MU Layoffs thread

[jsglow]

I have dear friends on the list.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/marquette-university-announces-layoffs-to-trim-costs-b99209206z1-246186681.html

[muwarrior69]

They need to re-think the necessity of tenure. Nearly 200k to get a 4 year diploma. It cost my parents 12K for 4 years at MU and we thought that was outrageous back then in the 60s.

Hope your friend lands something soon; getting laid off can be a great opportunity to find something better.

[wadesworld]

They need to re-think the necessity of tenure. Nearly 200k to get a 4 year diploma. It cost my parents 12K for 4 years at MU and we thought that was outrageous back then in the 60s.

Hope your friend lands something soon; getting laid off can be a great opportunity to find something better.

Exactly. How they need to cut employees with the price of tuition is absolutely beyond me. Disheartening.

[mu_hilltopper]

While it's awful for anyone to lose their job, Marquette needs to relentlessly pursue cost saving measures.

I'll say it to anyone who'll listen:  The universe of people who can or are willing to pay for MU (or any private school) tuition as it increases, drops to zero in the long term.   When my 5 year old wants to go to Marquette in 14 years and the tuition is $106,000 a year .. forget it.  Even at 50% aid, forget it.

They must bend their cost curve.

[bradley center bat]

I have dear friends on the list.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/marquette-university-announces-layoffs-to-trim-costs-b99209206z1-246186681.html

What departments do they work for?

[jsglow]

As I understand it is limited to administrators.  No full time faculty involved.

[Coleman]

While it's awful for anyone to lose their job, Marquette needs to relentlessly pursue cost saving measures.

I'll say it to anyone who'll listen:  The universe of people who can or are willing to pay for MU (or any private school) tuition as it increases, drops to zero in the long term.   When my 5 year old wants to go to Marquette in 14 years and the tuition is $106,000 a year .. forget it.  Even at 50% aid, forget it.

They must bend their cost curve.

They do. But it should not be done on the backs on non-tenured folks who work their butts off to support those are employed for life.

The tenure system needs to be reevaluated. It is not sustainable.

[jsglow]

While it's awful for anyone to lose their job, Marquette needs to relentlessly pursue cost saving measures.

I'll say it to anyone who'll listen:  The universe of people who can or are willing to pay for MU (or any private school) tuition as it increases, drops to zero in the long term.   When my 5 year old wants to go to Marquette in 14 years and the tuition is $106,000 a year .. forget it.  Even at 50% aid, forget it.

They must bend their cost curve.

Absolutely correct.  And the university fully understands this.

[StillAWarrior]

I'll say it to anyone who'll listen:  The universe of people who can or are willing to pay for MU (or any private school) tuition as it increases, drops to zero in the long term.   When my 5 year old wants to go to Marquette in 14 years and the tuition is $106,000 a year .. forget it.  Even at 50% aid, forget it.

As someone who is much closer to starting to write checks to a college, I'll second this.  I was fortunate enough to attend Marquette to obtain a degree that, frankly, I could have gotten pretty much anywhere.  My son is now looking at colleges, and we're having an lot of talks about whether a private liberal arts education has any reasonable value.  For some of the colleges he's looking at, even with 50% aid they would be well above other options available to us (some of which are very good schools).  There's one state school where an ACT score that I'm sure is attainable will automatically qualify him for a full tuition scholarship.  It's kind of hard to justify the cost of private school tuition -- even with significant aid.  I've had to tell him that if he wants to attend some of the schools he really likes, he's going to need a lot of help from somewhere other than us.  That's a really hard conversation to have with your kid.

[spartan3186]

As much as I despise the Badgers, for in-state kids the value proposition at UW-Madison is significantly better than that of MU.

2013/14 Tuition
UW-Madison: $10,400
Marquette: $35,480

When I went to school my parents told me that they would pay the in-state rate (U of I for me) and anything above that would be on me. Luckily I had significant scholarship money which made the price of education at MU roughly equivalent to that at U of I. With the rate MU tuition has risen, that would no longer be the case today.

[mu-rara]

I loved everything about my Marquette experience.

Academics
Theology, Philosophy, etc.
College of Business
Friends
Basketball
Cura Personalis
Everything

Having said all that, with costs of a Marquette education rising significantly above the cost of inflation, I have a really hard time reconciling cost with benefit.  Sad, because the Marquette message is not passing to everyone.  It is going to those whose parents are of means.   I know many kids who are unwilling to apply because of the $$ involved.  I always encourage the app and tell them Marquette has $$ for good students, but usually it falls on deaf ears.

Sad story.  Feel bad for those affected.

[Litehouse]

As much as I despise the Badgers, for in-state kids the value proposition at UW-Madison is significantly better than that of MU.

2013/14 Tuition
UW-Madison: $10,400
Marquette: $35,480

That's the sticker price, but far fewer people pay the sticker price at MU compared to UW due to financial aid and scholarships.  Also, UW is more likely to take 5 years due to class availability, which tacks on a little more.  MU is obviously more, but the advertised price makes it seem worse than it is.

[warriorchick]

As much as I despise the Badgers, for in-state kids the value proposition at UW-Madison is significantly better than that of MU.

2013/14 Tuition
UW-Madison: $10,400
Marquette: $35,480

When I went to school my parents told me that they would pay the in-state rate (U of I for me) and anything above that would be on me. Luckily I had significant scholarship money which made the price of education at MU roughly equivalent to that at U of I. With the rate MU tuition has risen, that would no longer be the case today.

In-state tuition for U of I next year can be up to $20,176, per their website.  Take Marquette's tuition and subtract a typical Ignatius Scholarship, and you are pretty close to apples and apples.

[Coleman]

In-state tuition for U of I next year can be up to $20,176, per their website.  Take Marquette's tuition and subtract a typical Ignatius Scholarship, and you are pretty close to apples and apples.

The Iggy was only $8,000 ten years ago. What are they giving away now?

[jsglow]

The Iggy was only $8,000 ten years ago. What are they giving away now?

I think it tops out at $14,000 or so.

[Tugg Speedman]

As much as I despise the Badgers, for in-state kids the value proposition at UW-Madison is significantly better than that of MU.

2013/14 Tuition
UW-Madison: $10,400
Marquette: $35,480

When I went to school my parents told me that they would pay the in-state rate (U of I for me) and anything above that would be on me. Luckily I had significant scholarship money which made the price of education at MU roughly equivalent to that at U of I. With the rate MU tuition has risen, that would no longer be the case today.

UW sucks tons of taxpayers money to keep it going.  MU is a private institution.

Not a fair comparsion.

Boston College and NYU are nearly $60k/year.  NYU housing could run another $30 to $40k/year because Greenwich Village is so expensive.


---------------

Also from the JS article:

Marquette University is eliminating 25 staff positions — its first workforce reduction since the mid-1990s — as part of an effort to cut costs and create efficiencies so that a Marquette education will continue to be affordable, Interim President Father Robert Wild announced in a letter Wednesday to faculty and staff.

So MU is eliminating 25 people.  We offer prayers.

A few years ago when Walker offered up cuts, UW student took over the capital, sh!t on the floor and caused tens of thousands of damage.

UW is a bunch of out of touch entitled lefties.

[GGGG]

Let's just say that each of these people cost $100,000.  Salary, benefits, etc.  (Which is likely high...)

Spread out across 12,000 students, this would save each student...just over $200.

Drop in a bucket.

[MUfan12]

Do we know what areas/departments have been affected? I have friends working at a few different places within the university.

[keefe]

They need to re-think the necessity of tenure. Nearly 200k to get a 4 year diploma. It cost my parents 12K for 4 years at MU and we thought that was outrageous back then in the 60s.

Hope your friend lands something soon; getting laid off can be a great opportunity to find something better.

Tenure is non-negotiable. Marquette will never, ever consider eliminating the tenure system.

But Marquette, like any enterprise, must manage costs. While I feel for the people getting laid off I am confident Fr Wild made this decision for sound business reasons.

I also question the need for prayers in this case. Beseeching the Almighty because educated middle class people were laid off  trivializes prayer. There is a long line of people in need before the Lord gets around to ensuring a place kicker makes a field goal or a guy gets another job. The great thing about adversity of this sort is that people find that inner reservoir of strength and overcome what is essentially a manageable problem. Save prayers of the real problems.

[Coleman]

UW sucks tons of taxpayers money to keep it going.  MU is a private institution.

Not a fair comparsion.

Boston College and NYU are nearly $60k/year.  NYU housing could run another $30 to $40k/year because Greenwich Village is so expensive.


---------------

Also from the JS article:

Marquette University is eliminating 25 staff positions — its first workforce reduction since the mid-1990s — as part of an effort to cut costs and create efficiencies so that a Marquette education will continue to be affordable, Interim President Father Robert Wild announced in a letter Wednesday to faculty and staff.

So MU is eliminating 25 people.  We offer prayers.

A few years ago when Walker offered up cuts, UW student took over the capital, sh!t on the floor and caused tens of thousands of damage.

UW is a bunch of out of touch entitled lefties.

Its fair in that we compete with them. Taxpayer money or not, people aren't going to go to MU if there is a quality school 60 miles west for 1/3 the price. That's just reality.

Don't make this a political thing either.

[Coleman]

Tenure is non-negotiable. Marquette will never, ever consider eliminating the tenure system.

But Marquette, like any enterprise, must manage costs. While I feel for the people getting laid off I am confident Fr Wild made this decision for sound business reasons.

I also question the need for prayers in this case. Beseeching the Almighty because educated middle class people were laid off  trivializes prayer. There is a long line of people in need before the Lord gets around to ensuring a place kicker makes a field goal or a guy gets another job. The great thing about adversity of this sort is that people find that inner reservoir of strength and overcome what is essentially a manageable problem. Save prayers of the real problems.

That's a little presumptuous to judge who needs prayers and who doesn't.

What if someone who just got laid off has a spouse with cancer, and the couple now loses their health insurance? Still not worth our prayers?

God never made some socioeconomic threshold that you have to be below to ask for grace and strength. All humans can have that.

[GGGG]

Tenure is non-negotiable. Marquette will never, ever consider eliminating the tenure system.

But Marquette, like any enterprise, must manage costs. While I feel for the people getting laid off I am confident Fr Wild made this decision for sound business reasons.

I also question the need for prayers in this case. Beseeching the Almighty because educated middle class people were laid off  trivializes prayer. There is a long line of people in need before the Lord gets around to ensuring a place kicker makes a field goal or a guy gets another job. The great thing about adversity of this sort is that people find that inner reservoir of strength and overcome what is essentially a manageable problem. Save prayers of the real problems.

God can handle it.  I pray about a lot of things more trivial than this.

[Tugg Speedman]

Its fair in that we compete with them. Taxpayer money or not, people aren't going to go to MU if there is a quality school 60 miles west for 1/3 the price. That's just reality.

Don't make this a political thing either.

Ok, maybe the better metric is not UW but private BE schools along with Northwestern and ND. 

When MU's tuition and costs are compared against these schools, it is better than average.



UW is best compared against the other large taxpayer support public schools like the B1G (excluding NU).

[GGGG]

Ok, maybe the better metric is not UW but private BE schools along with Northwestern and ND. 

When MU's tuition and costs are compared against these schools, it is better than average.



UW is best compared against the other large taxpayer support public schools like the B1G (excluding NU).

You have to compare to your competitors for students.  My guess is that Madison is one of Marquette's top, if not *the* top, competitor for students.

[Coleman]

Ok, maybe the better metric is not UW but private BE schools along with Northwestern and ND. 

When MU's tuition and costs are compared against these schools, it is better than average.



UW is best compared against the other large taxpayer support public schools like the B1G (excluding NU).

No one is arguing that MU's tuition must be equal to UW's. But it needs to be competitive, when factoring in financial aid