Quote from: smedindy on January 22, 2025, 11:36:18 PMSonoma State, D2 in California,  gutted several academic programs and dropped athletics, period, starting next Academic year.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sonoma-state-budget-cuts-layoffs-20049685.php

Enrollment had plummeted and they have had major leadership issues.

Some athletes will need a home for sure.

Former D3 school as well. Sonoma State was in the 1983 D3 MBB tournament, its lone appearance, and the chronicle of the Seawolves in that tourney is like a fingerprint from the Ghost of D3 Past. The Seawolves opened with a first-round victory over Bishop College, an HBCU located in Dallas that closed its doors in 1988, and then fell in the second round to San Bernardino State, another member of the California State University system, one of five public schools in the Golden State that were once D3 members but eventually migrated from D3 to D2.

Interesting thing about Sonoma State is that it has an Asian-majority undergraduate student body. There can't be many Asian-majority four-year schools in the U.S.; at least, I can't think of another one.

One can also attend the United States Sports Academy (from which the late Mississippi State coach Mike Leach obtained an MS degree) located in Daphne AL.
The USSA is joining the USCAA next year as they ramp up their intercollegiate sports offerings.

The Fiscal 2024 NACUBO endowment study is out and showed the median endowment for the 658 participating schools (all divisions) was $243M; nearly 30% of participants reported an endowment of $100M or less.  One-year investment returns averaged 11.2% with an average annual return over the last ten years of 6.8%.  The top 30 Division III schools:

MIT, $24.57B
Johns Hopkins, $13.06B
Washington U., $11.98B
Emory, $11.04B
Chicago, $10.10B
NYU, $6.54B
Caltech, $4.14B
Carnegie Mellon, $3.99B
Williams, $3.65B
Amherst, $3.55B
Wellesley, $3.00B
Pomona, $2.99B
Rochester, $2.98B
Swarthmore, $2.73B
Grinnell, $2.67B
Bowdoin, $2.58B
Smith, $2.56B
Tufts, $2.53B
Case Western Reserve, $2.40B
Washington & Lee, $2.04B
Trinity TX, $1.83B
Berea, $1.65B
Middlebury, $1.60B
Wesleyan CT, $1.58B
RIT, $1.372B
Berry, $1.370B
Hamilton, $1.36B
Vassar, $1.30B
Oberlin, $1.27B
Brandeis, $1.26B

I did not know Berry was in this list!

I think what annoys me most about that list is Berea College shows what colleges should do with a $1B+ endowment, and the other schools, including my own alma mater, show what is wrong with higher education...

I've all but stopped donating to my alma mater. Not because I don't love the place or didn't have an incredible experience, but because there are so many other places to donate that have an actual impact on making lives better instead of simply amassing giant piles of funds. I just can't justify donating to a school with 1.6+Billion dollars in the endowment that is still charging, on average, over 25K per year per student with a sticker price over 60K.

It's ridiculous.

While I am sympathetic to this argument, from a sustainable financial perspective you generally can't draw down more than 4-5% from an endowment annually.  In addition to their sizeable endowment drawdown (in the most recent audit, $66M) Berea is able to generate over $100 million annually in outright contributions (per their 990s; 2020, $109M; 2021, $100M; 2022, $120M; 2023, $100M; total, nearly $430M) and as a result they can do what they do.  I don't know of many colleges that can raise the majority of their annual operating costs - which for Berea run in the neighborhood of $140M - strictly from contributions (which include government grants; $22M in 2023).  Thanks to these generous donations/grants and endowment earnings, the school has had a net income of over $200M since 2020.

I looked at the schools near Berea for comparison.  Berry, with half as many more students, saw total contributions of around $75M for the four years combined.  Middlebury, with over twice as many students, around $260M; Trinity(TX), with 75% more students and a slightly larger endowment, around $120M.  If these schools have similar endowment drawdowns, the only other place operating costs can come from is tuition.  Unless you can become a fundraising juggernaut like Berea you'd have to dramatically reduce the expense side of the equation to change that, and for most schools the bulk of costs come from salaries and related expenses. 

Here are the next 30 participating D3 schools in the NACUBO survey (courtesy of D3Playbook).  Be aware that not all schools submit data to this survey; of the conferences I follow, only five of the eight schools in the SAA, six of the twelve SCAC, and zero of the five ASC are represented.

Carleton, $1.26B
Bryn Mawr, $1.25B
Claremont McKenna, $1.24B
Colby, $1.16B
Mount Holyoke, $1.10B
Denison, $1.04B
RPI, $1.00B
Colorado College, $990M
Principia, $956M
Macalester, $883M
Trinity CT, $835M
Chapman, $811M
Babson, $740M
Haverford, $707M
WPI, $683M
Yeshiva, $673M
Occidental, $654M
Dickinson, $628M
Kenyon, $627M
Wheaton IL, $610M
Union, $564M
Scripps, $503M
Clark, $486.8M
Skidmore, $486.7M
Puget Sound, $471M
Lawrence, $461M
Harvey Mudd, $455M
Bates, $447M
Rowan, $440M
F&M, $439M

Quote from: Ron Boerger on February 14, 2025, 09:37:18 AMWhile I am sympathetic to this argument, from a sustainable financial perspective you generally can't draw down more than 4-5% from an endowment annually.  In addition to their sizeable endowment drawdown (in the most recent audit, $66M) Berea is able to generate over $100 million annually in outright contributions (per their 990s; 2020, $109M; 2021, $100M; 2022, $120M; 2023, $100M; total, nearly $430M) and as a result they can do what they do.  I don't know of many colleges that can raise the majority of their annual operating costs - which for Berea run in the neighborhood of $140M - strictly from contributions (which include government grants; $22M in 2023).  Thanks to these generous donations/grants and endowment earnings, the school has had a net income of over $200M since 2020.

I looked at the schools near Berea for comparison.  Berry, with half as many more students, saw total contributions of around $75M for the four years combined.  Middlebury, with over twice as many students, around $260M; Trinity(TX), with 75% more students and a slightly larger endowment, around $120M.  If these schools have similar endowment drawdowns, the only other place operating costs can come from is tuition.  Unless you can become a fundraising juggernaut like Berea you'd have to dramatically reduce the expense side of the equation to change that, and for most schools the bulk of costs come from salaries and related expenses. 

I think colleges "can't" do what Berea does because they don't have the pitch. People will only donate so much to a school that still charges a fortune. But if you framed it the way Berea does? I think you'd get more donations. I know I would. Now I'm not one of the whales you need to make it work, but I do think that if you stop fundraising for the sake of fundraising, and start fundraising for a good purpose like lowering tuition to essentially 0 for all students, people would chip in a lot more.

Especially if you can get over the hump of 20 or 30 years and those who benefitted from the $0 tuition are now the people you are looking to give back. With $1B+ and a relatively strong donor core, going for 20 or 30 years when you can return 8-10% on your endowment shouldn't be a problem.

$1.5B at 8% is 120 million per year in returns. Add in 20-50MM in funds raised and that should cover operating costs pretty well. Might need a little belt tightening, but that needs to happen in higher ed anyway. Too many deans of everything these days. Yeah, the endowment won't grow and inflation will bite over time, but the math works on that 20-30 years if you are smart.

My wife's grandfather died in 2019.  He lived on a $1500 a month army pension for the last 40 years of his life, but he still sent a $30 check to Berea every month, without having attended or even knowing an alum.  He was an old school social reformer in the Pete Seeger tradition and he believed in the mission.

I agree adding to huge endowments doesn't do a whole lot.  That's been Malcolm Gladwell's big talking point for a while.  He did a couple of podcasts on it a few years back, using Rowan as an example of how a big gift to a poorer school can transform an institution.  It's a good listen.

The bigger problem with endowments isn't that you can only draw down X% a year. It's that an overwhelming majority of that money is earmarked for specific things which may have nothing at all to do with the college's biggest needs. Especially if those needs are the un-glamorous thing like dorms, or deferred maintenance, etc.

At Wells, for example, just 15% of their endowment was unrestricted when they were forced to close.

There's a lot of cynicism about spending in higher education, and I'm not naive enough to say that all of that cynicism is unjustified. But there's a reason why colleges often ask for donations right to the general fund.

The 61st-90th highest endowments from the recent NACUBO study (h/t to D3Playbook).  Again, not all schools participate in this voluntary survey.

Wooster, $438K
Rhodes, $433K
Wabash, $429K
Gettysburg, $424K
St. Lawrence, $417K
Earlham, $416K
Southwestern, $404K
Ithaca, $403K
Centre, $399K
Catholic, $388K
Stevens, $375K
U.New England, $346K
Washington Coll., $341K
Muhlenberg, $337K
Scranton, $324K
Lewis & Clark, $322K
Gustavus Adolphus, $315K
Willamette, $312K
Saint Mary's IN, $311K
Hope, $307K
Kalamazoo, $304.3K
Hollins, $303.8K
Saint John's, $301K
Goucher, $293K
Dubuque, $287K
John Carroll, $286.5K
Calvin, $286.1K
Rose-Hulman, $285K
Wheaton MA, $273K
Allegheny, $271K

Franklin & Marshall announces layoffs in response to declining enrollment

QuoteFranklin & Marshall College President Barbara Altmann announced Wednesday afternoon that the college expects to lay off an unspecified number of staff in April.

College spokesperson Pete Durantine confirmed the news in an email to LNP | LancasterOnline. His message said "numerous peer institutions" are in similar circumstances, but the private liberal arts college situated in Lancaster city is better positioned than many to meet those challenges and approach its future.

"College leaders are adjusting the operating budget to align with F&M's current size and to navigate the evolving higher education landscape," Durantine wrote. "Over the past two years, the college has reduced the number of visiting, adjunct, and open tenure-track faculty positions in response to its decreasing student body."

F&M has (as of the audit ending June 30, 2023) $380M in "endowment investments", the bulk of which ($326M) are maintained in what they deem alternative investments representing "investments in global equity, alternative, emerging markets, private equity and real estate funds".  With the exception of 2020, the school has reported positive income all but one year since 2011, that being a small ($3M) loss in 2023.  However, enrollment has decreased from 2482 in Fall 2020 (IPEDS Data Feedback Report from the NCES) to 1867 in the current school year (self-reported by the school on its Fast Facts page, a number which "includes students studying off-campus"). 

St. Norbert laying off tenured faculty and proposing cutting 13 majors in effort to cut $7 million from operating budget

https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/de-pere/st-norbert-college-moving-forward-with-laying-off-tenured-faculty

QuoteJoyner said she was told the school was facing a deficit of more than $2 million when she arrived as president in 2023 — now, the school says it needs to reduce the fiscal year 2026 budget by $7 million.

"Our balance sheet is strong," Joyner said. "The challenges that we're facing are with our annual operating budget because of demographic changes."

After Joyner kicked off the retrenchment process, a faculty group had come up with a list of programs recommended for potential elimination to the vice president. The vice president then formed her own list, and met individually with faculty members who may be laid off — meetings completed in the past week, according to the school. The affected people can now request a review by the faculty Personnel Committee.

After the committee reviews each case, the vice president will then present her list of recommendations to the president, who will then give her own list to the school's Board of Trustees.

https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/de-pere/st-norbert-considers-eliminating-13-majors-school-community-responds

QuoteAt a closed-door town hall meeting Tuesday night, students learned the school is considering 'reimagining' four majors (Mathematics Education, Music Education, Philosophy, and Spanish Education) and eliminating 13 majors:

    Art & Art Education
    Chemistry
    Computer Science
    Earth Science / Geology
    French
    History
    International Studies
    Mathematics
    Physics
    Engineering Physics
    Theatre Studies
    Theology & Religious Studies
    Psychology Education

Trinity (CT) announces budget cuts

Not huge cuts, but another in a long list of schools that are seeing drops in enrollment and increases in financial aid requests

QuoteBerger-Sweeney credited the loss to the fact that "for the past several years, net tuition revenues (tuition minus financial aid) at Trinity have stagnated as fewer students matriculate and those who do require more financial aid." According to the June 2024 financial statement, the College netted $79.5M for tuition revenues (not including room and board). In FY23, it was $77.5M; the lowest tuition revenues have been in the last five years is $75.4M in 2021.

QuoteIn order to cut costs, Berger-Sweeney said that she has "asked our senior managers to develop divisional budget cuts of 3 to 4 percent" and "division leaders will work with the management teams in their divisions to discuss proposed reductions" for this year and beyond. As stated previously, these cuts will focus on the three areas that Berger-Sweeney highlighted in her message: "1) We will pause some new hires, some temporarily and others permanently; 2) We will cut non-personnel budgets and seek additional sources of revenue; 3) We will not change retirement contributions for employees."