $40 million over the next two years.
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University of Texas Has 'Lost Control' of Admissions Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook January 8, 2009 Comment (25)The president of the University of Texas says the institution has "lost control" of its admissions process and wants to amend the state law that automatically admits the top 10 percent of every high school graduating class into the UT system's flagship college, the Houston Chronicle reports.
President William Powers said 81 percent of entering freshmen are admitted through the program, which was instituted in 1998 after a federal appeals court rejected Texas's affirmative action policies for college admissions. But the 10 percent law leaves little room to admit students who do not meet that standard, Powers said: "We've lost control of our entering class because we don't have any discretion on the admissions." He suggests that the school focus its energies on transferring more students from community colleges.