MUScoop
MUScoop => The Superbar => Topic started by: StillAWarrior on March 19, 2019, 02:32:34 PM
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It appears that one of our fellow Jesuit schools is in a serious financial crisis. Wheeling Jesuit has declared a "financial exigency" (http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/03/wheeling-jesuit-board-declares-financial-exigency/) and is fighting for survival. I've heard that all scholarship athletes have been advised that their scholarships will not be renewed.
I've read plenty suggesting that there may be a lot of smaller schools closing in the coming decade or so. I've had several friends and family members attend Wheeling, and a friend was on their BoT until a year or two ago.
It'd be a shame if WJU has to close its doors, but it seems pretty widely accepted in academia that some schools are going to close.
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It appears that one of our fellow Jesuit schools is in a serious financial crisis. Wheeling Jesuit has declared a "financial exigency" (http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/03/wheeling-jesuit-board-declares-financial-exigency/) and is fighting for survival. I've heard that all scholarship athletes have been advised that their scholarships will not be renewed.
I've read plenty suggesting that there may be a lot of smaller schools closing in the coming decade or so. I've had several friends and family members attend Wheeling, and a friend was on their BoT until a year or two ago.
It'd be a shame if WJU has to close its doors, but it seems pretty widely accepted in academia that some schools are going to close.
One of the reasons why some of us are concerned we need to up our game a bit in terms of who we are attracting as students, because they become donors at some point. I'd feel better having more and more dentists, lawyers, doctors, other professionals helping to foot the bills. That isn't a popular opinion necessarily, but it should be a consideration as we look at plans for the next 25 to 50 years.
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One of the reasons why some of us are concerned we need to up our game a bit in terms of who we are attracting as students, because they become donors at some point. I'd feel better having more and more dentists, lawyers, doctors, other professionals helping to foot the bills. That isn't a popular opinion necessarily, but it should be a consideration as we look at plans for the next 25 to 50 years.
Perhaps we should focus on getting the dentists, lawyers and doctors we already have to donate.
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Perhaps we should focus on getting the dentists, lawyers and doctors we already have to donate.
or both
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Perhaps we should focus on getting the dentists, lawyers and doctors we already have to donate.
Sure, but also continue to expand the upper funnel, too. In other words, do both.
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Perhaps we should focus on getting the dentists, lawyers and doctors we already have to donate.
I'll admit, I don't support MU as generously as I'd like. At present, I'm more actively supporting two other colleges and a wonderful Jesuit high school (with another college being added to the list in the fall). I would think that happens a lot in higher education (i.e., a period when alumni support slows down while their kids are in college), but maybe I'm just cheap.
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When I did fund raising for my Catholic High School I was suprised how little came from the so-called professionals. We did much better from the lower classes, retired civil servants like former firemen. Also from successful self made businessmen who we might call entrepreneurial types. Construction contractors, trucking company operators, and successful single people significantly beat the Dr.'s, and Lawyers. These universities go where the money is, the trick is to go where the heart is. And the windfalls always come from unexpected places, God's will so to speak.
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When I did fund raising for my Catholic High School I was suprised how little came from the so-called professionals. We did much better from the lower classes, retired civil servants like former firemen. Also from successful self made businessmen who we might call entrepreneurial types. Construction contractors, trucking company operators, and successful single people significantly beat the Dr.'s, and Lawyers. These universities go where the money is, the trick is to go where the heart is. And the windfalls always come from unexpected places, God's will so to speak.
I would expect this at the high school level, curious of the same on the college level.
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I do support Marquette and have for a lot of years. I do so primarily because I believe in what they're doing -- warts and all -- and believe that if we want to alleviate poverty and suffering, we do so through education.
As a nation, we talk about economic opportunity and about "bootstrapping" your way out of poverty. But you can't do it if the resources are not there. I was fortunate, as I noted in a post in response Disco Hippie, that I had parents who could and did sacrifice an awful lot to give me a college education. Their only ask was that I "pay it forward." Too many people in this country don't have that same opportunity I did.
That's where all of us come in, whether we contribute enough to have a professorial chair or a College of Journalism named after us or we give $25.00. There are entities out there who will match based on percentage of alumni who give (or at least there used to be). More importantly, the more who give, the more who become part of the solution.
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I would expect this at the high school level, curious of the same on the college level.
Yep. The college of Nursing has gotten a couple of 7-figure donations from alums who were never wealthy (imagine how poorly nurses were paid in the mid-20th century), but lived conservatively and left a nice chunk of their estate to the school.
And they certainly weren't on the phone with Joe True every day demanding stuff in return.
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Perhaps we should focus on getting the dentists, lawyers and doctors we already have to donate.
They're too busy sitting on scoop to donate
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They're too busy sitting on scoop to donate
Da 4Ever School A Dentistry Atrium, I'm really a badger fan?
Rolls right off the tongue.
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Gold sweater vests don't grow on trees.
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I would expect this at the high school level, curious of the same on the college level.
I've given modest amounts over the years to my high school in response to donation requests in honor of people who meant a lot to me as a youngster.
I don't give to them regularly though because they had some really serious problems when I was there that were swept under the rug and hope we would not notice the big wad in the middle of the floor.
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I've given modest amounts over the years to my high school in response to donation requests in honor of people who meant a lot to me as a youngster.
I don't give to them regularly though because they had some really serious problems when I was there that were swept under the rug and hope we would not notice the big wad in the middle of the floor.
Most of the brothers who taught me in high school gave up teaching the prevledged suburban upper middle class students and went to the Congo or Nigeria and are burried there.
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Yep. The college of Nursing has gotten a couple of 7-figure donations from alums who were never wealthy (imagine how poorly nurses were paid in the mid-20th century), but lived conservatively and left a nice chunk of their estate to the school.
And they certainly weren't on the phone with Joe True every day demanding stuff in return.
Two of the bigger donors I know are dentists, of course that is anecdotal as I don’t know what the share of donations are compared to their peers.
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I'd feel better having more and more dentists, lawyers, doctors, other professionals helping to foot the bills.
Foot the bills?
MU is competing for charitable cash with every nonprofit under the sun. Some of these causes really do need help footing the bills -- especially in an era of Charity Navigator where an increasing trend of people wanting to see their money really making an impact.
It's easy to see the impact of endowing a professor or naming a college. Harder to see what difference a smaller donation makes.
Marquette's endowment is pushing $700mm and tuition is north of $40k. I know that opex isn't funded by drawing down the endowment, nor does everyone pay the rack rate... but what's the value proposition for donors who aren't making it rain?
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Foot the bills?
MU is competing for charitable cash with every nonprofit under the sun. Some of these causes really do need help footing the bills -- especially in an era of Charity Navigator where an increasing trend of people wanting to see their money really making an impact.
It's easy to see the impact of endowing a professor or naming a college. Harder to see what difference a smaller donation makes.
Marquette's endowment is pushing $700mm and tuition is north of $40k. I know that opex isn't funded by drawing down the endowment, nor does everyone pay the rack rate... but what's the value proposition for donors who aren't making it rain?
Some schools charge $65,000 per. Some schools let you bring your horse with you to college.
With working part time, and working summers I went to Marquette because I could afford it. As someone mentioned, it was a blue collar school. I'm not sure about now.
Major problem is thst physicians, dentists, and lawyers don't make the kind of money they did 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago.
The benefit of small donors is that they may have assets which may go to Marquette in their will. Like the frugal nurse, sometimes you would be suprised who has the real money and the loyal heart.
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It appears that one of our fellow Jesuit schools is in a serious financial crisis. Wheeling Jesuit has declared a "financial exigency" (http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/03/wheeling-jesuit-board-declares-financial-exigency/) and is fighting for survival. I've heard that all scholarship athletes have been advised that their scholarships will not be renewed.
I've read plenty suggesting that there may be a lot of smaller schools closing in the coming decade or so. I've had several friends and family members attend Wheeling, and a friend was on their BoT until a year or two ago.
It'd be a shame if WJU has to close its doors, but it seems pretty widely accepted in academia that some schools are going to close.
This is sad news. Wheeling just had a great wrestling season
http://www.wju.edu/news/2019/03/two-wheeling-jesuit-wrestlers-win-national-championships-.html#.XJg8jropCEc
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I'll donate to MU when my net worth is in the 7 figures, until then, which is probably still decades away, they'll have to get by without me.
The whole model for higher education is completely f*cked. Unlimited government loans and exponentially increasing tuition.
If some schools have to close, fine. The current system is broken.
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I'll donate to MU when my net worth is in the 7 figures, until then, which is probably still decades away, they'll have to get by without me.
The whole model for higher education is completely f*cked. Unlimited government loans and exponentially increasing tuition.
If some schools have to close, fine. The current system is broken.
It would seem to me that the more schools close the more "pick of the litter" that the remaining schools have which by nature of supply and demand would increase tuition even more.
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It would seem to me that the more schools close the more "pick of the litter" that the remaining schools have which by nature of supply and demand would increase tuition even more.
I don't disagree. Which again, is evidence the system is fundamentally broken and unsustainable.
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I'll donate to MU when my net worth is in the 7 figures, until then, which is probably still decades away, they'll have to get by without me.
The whole model for higher education is completely f*cked. Unlimited government loans and exponentially increasing tuition.
If some schools have to close, fine. The current system is broken.
YUP.
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It looks like Wheeling Jesuit will keep the doors open for at least one more year. (http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/03/wheeling-jesuit-university-will-remain-open-in-2019-2020/) There's not a lot in there that inspires much confidence. I would think that many students would be looking to transfer as soon as a viable option presented itself. I know that if one of my kids was there, we'd certainly be exploring that option.
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It looks like Wheeling Jesuit will keep the doors open for at least one more year. (http://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2019/03/wheeling-jesuit-university-will-remain-open-in-2019-2020/) There's not a lot in there that inspires much confidence. I would think that many students would be looking to transfer as soon as a viable option presented itself. I know that if one of my kids was there, we'd certainly be exploring that option.
Hoping they can survive or find a merger partner.
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Hoping they can survive or find a merger partner.
Interesting. Who would there be to merge with in Wheeling, WV? Its not like NYC or Chicago where there are similar schools.
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Interesting. Who would there be to merge with in Wheeling, WV? Its not like NYC or Chicago where there are similar schools.
The most "similar" nearby school -- and I'm defining similar primarily as private/Catholic -- is Franciscan University of Steubenville. That's less than 30 miles away. I'd be surprised if they merged. Honestly, I'm curious what advantage there would be for any school to merge with WJU -- what would they bring to the table?
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The most "similar" nearby school -- and I'm defining similar primarily as private/Catholic -- is Franciscan University of Steubenville. That's less than 30 miles away. I'd be surprised if they merged. Honestly, I'm curious what advantage there would be for any school to merge with WJU -- what would they bring to the table?
Ah, I suppose that would potentially work...as a satellite campus or something. Although Franciscan University of Steubenville is kind of the antithesis of a Jesuit University.
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Ah, I suppose that would potentially work...as a satellite campus or something. Although Franciscan University of Steubenville is kind of the antithesis of a Jesuit University.
Yeah, they are two very different schools.
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It was announced today that WJU will lose its Jesuit affiliation following this academic year. So I'd imagine if it's still open next year, it's gotta get a new name.
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It was announced today that WJU will lose its Jesuit affiliation following this academic year. So I'd imagine if it's still open next year, it's gotta get a new name.
Sounds like it’s all but over. Sad.
I’d guess that whatever school exists after next year - if anything - will share little more than real estate with WJU.
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Jon Beilein needs to step up
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It was announced today that WJU will lose its Jesuit affiliation following this academic year. So I'd imagine if it's still open next year, it's gotta get a new name.
This may open up some potential merger partners .Maybe they could now become the Wheeling Campus for Duquesne.
Eliminate the duplicative administrative overhead and they could be off and running.
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The problem is the debt load on their buildings and that the Wheeling area has lost half its population over the last 50 years. Duquesne would probably prefer those students just transfer up to Pittsburgh. Assuming they have room for them.
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The problem is the debt load on their buildings and that the Wheeling area has lost half its population over the last 50 years. Duquesne would probably prefer those students just transfer up to Pittsburgh. Assuming they have room for them.
Diocese of Wheeling owns the buildings. They forgave the university's debt, and rent the entire campus back to them for like $2500 a month, which is about the same as my mortgage payment.
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Diocese of Wheeling owns the buildings. They forgave the university's debt, and rent the entire campus back to them for like $2500 a month, which is about the same as my mortgage payment.
OK thanks. Didn't see that.