FB: American Rivers Conference

[Walston Hoover]

Wait a minute, I thought he was the former, former director of admissions and the former director or alumni and parent programs, or did he go back to his old position after Doug's stroke?

[Storm-what?]

Yes, I did not mean Doug, who had a stroke. I meant the guy under him who I think took his spot.

Wartburg's tuition went up more than most of the competitiors this year. I know that for the past 4-5 years Simpson, Central and WArtburg have literally been within hundreds dollars of each other. This year WArtburg is about $1,000 more. I imagine that feelings on campus would be fine. The financial stress will come in a few years when the payments are truly due. Anyway, enough of the financials!! 

[Alfredeneumann]

Brent M took Doug's spot. When Brent left Todd C. moved to admissions.

1 more for 200 for ME

[doolittledog]

Brent M took Doug's spot. When Brent left Todd C. moved to admissions.

1 more for 200 for ME

So that you can reach 200.  What is AEN's favorite IIAC football team??? 

[Alfredeneumann]

  Well I'll say the KNIGHTS, or whoever is playing Central or Luther.

[dutchfan1]

Well I'll say the KNIGHTS, or whoever is playing Central Coe or Luther.

And with that, AEN moves from a second-stringer to a starter. Welcome to the club, buddy.

(By the way, I corrected your post for you...)   8)

[Walston Hoover]

I didn't realize Brent went to back to admissions before leaving for Mudd.

[Willie University]

I'm not saying Ohle was a bad leader, I don't know him at all. I'm just making the point that money is going to be an issue at Wartburg. There's no way around it. Construction can be a great thing, but like Alfred said, in 20 years there has been a ton of contruction- that comes at a cost. There is a reason most colleges don't have that much construction. It's a choice on how much debt to take and most colleges choose against it. Period.

Or you can do like the University of Dubuque has done and raise the money first, then build the new buildings....... UD has had ongoing construction for the past 8 or so years and has incurred no debt. Gifts to the university from those who believe and wanted to invest in it's future. Not only has enrollment steadily increased over the past decade but so have campus improvements. If you haven't been by campus in recent years, you should stop by and take a look......modern, beautiful, architecturally cohesive, and not on a hill! 

UD has been very fortunate to have amazing leadership in President Bullock and others.

Willie U

[Klopenhiemer]

Oh Klop, that hurts! Am I that bad? 

Walston- here's the info I could find.

http://home.mchsi.com/~wartburgaaup/files/Fitch.pdf

This link has copies of Wartburg's financial statements as of 2005. They had $85 Million in debt in 2005 (page 5 on that link) and a very reduced bond rating because of their financial ratios. Despite some of their largest classes in history, they also had negative revenues 3 of 6 years in that same time. There are two ways for them to get money- kids coming in and grads going out. They are already tapped out on kids coming in- they can't grow much more. That means Wartburg will HAVE to call on alums to give more and more and things are going to get very tight. 

Yes they raised $90 million but none of that went to their debt. According to the article the money was intended for: "The campaign is intended to provide
$41 million for financial aid and technology
enhancements, $40 million for facilities, and $7 million
for operations."   Also, half of that campaign, $43 million, is in "deferred payments" that Wartburg may not see for years- in things like wills, estates, etc. Right now 9% of Wartburg's revenues to toward debt payment. Right now the average for colleges is less than 5%. Right now Wartburg's entire campus is being used as collateral. That means is enrollment goes down, if alumni giving goes down, serious problems can arise overnight. As I recall one of the top leaders in admissions left in the past year. I don't know why, but I would speculate that the pressure to bring in huge classes, with a dwindling high school population and a horrible economy, had to be a factor.

I'm not saying Ohle was a bad leader, I don't know him at all. I'm just making the point that money is going to be an issue at Wartburg. There's no way around it. Construction can be a great thing, but like Alfred said, in 20 years there has been a ton of contruction- that comes at a cost. There is a reason most colleges don't have that much construction. It's a choice on how much debt to take and most colleges choose against it. Period.

Just curious those of you closely affiliated with Wartburg- my connnections say that the incoming class for this fall is coming in much slower than ever before? Any idea if that is true?

Storm, if you are refering to my comment regarding whether your previous statements were true or not, I meant not offense.  I was merely saying that if these are indeed true satements, I look forward to understanding them more and hearing explanations. 

As proven later on, your statements were true, and nice post.  +k just to show there was no malice intended. 

[HoosierinIowa]

I need to ask a stupid question. Can a college tap into its endowment to pay for capital improvements or the debts arising from them?

[TheOne89.1]

Well I'll say the KNIGHTS, or whoever is playing Central Coe or Luther.

And with that, AEN moves from a second-stringer to a starter. Welcome to the club, buddy.

(By the way, I corrected your post for you...)   8)

You've been a CWAISW starter for years....hell you've been an All-American in that department.  Maybe you need to visit some of your old workers sometime this summer up in the MN/WI area.  Buddha has a boat and there are plenty of golf courses.  (Don't forget the Mabe's)

[Walston Hoover]

I need to ask a stupid question. Can a college tap into its endowment to pay for capital improvements or the debts arising from them?

I don't know the exact answer to that, but I assume they can use it for whatever they want.

Or you can do like the University of Dubuque has done and raise the money first, then build the new buildings....... UD has had ongoing construction for the past 8 or so years and has incurred no debt. Gifts to the university from those who believe and wanted to invest in it's future. Not only has enrollment steadily increased over the past decade but so have campus improvements. If you haven't been by campus in recent years, you should stop by and take a look......modern, beautiful, architecturally cohesive, and not on a hill! 

UD has been very fortunate to have amazing leadership in President Bullock and others.

Willie U

Ideally, yes. UD was the benificiary of 2 or 3 large, large, LARGE gifts. That would be great for any school. I don't know that there are any Wartburg alums alive that could afford to give the type of money those few did.

[Klopenhiemer]

I need to ask a stupid question. Can a college tap into its endowment to pay for capital improvements or the debts arising from them?

I am under the impression that a small percentage of the endowment can be used towards funding captial improvments.  I hesitate to say 2% but for some reason that strikes me as what I was told during my tenure at BV. 

I remember this being brought up when BV built the new science center, and everyone was claiming it was built entirely off of endowed funds.  Again I have no facts on this, just what was being passed through the grape vine. 

[footballdaddy]

I was checking my email tonight and saw that my son had received one from Cornell football. It seems that Coach Dillon has reviewed my son's highlight DVD, and feels he's just what the Rams are looking for at quarterback. He went on quite a bit about how his release, pocket presence and decision making were outstanding, and he had a bright future in Mount Vernon. I mention this because my son is finishing his first year at Wartburg, and is planning on attending the first spring practice tomorrow before leaving for Mexico for May Term. He last talked to Coach Dillon about 15 months ago. I'll make no judgements on this, but I wonder if anyone else has any comments?

[New Storm]

I was checking my email tonight and saw that my son had received one from Cornell football. It seems that Coach Dillon has reviewed my son's highlight DVD, and feels he's just what the Rams are looking for at quarterback. He went on quite a bit about how his release, pocket presence and decision making were outstanding, and he had a bright future in Mount Vernon. I mention this because my son is finishing his first year at Wartburg, and is planning on attending the first spring practice tomorrow before leaving for Mexico for May Term. He last talked to Coach Dillon about 15 months ago. I'll make no judgements on this, but I wonder if anyone else has any comments?

What is that all about?