Cardinal Stritch Closing

[Coleman]

Thanks for nothing.  How many scoopers subscribe to Crain's Chicago Business?

I do haha

[The Sultan]

https://depauliaonline.com/63719/news/faculty-decisions-made-hastily-without-collaboration-in-effort-to-close-56-5-million-gap/

What's really strange is that it is really late to realize your budget was going to be that bad. Generally you know what your returning students are going to be and how much they will pay. In my experience, you can get a good guess in the Fall assuming your recruitment looks good. Unless they missed their recruitment and retention by a ton, I don't know how they could have screwed that up so badly.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

https://depauliaonline.com/63719/news/faculty-decisions-made-hastily-without-collaboration-in-effort-to-close-56-5-million-gap/

What's really strange is that it is really late to realize your budget was going to be that bad. Generally you know what your returning students are going to be and how much they will pay. In my experience, you can get a good guess in the Fall assuming your recruitment looks good. Unless they missed their recruitment and retention by a ton, I don't know how they could have screwed that up so badly.

It's DePaul.

[Coleman]

https://depauliaonline.com/63719/news/faculty-decisions-made-hastily-without-collaboration-in-effort-to-close-56-5-million-gap/

What's really strange is that it is really late to realize your budget was going to be that bad. Generally you know what your returning students are going to be and how much they will pay. In my experience, you can get a good guess in the Fall assuming your recruitment looks good. Unless they missed their recruitment and retention by a ton, I don't know how they could have screwed that up so badly.

This goes into way more detail than the Crains article. Thanks for sending.

I share the concern that was mentioned about administrative bloat. Why are they cutting student-facing teaching roles and not administration?

As for how this happened, Sounds like something got missed during the the transition to a new administration. That plus an enrollment decline of about 2,000 students

[The Sultan]

This goes into way more detail than the Crains article. Thanks for sending.

I share the concern that was mentioned about administrative bloat. Why are they cutting student-facing teaching roles and not administration?

As for how this happened, Sounds like something got missed during the the transition to a new administration. That plus an enrollment decline of about 2,000 students

The reason you are cutting instruction is because if there are 2,000 less students, you don't need to teach as many courses. Especially your freshman level gen-ed type courses like your writing, college math, etc.  Usually those are filled with adjuncts or visiting professors which means they are on one year contracts that are easy to get out from under.

A lot of administrative divisions don't see such a decrease in demand with less students.  For instance, your finance and accounting doesn't change. Your fundraising. Your information technology (by and large).  But some do...health services, financial aid, academic advising, etc.

[Hards Alumni]

This goes into way more detail than the Crains article. Thanks for sending.

I share the concern that was mentioned about administrative bloat. Why are they cutting student-facing teaching roles and not administration?

As for how this happened, Sounds like something got missed during the the transition to a new administration. That plus an enrollment decline of about 2,000 students

I think you answered your own question.

[Scoop Snoop]

The reason you are cutting instruction is because if there are 2,000 less students, you don't need to teach as many courses. Especially your freshman level gen-ed type courses like your writing, college math, etc.  Usually those are filled with adjuncts or visiting professors which means they are on one year contracts that are easy to get out from under.

A lot of administrative divisions don't see such a decrease in demand with less students.  For instance, your finance and accounting doesn't change. Your fundraising. Your information technology (by and large).  But some do...health services, financial aid, academic advising, etc.

This is roughly analogous to a business trimming expenses where it can when sales decline and it is unlikely that they will increase in the near future. The fixed expenses-rent (or mortgage), loan servicing, utilities (although there may be some reduction of expenses here), finance and accounting (as you pointed out), etc. simply cannot easily be reduced. Near me, Sweetbriar College was rescued by some very wealthy alumnae determined to keep SBC from closing. Otherwise, the college would have closed as planned due largely to steadily decreased enrollment. The numbers simply were not working. Harsh but true. 

[mu_hilltopper]

From that article ..

"Bad financial decisions have been made in the past," Curran said. "...We build new buildings, we spend a lot of money on athletics."

It'd be amusing to see the chart that had enrollment vs. employment .. and add data points on Big East wins/year.   Lagging indicator?   

DePaul University's reputation beyond Chicago is definitely painted due to their basketball futility, probably in the negative ROI zone.

I agree with the quandary about how did they get surprised so bad.  It's not like their freshman class was suddenly -50%. 

[GOO]

My bigger question for a decade has been is MU planning to decrease student count and increase scholarships.  These have to be top priorities? Beyond building in my opinion.   

They seem to be doing it on the scholarship side. It seems to me that they have expanded the scholarship amounts a lot recently - no insider info - just what I've seen in limited cases I know about.

On the size, people in the know on this board have pushed back in the past and have said the plan is more students, or at least not downsizing. That has made and continues to make no sense to me. Can't do it with the demographics etc, unless the scholarship money increases a lot more - I doubt that is happening. Getting smaller has to be part of the short and long term plan.  That would also decrease acceptance rates or at least not make them worse.

[Coleman]

My bigger question for a decade has been is MU planning to decrease student count and increase scholarships.  These have to be top priorities? Beyond building in my opinion.   

They seem to be doing it on the scholarship side. It seems to me that they have expanded the scholarship amounts a lot recently - no insider info - just what I've seen in limited cases I know about.

On the size, people in the know on this board have pushed back in the past and have said the plan is more students, or at least not downsizing. That has made and continues to make no sense to me. Can't do it with the demographics etc, unless the scholarship money increases a lot more - I doubt that is happening. Getting smaller has to be part of the short and long term plan.  That would also decrease acceptance rates or at least not make them worse.

Agree with everything you say here. Increasing enrollment would, by definition, mean lowering standards, considering the number of graduating high school seniors is going to continue to decrease over the next 10-15 years. Keeping enrollment stable is a great goal but I'm not sure how realistic. Preparing for a decline of 5-10% enrollment over the next ten years, with regards to expenses, would be the prudent thing to do. If enrollment stays stable, MU's position will be all the better. If you plan now using natural attrition and minimizing hiring as much as possible, you won't need to lay off down the road.

[The Sultan]

I think Marquette is focusing on recruiting to programs in business, engineering and nursing where students are paying more in net tuition than they would in arts and sciences and communication.

[PBRme]

I think Marquette is focusing on recruiting to programs in business, engineering and nursing where students are paying more in net tuition than they would in arts and sciences and communication.

ROI has finally found its way to Higher Education.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I think Marquette is focusing on recruiting to programs in business, engineering and nursing where students are paying more in net tuition than they would in arts and sciences and communication.

This

[MU82]

ROI has finally found its way to Higher Education.

There's no "finally" about it. For years, schools like North Carolina and Virginia have worked hard to bring in out-of-state students, who pay significantly higher tuition than in-state.

[Scoop Snoop]

There's no "finally" about it. For years, schools like North Carolina and Virginia have worked hard to bring in out-of-state students, who pay significantly higher tuition than in-state.

Yep. Virginia is chock full of small colleges and most have survived by being proactive. However, there have been some casualties. Realistically, I think most of the survivors are simply buying time.

[Pakuni]

DePaul planning cuts to deal with $56 million budget shortfall.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/depaul-university-20230416-l4okl27cgvd4hb62dthd2q7rve-story.html

[Scoop Snoop]

DePaul planning cuts to deal with $56 million budget shortfall.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/depaul-university-20230416-l4okl27cgvd4hb62dthd2q7rve-story.html

I think President Manuel is the genius who made a statement early in his tenure that men's bball should not receive too much money from DP "at the expense of the other sports" or words to that effect. He simply did not understand the economic value of men's bball and its ability to increase enrollment. Instead of recognizing men's bball's value, he blew it off.

Like in business, there are two ways of successfully handling financial problems, and more often than not, it is really a combination of the two. A) Cut expenses B) Increase (profitable) revenue. Simply cutting expenses is too often just a way of hanging on for a while. It would not surprise me if Manuel heads DP in this direction. He impresses me as a small thinker.

[JWags85]

I think President Manuel is the genius who made a statement early in his tenure that men's bball should not receive too much money from DP "at the expense of the other sports" or words to that effect. He simply did not understand the economic value of men's bball and its ability to increase enrollment. Instead of recognizing men's bball's value, he blew it off.

Like in business, there are two ways of successfully handling financial problems, and more often than not, it is really a combination of the two. A) Cut expenses B) Increase (profitable) revenue. Simply cutting expenses is too often just a way of hanging on for a while. It would not surprise me if Manuel heads DP in this direction. He impresses me as a small thinker.

Manuel has only been the President for just under a year.  The previous President arrived in 2017.  I think it was Holtschnieder (something like that) who was the President when they joined the BE up till 2017.  He and JLP, the AD who basically said "who cares about MBB, we are good at softball, soccer, and other sports!" That set it all ablaze

[The Sultan]

Marian University facing "enrollment emergency." Cutting multiple programs.

https://www.radioplusinfo.com/2023/04/13/4-13-23-marian-university-enrollment-emergency/

[Scoop Snoop]

Manuel has only been the President for just under a year.  The previous President arrived in 2017.  I think it was Holtschnieder (something like that) who was the President when they joined the BE up till 2017.  He and JLP, the AD who basically said "who cares about MBB, we are good at softball, soccer, and other sports!" That set it all ablaze

Thanks for the correction. So I had the wrong name, but the "who cares about MBB" was right. It amazes me that a university president (and especially an ignorant AD) could be so clueless and make statements to that effect. I do not envy university presidents having to struggle with today's financial challenges-especially private U's-but damn! If they cannot understand how men's bball works financially, I do not have much hope that they can solve the overall financial problems.

[The Sultan]

Thanks for the correction. So I had the wrong name, but the "who cares about MBB" was right. It amazes me that a university president (and especially an ignorant AD) could be so clueless and make statements to that effect. I do not envy university presidents having to struggle with today's financial challenges-especially private U's-but damn! If they cannot understand how men's bball works financially, I do not have much hope that they can solve the overall financial problems.

Dennis Holschneider was considered a pretty successful president.  Probably the only thing that didn't go well during his tenure was the men's basketball program.

[Scoop Snoop]

Dennis Holschneider was considered a pretty successful president.  Probably the only thing that didn't go well during his tenure was the men's basketball program.

OK. You are certainly in a perfect position to judge. Pardon my rant on presidents, but it just seems that all too often they have a problem with reality. 

[The Sultan]

OK. You are certainly in a perfect position to judge. Pardon my rant on presidents, but it just seems that all too often they have a problem with reality. 

To be honest, its a job with a lot of conflicting priorities and on-the-job training.

[JWags85]

Dennis Holschneider was considered a pretty successful president.  Probably the only thing that didn't go well during his tenure was the men's basketball program.

And to his defense, that probably had a lot to do with leaning on the input and advice of the long time AD, who was a joke as well.

He was President when they nuked the prestige and reputation of their MBA program for quick bucks, but I'm not sure how much he was personally involved with that decision making.

[muwarrior69]

I think Marquette is focusing on recruiting to programs in business, engineering and nursing where students are paying more in net tuition than they would in arts and sciences and communication.

So MU is not a destination for a degree  (undergrad or grad) in chemistry, the life sciences, math or computer science.