Marquette raises tuition 3.5 percent

[jficke13]

Even at MU, professor salaries and administrator headcounts would have to come down dramatically.

Widespread rightsizing of academia to eliminate unnecessary positions that don't do any "teaching?"

[GGGG]

Widespread rightsizing of academia to eliminate unnecessary positions that don't do any "teaching?"

There is some justification for an increase in non-teaching positions.  Want to raise more money?  Want to provide high level IT for students and faculty?  The primary cost of both are people.

I know from personal experience that there are other examples that are less easy to defend.  But it isn't as simple to label one position as "unnecessary" but not another.

[chapman]

Has the administration said anything about online offerings as a revenue stream?  We really fell behind the curve, and a lot of excellent schools have online graduate degree / certificate programs.  Are these profitable for the institutions?  Would they do anything to help subsidize the cost of on-site undergraduate tuition?

[GGGG]

Has the administration said anything about online offerings as a revenue stream?  We really fell behind the curve, and a lot of excellent schools have online graduate degree / certificate programs.  Are these profitable for the institutions?  Would they do anything to help subsidize the cost of on-site undergraduate tuition?

I work for a four year public that was an "early entrant" into the online field.  It is becoming less and less profitable for a number of reasons.  The number of entrants into the field is huge, but the marketplace has stopped growing to a large extent.  So more providers are fighting over the same number of students. 

Furthermore you have to provide a quality online product.  And those do exist.  I have seen some schools whose online offerings are actually really good.  But you can't just take a good classroom professor and expect him to duplicate his course online.  Good online professors are the ones who understand how to make the most of that medium.  How do you encourage quality online discussions, that also give you an indication of how much the student truly understands about the topic?  How do you set up group projects that students can do without seeing one another face to face?

It would not be easy for Marquette to enter that marketplace now.  The MBA field is completely saturated, and you might just end up cannibalizing your classroom offerings anyway.  And I doubt they want to do something in the bachelor's area unless it is just an alternative delivery of a few courses.

If they would have thought of the idea 15-20 years ago they could have gotten some "first mover" advantages, and built up a strong reputation in the online field.  (An MBA from Marquette is obviously going to mean more than one from Upper Iowa or Cardinal Stritch.)  But it might be too late now.

[jsglow]

This is good to hear... and from a big picture perspective:

MU struggled with enrollment in the late 80's and early 90's. The neighborhood was bad, most of the dorms were outdated, enrollment was down.

MU did get a new the new AMU, Campus Town, and Cudahy, but for the most part, capital improvements were limited/differed. (I'm not sure when the Rec Center was built)

Therefore, in the past 20 years, MU has had a good deal of "catching up" to do with some capital improvements (dorms, admin. buildings, classrooms, etc.).

Now, I completely understand this, and I understand why MU has been spending money on improving the school facilities, and needs the money to afford these facilities.

BUT, we are reaching a point where MU is going to have to learn to "make do" with some of what they have. IMO, they can't just keep cranking up the capitol campaigns and the yearly tuition and shrug and say they "have to keep up with other schools". That's a mistake of epic proportions.

MU doesn't need to be a used Honda, but it also doesn't need to be a Range Rover either. There is a good amount of middle ground where MU can provide a high end education and experience at a competitive rate.

VALUE is going to become more and more important. Federal loans or not, people are eventually compare X to Y, and if X is 30% cheaper, the prospective student will live without the brand new Rec Center that Y just built.

Sorry for the rant, but over the past couple of years I've come to the stark realization that my kids will likely NOT have the option to attend MU because the costs are just becoming too burdensome.

MU needs to have a good long term vision of how they are going to attract students 15-20 years from now. $150K in tuition probably isn't going to work.

Well thought out and written Canned.  Let me add this.  For those of you who graduated around 1990, Marquette is a vastly different place.  And if I were to give credit to only one individual (a silly notion of course), Bob Wild is that person.  So if he writes you a letter or calls you in his new retirement role with University Advancement, please read/listen attentively.  Heck, it turned out to be good advice for Mike Lovell who reportedly told Fr. Wild 'no' more than once last Spring.  We all benefit from the fact that Bob can be awfully persuasive when he wants to be.  We owe him a debt we will never be able to repay.

There are a couple of things still on the block now that the Historic Campus Project is nearing completion after a sizable contribution announced a few months ago for Johnston Hall.

Among others:

-  DLC (new Engineering) is only in Phase 1 so far.  But thank goodness they aren't getting ahead of themselves. 

-  The Den school expansion is also currently underway. 

-  Bus. Ad. wants a building but my guess is they will probably have to wait unless some well healed individual steps forward.
 
-  My personal view is that Life Sciences is a greater need but nothing is on the agenda so far to the best of my knowledge. 

-  Student housing is on the wish list too but again I think that'll be awhile so we all get to complain about the McCormick eyesore for a few more years.  As I've said before, I personally believe Marquette will look to acquire rather than build. 

-  And lastly, the Rec Center was built around 1977 or so.  Hence, the huge commitment to tennis which was particularly popular at the time.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Well thought out and written Canned.  Let me add this.  For those of you who graduated around 1990, Marquette is a vastly different place.  And if I were to give credit to only one individual (a silly notion of course), Bob Wild is that person.  So if he writes you a letter or calls you in his new retirement role with University Advancement, please read/listen attentively.  Heck, it turned out to be good advice for Mike Lovell who reportedly told Fr. Wild 'no' more than once last Spring.  We all benefit from the fact that Bob can be awfully persuasive when he wants to be.  We owe him a debt we will never be able to repay.

There are a couple of things still on the block now that the Historic Campus Project is nearing completion after a sizable contribution announced a few months ago for Johnston Hall.

Among others:

-  DLC (new Engineering) is only in Phase 1 so far.  But thank goodness they aren't getting ahead of themselves. 

-  The Den school expansion is also currently underway. 

-  Bus. Ad. wants a building but my guess is they will probably have to wait unless some well healed individual steps forward.
 
-  My personal view is that Life Sciences is a greater need but nothing is on the agenda so far to the best of my knowledge. 

-  Student housing is on the wish list too but again I think that'll be awhile so we all get to complain about the McCormick eyesore for a few more years.  As I've said before, I personally believe Marquette will look to acquire rather than build. 

-  And lastly, the Rec Center was built around 1977 or so.  Hence, the huge commitment to tennis which was particularly popular at the time.

I know capital improvements are likely a neverending need, but it just seems like a pretty viscous cycle right now. After everything you listed above is complete, it'll be time for a new Rec Center, and after that, a new AMU, and after that Cudahy will come down, etc. etc.

At some point, MU is going to have to work with what it has. I'm not saying I'm against progress, but ever since I entered MU as a Frosh (in 1998), it's been "BUILD BABY BUILD!", and tuition in that time has sky rocketed.

Do all of the facility upgrades really make MU worth 30-40% more than when I attended?

I hate to sound like such an old fart, but not everything has to be "new" to be "good".

[jficke13]

...
I hate to sound like such an old fart, but not everything has to be "new" to be "good".

I have expressed a desire to check the increasing tuition, but it is plainly obvious that the facilities for some departments have contributed to a much better learning environment for the students in a tangible way like the new Engineering building and its fancy toys. I just think we need to prioritize the capital expenditures, and it's hard to imagine facilities more in need of upgrade or replacement than the science buildings. New labs would be night and day for our science students and faculty.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I have expressed a desire to check the increasing tuition, but it is plainly obvious that the facilities for some departments have contributed to a much better learning environment for the students in a tangible way like the new Engineering building and its fancy toys. I just think we need to prioritize the capital expenditures, and it's hard to imagine facilities more in need of upgrade or replacement than the science buildings. New labs would be night and day for our science students and faculty.

Totally fair.

I'm not in any position to know or evaluate specific needs. I can't even pretend that I am.

What I am saying is that in the past 15 years, a significant amount of facilities have been replaced/upgraded. That's awesome. BUT, tuition has also gone through the roof. It's not sustainable.

So, I understand there are some things that will need upgrades in the near future, but I hope they find away to stabilize tuition and capital expenditures for a while. A school with all brand new facilities that costs $150K per year probably isn't a good idea. That's where MU is headed right now.

[jsglow]

One thing to focus on Canned is that it's the 4th assistant to the Adjunct Director of South American internship opportunities that makes it so darn expensive.  And also understand that campus infrastructure is a selling point for a university in its effort to attract top students.  I'd personally say that student housing ought be a high priority for Marquette.  We lag the standard pretty significantly these days.  And again, I'd buy and renovate.  McCabe is simply stunning with its 1920s fully renovated architecture.

[jficke13]

It would be fascinating to see a % breakdown of what the tuition dollars pay for. 15% to facilities, 50% to faculty, or whatever. I kind of doubt that information gets shared though.

[warriorchick]

It would be fascinating to see a % breakdown of what the tuition dollars pay for. 15% to facilities, 50% to faculty, or whatever. I kind of doubt that information gets shared though.

Didn't click through, but I am guessing you can find what you need here:

http://www.marquette.edu/financeoffice/reports.shtml

[LloydsLegs]

Lloyd, I'd like to be careful about the term 'automatic'.  What's being described are the merit based scholarships that private universities offer to entice their most attractive applicants to matriculate.  Think of it a bit like airline seat pricing.  Schools like Marquette attempt to raise their profile/ranking by attracting the best.  Besides all the nice buildings and fancy programs, they all compete with the almighty dollar.

First, I don't want to raise the false hope that a majority of applicants qualify for significant merit based money.  The mean enrolled Frosh each August is a Top 25% approximate 27 ACT kid.  I looked for statistics on the application pool (I used to know these when I served on the Admissions Committee) and couldn't come up with them quickly but I believe the average ACT for the 22,000 annual applications is right around 24.  So that sets our universe these days.  As I think most here know, Marquette accepts roughly 50% of the applicant pool (about 11,000) to achieve the desired 1,950-2,000 Frosh enrollment.

Okay, now to merit based scholarships.  It varies year to year and this way oversimplifies it but I believe that very modest scholarships (like $2,000 - $3,000 annually) start at right around 27 or 28 on the ACT, among many other factors of course, basically right at the average enrolled student line but at a dollar figure that doesn't make much of a difference.  Of course they go up from there as the student becomes more attractive to the university getting up to approximately 50% of tuition for the best and the brightest.  (Yes, there are a handful of full rides but I digress.)  Marquette like to mention that 90% of their students get some form of either need based or merit based financial support.  But its important to know that for many it's not huge money.

One more reality.  Marquette traditionally lags its competition by a meaningful amount.  This can be traced directly to the endowment and represents a very major hurdle if the goal is to move from US News #75 to something like US News #50.  Not saying that's the goal these days but we like to talk like we're BC or GTown.  The good news is that fundraising has really picked up in the last 6 months.  Hope that's informative for folks.  

Good poimt--my experience is based on a small sample size of my kids and their friends, not any sort of review of the overall numbers.

[chapman]

I work for a four year public that was an "early entrant" into the online field.  It is becoming less and less profitable for a number of reasons.  The number of entrants into the field is huge, but the marketplace has stopped growing to a large extent.  So more providers are fighting over the same number of students. 

Furthermore you have to provide a quality online product.  And those do exist.  I have seen some schools whose online offerings are actually really good.  But you can't just take a good classroom professor and expect him to duplicate his course online.  Good online professors are the ones who understand how to make the most of that medium.  How do you encourage quality online discussions, that also give you an indication of how much the student truly understands about the topic?  How do you set up group projects that students can do without seeing one another face to face?

It would not be easy for Marquette to enter that marketplace now.  The MBA field is completely saturated, and you might just end up cannibalizing your classroom offerings anyway.  And I doubt they want to do something in the bachelor's area unless it is just an alternative delivery of a few courses.

If they would have thought of the idea 15-20 years ago they could have gotten some "first mover" advantages, and built up a strong reputation in the online field.  (An MBA from Marquette is obviously going to mean more than one from Upper Iowa or Cardinal Stritch.)  But it might be too late now.

Great information, thanks for the assessment.