Al Renovation Rumors

[4everwarriors]

I tried long snapping but the ball kept getting batted forward.

I got a similar issue when long snappin'. My view of the punter is completely blocked. Don't know if its day or night.

[ChicosBailBonds]

$47K per year.  That was painful to type.

$47K for a SEMESTER?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Bingo.

Capital expenditures are sexy, but the school really needs to get it's economics in order. Can they be more efficient with what they have?

At some point in the future, they are going to price themselves out of the market, and that's going to be a PAINFUL lesson... especially on a campus full of shiny new buildings.

How do you suggest doing it while also attracting very good students, very good faculty, having the latest in technology and facilities for kids to learn?  Stuff costs money.  Professors and staff want COLA raises if not merit raises, technology costs $$, infrastructure needs upgrading, and fair or not the shiny new toys attracts students because it is "state of the art" for the same reason why MU built the Al, to recruit student athletes...the Old Gym wasn't cutting it.

The easy thing to say is get stuff under control, costs, etc.  How, is the question. 

Here's a crazy idea that will have heads explode, but it has been suggested at some schools.  Let in less students that are needs based?  That puts MU out of the money loaning \ giving business.  Now, is that against our mission?  Sure is.  Would I advocate it?  Nope, but that's part of the problem as well, you need to be able to afford that money you are granting, etc. 

Here is the "RATE CARD"  http://www.marquette.edu/mucentral/bursar/documents/RateGuide14-15.pdf

Thing is, how many are truly spending this kind of cost, or the retail cost?  Not many. 

[Coleman]

How do you suggest doing it while also attracting very good students, very good faculty, having the latest in technology and facilities for kids to learn?  Stuff costs money.  Professors and staff want COLA raises if not merit raises, technology costs $$, infrastructure needs upgrading, and fair or not the shiny new toys attracts students because it is "state of the art" for the same reason why MU built the Al, to recruit student athletes...the Old Gym wasn't cutting it.

The easy thing to say is get stuff under control, costs, etc.  How, is the question. 

Here's a crazy idea that will have heads explode, but it has been suggested at some schools.  Let in less students that are needs based?  That puts MU out of the money loaning \ giving business.  Now, is that against our mission?  Sure is.  Would I advocate it?  Nope, but that's part of the problem as well, you need to be able to afford that money you are granting, etc. 

Here is the "RATE CARD"  http://www.marquette.edu/mucentral/bursar/documents/RateGuide14-15.pdf

Thing is, how many are truly spending this kind of cost, or the retail cost?  Not many. 

I'm all for giving professors COLA raises, investing in research, labs, classrooms, technology, etc.

What I'm not for is building dorms that rival 4 star hotels, the ridiculous "student life" programming, collecting activity fees to be distributed to all of the student groups, subsidizing movies at the varsity theater, the insane number of support staff (do we really need a paid full-time hall director and full-time paid layperson chaplain in every single residence hall?)

If someone at Marquette wants to form a club, fine, they can be self-funded. MU doesn't need to be doing this stuff for adult students.

[StillAWarrior]

What I'm not for is building dorms that rival 4 star hotels...

As someone who has toured a few schools in the last six months, I can attest to this.  When I look at some of the dorms we've toured (Dayton comes to mind), it's hard to imagine the conditions we lived in at McCormick.  There are some absolutely beautiful dorms and other facilities out there.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

To be fair to MUs tuition it turned out that after scholorships and financial aid that the cost for me at least going to MU was actually cheaper than an in state school like U of I. After I left the dorms its even more managable and really not too bad of a price for college these days.

[source?]

To be fair to MUs tuition it turned out that after scholorships and financial aid that the cost for me at least going to MU was actually cheaper than an in state school like U of I. After I left the dorms its even more managable and really not too bad of a price for college these days.

Same here. I got a merit-based scholarship that made the decision to go to MU very easy.

[jsglow]

Same here. I got a merit-based scholarship that made the decision to go to MU very easy.

True for many top students.

[BM1090]

One more quick comment.  $47 is the 'rack rate'.  If your student is highly sought after, significant scholarships really bring that down.  It's how private universities compete for the best and brightest.

But for the kid with the 3.0 HS GPA and a 27 on his ACT......

I had a 3.2 GPA and a 29 ACT and received 9-10K off per year from Marquette. So there are definitely scholarships available even for students who excel in one of the two factors.

[jsglow]

I had a 3.2 GPA and a 29 ACT and received 9-10K off per year from Marquette. So there are definitely scholarships available even for students who excel in one of the two factors.

Yep. And congrats.

[keefe]

I got a similar issue when long snappin'. My view of the punter is completely blocked. Don't know if its day or night.

I know the feeling. In fact, the coach had me go over to the TV Camera stand so they could stabilize the picture

[jesmu84]

Same here. I got a merit-based scholarship that made the decision to go to MU very easy.

Yup. During my senior year, Loyola was actually my #1 choice, until I got MU's scholarship offer which was much higher. Loyola wouldn't match it, and so off to Milwaukee I went. Excellent decision.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I'm all for giving professors COLA raises, investing in research, labs, classrooms, technology, etc.

What I'm not for is building dorms that rival 4 star hotels, the ridiculous "student life" programming, collecting activity fees to be distributed to all of the student groups, subsidizing movies at the varsity theater, the insane number of support staff (do we really need a paid full-time hall director and full-time paid layperson chaplain in every single residence hall?)

If someone at Marquette wants to form a club, fine, they can be self-funded. MU doesn't need to be doing this stuff for adult students.

Thing is, the tuition and board at MU has gone up without those new dorms, for example.  My guess is a student life person somewhere is losing their mind at your comments (not that I disagree with your comments), but who is going to think about the LGBT students or the international students or the Harry Potter club, etc, etc. 

I suspect the largest line item on MU's budget is salary and benefits.  Tough to cut expenses just with student life changes.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

There is no "ban." If you are a junior or senior and want to live on campus, there are options available to you, primarily in Humphrey or Campus Town.

No, you can't live in McCormick, but its not like MU says you can't live on campus.

I meant from residence halls specifically. Marquette bans juniors and seniors (except in rare cases) from living in residence halls. The on campus apartments are a separate entity and are exclusively open to upper classmen.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

What I'm not for is building dorms that rival 4 star hotels, the ridiculous "student life" programming, collecting activity fees to be distributed to all of the student groups, subsidizing movies at the varsity theater, the insane number of support staff (do we really need a paid full-time hall director and full-time paid layperson chaplain in every single residence hall?)

If someone at Marquette wants to form a club, fine, they can be self-funded. MU doesn't need to be doing this stuff for adult students.

The problem is, we need to do these things in order to keep up with the Joneses. Our dorms are on the very low end of quality, trust me. But depending on which study you read, quality of dorm is somewhere between 3rd and 1st most important factor in students deciding on university. "Ridiculous" student life programming is an essential aspect of the college experience. A majority of learning on college campuses occur outside the classroom and student life sponsored activities are one of the strongest venues for that. Quality of student life type programs is also one of the top factors in student retention and persistence to graduation.

As for support staff, I agree that we have too many, but Marquette is actually on the low end of this as well. The examples you gave were interesting as there are only 9 hall directors (one for each hall) and somewhere between 9-18 hall ministers. The hall directors are absolutely essential staff. Every one of our peer institutions utilizes a similar position for each of their halls. The halls could not operate without them. The hall ministers on the other hand....certainly not essential, but they go towards the mission and values. These are also two of the lowest paid positions at the university.

As Chicos pointed out, the student affairs side of things is a very small percentage of the budget. Cutting from there won't get you what you need. You need to cut from Academic Affairs, Athletics, and Administration. That's where the biggest pieces of the pie are. My suggestions would be cutting down on support staff across the board, cutting tennis, and axing most of the "low ROI" departments/majors. I would also cut down on the amount of colleges we have. We currently have what? Like 8 colleges. Cut that number to 4 or 5. Communication and Education can be rolled into arts and sciences. Professional Studies can be rolled into business. Even nursing could be put in arts and sciences if necessary. That would cut down on a lot of support staff and upper administration. Why pay for 8 deans when you could only have to pay for 4?

[ChicosBailBonds]

I meant from residence halls specifically. Marquette bans juniors and seniors (except in rare cases) from living in residence halls. The on campus apartments are a separate entity and are exclusively open to upper classmen.

Really?  That's certainly a change.  I remember a number of juniors living in Mashuda back in the day, of course that was before the apartments were opened up.

[ChicosBailBonds]

As Chicos pointed out, the student affairs side of things is a very small percentage of the budget. Cutting from there won't get you what you need. You need to cut from Academic Affairs, Athletics, and Administration. That's where the biggest pieces of the pie are. My suggestions would be cutting down on support staff across the board, cutting tennis, and axing most of the "low ROI" departments/majors. I would also cut down on the amount of colleges we have. We currently have what? Like 8 colleges. Cut that number to 4 or 5. Communication and Education can be rolled into arts and sciences. Professional Studies can be rolled into business. Even nursing could be put in arts and sciences if necessary. That would cut down on a lot of support staff and upper administration. Why pay for 8 deans when you could only have to pay for 4?

If you cut tennis, we are below the NCAA minimum and cannot stay Division I. 

I agree with merging some of the colleges, even though politically on campus people would freak and morale low, but this is the way of the real world with mergers, consolidation, etc.  Redundancy is eliminated.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

If you cut tennis, we are below the NCAA minimum and cannot stay Division I. 

I agree with merging some of the colleges, even though politically on campus people would freak and morale low, but this is the way of the real world with mergers, consolidation, etc.  Redundancy is eliminated.

When we added lacrosse we moved to 8 mens and 8 womens sports. The minimum is 7 and 7.

[WarriorFan]

Just eliminate any major where over 20% of the grads are employed by Wal Mart or Starbucks.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

$47K per year.  That was painful to type.

That's still comparatively inexpensive as the private schools around here like Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart & our fellow Jesuit institution of Fairfield U. are way more than that.  That was always my pitch at college fairs.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

How do you suggest doing it while also attracting very good students, very good faculty, having the latest in technology and facilities for kids to learn?  Stuff costs money.  Professors and staff want COLA raises if not merit raises, technology costs $$, infrastructure needs upgrading, and fair or not the shiny new toys attracts students because it is "state of the art" for the same reason why MU built the Al, to recruit student athletes...the Old Gym wasn't cutting it.

The easy thing to say is get stuff under control, costs, etc.  How, is the question. 

Here's a crazy idea that will have heads explode, but it has been suggested at some schools.  Let in less students that are needs based?  That puts MU out of the money loaning \ giving business.  Now, is that against our mission?  Sure is.  Would I advocate it?  Nope, but that's part of the problem as well, you need to be able to afford that money you are granting, etc. 

Here is the "RATE CARD"  http://www.marquette.edu/mucentral/bursar/documents/RateGuide14-15.pdf

Thing is, how many are truly spending this kind of cost, or the retail cost?  Not many. 

I understand it's easy to say "control costs!" and a lot harder to actually execute.

HOWEVER, MU can't keep doing what it's doing. They can't just keep raising tuition 5 grand per year from now into eternity. It ain't gonna work.

This goes for every college. The demand for secondary education isn't inelastic. Shiny new buildings are great at attracting students, but are people willing to pay $500,000 for their education because they like the dorms?

I think it's easy to say: "We gotta keep up!" and crank out new buildings and continue to jack tuition up. I think it's a lot harder to accept that for MU's long term benefit, they might have to make the best of what they have for a while. I don't know that 100K tuition in 2025 with a bunch of great dorms is an equation that is going to work.

I'm not asking MU to be the Wal-Mart of education, but I think they need to work a little harder and getting costs under control and figuring out how this is all going to work in the long run. The landscape of secondary education is changing. MU needs to be very smart how they are operating, or else this could get ugly.

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

The thing I keep wondering is how much longer can the schools that are not top 200 - private schools - stay in business? I'm thinking the Alvernos and Ripons of the world. Maybe you can say Alverno is in MKE so it's going to have some business, but a Ripon or a Beloit? Who is thinking that it makes sense to spend $49,970 at Beloit College versus any degree at any UW extension school?

http://www.beloit.edu/financialaid/policies_procedures/costs/

Marquette's tuition is crazy, but I have to admit that they're no worse than most private schools out there. Who is honestly paying 50 grand per year at Beloit?

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

Ripon, $42,567

http://www.ripon.edu/admission/costs/

St. Norberts, $41,478

http://www.snc.edu/bursar/costs.html

Edgewood, $34,563

http://www.edgewood.edu/Prospective-Students/Undergraduate/Freshman/Freshman-Financial-Aid

Lawrence U, $51,465 (Edit: wrong Lawrence)

http://www.lawrence.edu/admissions/afford/financial

I guess I'm just amazed people think they are getting their money's worth out of these places.

[Tums Festival]

By comparison, total cost per school year to attend Georgetown is 62k, Villanova is 59k, Seton Hall is 49k, Creighton is 48k, DePaul is 49k, Xavier is 47k, Butler is 49k, Providence is 58k and St. John's is 57k. Also, ND is 60k for this year.

Got these numbers from http://www.collegedata.com/

[jsglow]

Personally, I face one more tuition bump for jsglow jr.'s Senior year.  I'll avoid the $50K threshold by a whisker.  Frankly it seems to get a bit easier when they are upperclassmen as the MU room and board charge goes away and is replaced by our direct help for rent and groceries.  That feels like another mortgage payment every month.

But there's no way I could have put 4-5 kids through and we did expect meaningful contributions from both our kids in the form of schollys, some relatively modest loans, and jobs while they were in school.  Everyone in our family pulls on that very heavy oar.