Future of Division III

Ralph Turner · January 31, 2023, 12:32:35 PM

Webster is having troubles, too.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/as-annual-losses-reach-25m-webster-university-looks-to-pivot-student-focus/article_67d29702-415a-5817-aadd-1f0b572586ee.html

Ralph Turner · February 16, 2023, 12:15:59 PM

Whittier College article in Higher Education

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/15/clash-viewpoints-struggling-college

"A look at the college's Common Data Set shows a significant enrollment slump at Whittier. While the college counted 1,833 students in fall 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic, that number has fallen post-pandemic, which is true for many colleges across the U.S. By fall 2021, the last year for which Common Data Set numbers are available, enrollment stood at 1,387.

"Recent application data also show a significant drop-off. A total of 5,301 students applied to Whittier for the fall 2020 class, but that number subsequently fell to 3,062 for fall 2022. ..."

"... with trustees voting at the time to ax football, men's lacrosse and men's and women's golf. The decision to cut football at Whittier—where Richard Nixon once played for the Poets—remains especially contentious given the large roster of about 80 players. Likewise, the men's lacrosse team also hovered around 40 players. Given that scholarships are not allowed at the Division III level, losing those players could mean losing students who pay tuition."

(My comment -- To lose another 10% of the enrollment by cutting those sports is not re-assuring that the school is on the right track.)

Gray Fox · February 16, 2023, 05:10:09 PM

Quote from: Ralph Turner on February 16, 2023, 12:15:59 PM
Whittier College article in Higher Education

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/02/15/clash-viewpoints-struggling-college

"A look at the college's Common Data Set shows a significant enrollment slump at Whittier. While the college counted 1,833 students in fall 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic, that number has fallen post-pandemic, which is true for many colleges across the U.S. By fall 2021, the last year for which Common Data Set numbers are available, enrollment stood at 1,387.

"Recent application data also show a significant drop-off. A total of 5,301 students applied to Whittier for the fall 2020 class, but that number subsequently fell to 3,062 for fall 2022. ..."

"... with trustees voting at the time to ax football, men's lacrosse and men's and women's golf. The decision to cut football at Whittier—where Richard Nixon once played for the Poets—remains especially contentious given the large roster of about 80 players. Likewise, the men's lacrosse team also hovered around 40 players. Given that scholarships are not allowed at the Division III level, losing those players could mean losing students who pay tuition."

(My comment -- To lose another 10% of the enrollment by cutting those sports is not re-assuring that the school is on the right track.)

Thank you Ralph!
Bad management by people who know little about higher education.

monsoon · February 17, 2023, 09:51:18 PM

Not D3, but NAIA Trinity International Univ. in north suburban Chicago is shutting down their entire on-campus undergraduate program after this semester, moving all undergrad classes to on-line only. I imagine this will end intercollegiate athletics for them.

Ron Boerger · February 20, 2023, 08:32:50 AM

The 2022 NACUBO Endowment study has released its results.

The total endowment size was only down 4% thanks to a 22% increase in total gifts year over year. The average ROI on investments last year was -8.0%.

The average endowment? $1.19 billion. Yes, billion.
The *median* endowment? $208.7 million, showing the impact of the schools at the top with assets well north of $10 billion. Only 120 of the 689 schools have at least an average endowment. NOTE: last year's study included 734 schools. While we have lost some colleges it seems more likely that a number of schools have decided it is no longer in their interests to participate.

D3 schools in the top 50:

6. MIT $24.7B (-10.13%)
14. Wash U $12.2B (-9.48%)
17. Emory $10.0B (-9.37%)
20. Johns Hopkins $8.2B (-11.50%)
29. NYU $5.1B (-7.64%)
33. Carnegie Mellon $3.9B (-2.79%)
35. Cal Tech $3.6B (-4.47%)
37. Williams $3.5B (-15.26%)
41. Amherst $3.3B (-12.01%)
48. Wellesley $2.8B (-12.05%)
49. Pomona $2.7B (-9.40%)
50. Rochester $2.7B (-14.26%)

And a shout out (of course, LOL) to my alma mater which managed to almost break even:

81. Trinity University (TX) $1.7B (-0.66%)

Important to note that the endowment values shown are (mostly) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. Most markets (except tech-heavy ones like the NASDAQ) are up modestly since then.

Ron Boerger · February 21, 2023, 08:34:40 AM

Courtesy of Steve Ulrich's excellent daily D3Playbook.com newsletter, the best- and worst-performing D3 endowments for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022:

Largest Increase in Market Value

Virginia Wesleyan, +76.09% ($115,390,000)
UW-Eau Claire Foundation, +38.11% ($147,408,000)
Rowan, +5.50% ($361,319,000)
Illinois Wesleyan, +3.53% ($269,723,000)
Augsburg, +3.38% ($70,362,000)
Widener, +2.91% ($113,678,000)
Chapman, +2.29% ($580,821,000)
Mary Baldwin, +2.11% ($32,744,000)
Berry, +1.92% ($1,236,198,000)
Southwestern, +0.42% ($366,390,000)

Largest Decline in Market Value

Hobart and William Smith, -24.32% ($230,797,000)
Arcadia, -20.92% ($78,038,000)
Bridgewater, -19.81% ($97,906,000)
Simpson, -19.46% ($78,052,000)
RPI, -19.22% ($864,141,000)
Linfield, -18,78% ($104,846,000)
Whitman, -18.60% ($683,569,000)
Wheaton, Ill., -18.24% ($529,360,000)
Mount St. Joseph, -17.98% ($60,822,000)
North Central, Ill., -17.75% ($118,835,000)

The Southwestern entry on the list is interesting as they sold land during the period which, according to this article, resulted in a $25 million contribution to their endowment. They would have been a below average performer (losing around 7%) lacking that one-time event.

Ron Boerger · February 22, 2023, 08:28:07 AM

Again courtesy of Steve Ulrich's excellent daily D3Playbook.com newsletter; endowments by conference (the rest will come tomorrow). If the school you are looking for is not here, it is one of dozens (hundreds?) who do not participate in the NACUBO study. Don't see a college you are interested in? Propublica.org maintains a wealth of publicly available information about non-profits; many have yearly financial audits which contain information about audits. If you know the EIN of a school add it to the end of https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/ leaving off the dash [e.g. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/741161940 for Mary Hardin-Baylor], otherwise just go to Propublica.org and search on the school name.

2/23: edited to move Suffolk to the CCC and add info on finding endowments not in the study

Allegheny Mountain

Pitt-Bradford, $31,517,000 (-14.20%)

American Rivers

Dubuque, $207,856,000 (-13.35%)
Luther, $192,758,000 (-9.45%)
Buena Vista, $112,245,000 (-6.95%)
Central, $97,698,000 (-2.05%)
Simpson, $78,052,000 (-19.46%)

American Southwest

Hardin-Simmons, $200,755,000 (-6.54%)
Ozarks, $126,792,000 (-6.57%)
LeTourneau, $25,536,000 (-11.13%)

Atlantic East

Marymount, $49,286,000 (-15.71%)

CCIW

Wheaton, $529,360,000 (-18.24%)
Illinois Wesleyan, $269,723,000 (+3.53%)
Augustana, $196,811,000 (-8.64%)
Elmhurst, $152,577,000 (-3.03%)
Carthage, $135,839,000 (-16.96%)
North Central, $118,835,000 (-17.75%)
Carroll, $81,033,000 (-14.45%)

Centennial

Johns Hopkins, $8,244,472,000 (-11.50%)
Swarthmore, $2,725,238,000 (-6.00%)
Bryn Mawr, $1,144,940,000 (-2.89%)
Haverford, $618,975,000 (-3.51%)
Dickinson, $583,477,000 (-2.76%)
Franklin & Marshall, $396,835,000 (-15.02%)
Gettysburg, $366,383,000 (-8.04%)
Muhlenberg, $308,509,000 (-9.70%)
Washington College, $257,248,000 (-10.56%)
McDaniel, $133,749,000 (-17.55%)
Ursinus, $132,597,000 (-12.14%)

Coast-to-Coast

Salisbury, $64,381,000 (-17.09%)
Mary Washington, $60,340,000 (-13.00%)
Warren Wilson, $55,937,000 (-6.67%)

Collegiate Conference of South

Berea, $1,438,286,000 (-10.83%)
Agnes Scott, $218,549,000 (-11.59%)
Covenant, $53,641,000 (-8.41%)

Colonial States

Wilson, $59,401,000 (-16.84%)
Notre Dame, $45,755,000 (-11.12%)
Cedar Crest, $41,508,000 (-13.70%)

Commonwealth Coast

Suffolk, $253,974,000 (-16.92%)
Wentworth, $143,897,000 (-3.94%)
Endicott, $119,158,000 (-7.71%)
Roger Williams, $93,153,000 (-7.33%)
Curry, $85,219,000 (-17.60%)
Salve Regina, $77,430,000 (-5.15%)
Western New England, $59,528,000 (-16.55%)
Colby-Sawyer, $55,607,000 (-10.95)
Rivier, $54,803,000 (-10.95%)
Nichols, $27,335,000 (-14.85%)

Empire 8

Alfred, $162,030,000 (-10.83%)
Nazareth, $77,919,000 (-9.41%)
Houghton, $65,201,000 (-17.70%)
Utica, $31,977,000 (-10.32%)

Great Northeast

Simmons, $212,282,000 (-13.09%)
Emmanuel, $160,957,000 (-14.23%)
Colby-Sawyer, $55,607,000 (-10.95%)
Rivier, $54,803,000 (-13.60%)
Lasell, $46,129,000 (-5.77%)

Heartland

Earlham, $426,217,000 (-10.24%)
Rose-Hulman, $241,200,000 (-8.23%)
Hanover, $159,623,000 (-12.78%)
Franklin, $87,038,000 (-16.01%)
Mount St. Joseph, $60,822,000 (-17.98%)

Landmark

Catholic, $344,458,000 (-2.27%)
Scranton, $258,522,000 (-9.99%)
Goucher, $243,311,000 (-6.18%)
Susquehanna, $190,701,000 (-6.59%)
Juniata, $122,117,000 (-7.67%)
Elizabethtown, $104,882,000 (-3.92%)

Liberty

RIT, $1,248,972,000 (-3.58%)
Vassar, $1,196,336,000 (-13.25%)
RPI, $864,141,000 (-19.22%)
Union, $498,108,000 (-16.04%)
Skidmore, $426,879,000 (-15.67%)
Ithaca, $356,783,000 (-16.09%)
St. Lawrence, $352,923,000 (-12.87%)
Hobart and William Smith, $230,797,000 (-24.32%)
Clarkson, $216,603,000 (-10.03%)

MASCAC

Worcester State, $39,110,000 (-12.36%)

Michigan

Hope, $277,244,000 (-6.34%)
Albion, $176,127,000 (-11.60%)

Middle Atlantic

Stevens, $269,274,000 (-1.32%)
Lycoming, $195,196,000 (-16.84%)
Messiah, $127,166,000 (-9.30%)
Hood, $122,531,000 (-2.53%)
Widener, $113,678,000 (+2.91%)
DeSales, $102,866,000 (-13.43%)
Lebanon Valley, $81,053,000 (-9.27%)
Arcadia, $78,038,000 (-20.92%)
Misericordia, $61,724,000 (-10.70%)

Midwest

Grinnell, $2,484,419,000 (-15.25%)
Lawrence, $440,839,000 (-9.49%)
Illinois College, $146,550,000 (-5.75%)
Lake Forest, $103,372,000 (-5.54%)
Cornell, $82,015,000 (-12.57%)

Minnesota

Carleton, $1,093,697,000 (-5.55%)
Macalester, $830,478,000 (-7.11%)
St. Olaf, $666,028,000 (-6.72%)
Gustavus Adolphus, $282,614,000 (+0.34%)
Saint John's, $257,884,000 (-7.19%)
Concordia, $165,347,000 (-14.57%)
Saint Benedict, $102,960,000 (-7.30%)
St. Scholastica, $102,960,000 (-13.30)
Augsburg, $70,362,000 (+3.38%)

Ron Boerger · February 23, 2023, 08:28:16 AM

Here are the rest of the endowment per college, per D3Playbook.com. I don't have time to do all the fancy formatting or add ",000" to all the entries as I did yesterday, so these are in thousands (e.g. Oberlin's actual endowment is just over $1.2 billion, not $1.2 million).

Don't see a college you are interested in? Propublica.org maintains a wealth of publicly available information about non-profits; many have yearly financial audits which contain information about endowments. If you know the EIN of a school add it to the end of https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/ leaving off the dash [e.g. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/741161940 for Mary Hardin-Baylor], otherwise just go to Propublica.org and search on the school name.

NCAC
Oberlin, $1,201,825 (-7.34%)
Denison, $1,068,552 (-8.08%)
DePauw, $719,982 (-10.19%)
Kenyon, $517,007 (-5.26%)
Wooster, $374,948 (-13.05%)
Wabash, $385,200 (-8.27%)
Ohio Wesleyan, $277,679 (-9.82%)

NECC
Lesley, $46,129 (-5.77%)
New England College, $26,850 (-13.87)

NESCAC
Williams, $3,534,369 (-15.26%)
Amherst, $3,321,853 (-12.82%)
Bowdoin, $2,474,541 (-9.01%)
Tufts, $2,350,755 (-11.18%)
Wesleyan, $1,485,020 (-5.57%)
Middlebury, $1,457,208 (-2.90%)
Hamilton, $1,275,562 (-9.63%)
Colby, $1,112,451 (-10.76%)
Trinity, $780,152 (-0.38%)
Bates, $418,544 (-10.19%)
Connecticut College, $416,635 (-4.12%)

New Jersey
Rowan, $361,319 (+5.50%)
Montclair State, $93,623 (-5.68%)
TCNJ, $62,381 (-6.46%)
Ramapo, $22,652 (-15.78%)

NEWMAC
MIT, $24,739,862 (-10.13%)
Wellesley, $2,846,865 (-12.05%)
Smith, $2,467,996 (-3.56%)
Mount Holyoke, $1,002,549 (-6.13%)
Babson, $660,904 (-5.53%)
WPI, $589,683 (-7.07%)
Clark, $487,169 (-3.76%)
Wheaton, $241,464 (-9.52%)
Springfield, $89,648 (-13.35%)

North Atlantic
Thomas, $26,770 (-8.05%)
Husson, $23,488 (-6.92%)

Northern Athletics
St. Norbert, $163,645 (-12.20%)
Concordia (Wis.), $109,299 (-4.13%)
MSOE, $77,285 (-12.35%)
Dominican, $47,176 (-8.16%)
Wisconsin Lutheran, $43,865 (-5.36%)
Lakeland, $18,308 (-14.63%)

Northwest
Whitman, $683,569 (-18.60%)
Puget Sound, $427,977 (-9.75%)
Lewis & Clark, $306,390 (-3.68%)
Willamette, $304,324 (-13.45%)
Whitworth, $183,144 (-9.87%)
Linfield, $104,846 (-18.78%)

ODAC
Washington and Lee, $1,998,334 (-4.50%)
Hampden-Sydney, $231,544 (-6.22%)
Hollins, $214,659 (-2.23%)
Randolph-Macon, $200,256 (-8.95%)
Lynchburg, $141,097 (-3.11%)
Roanoke, $128,602 (-11.32%)
Virginia Wesleyan, $115,390 (+76.09%)
Bridgewater, $97,906 (-19.81%)
Shenandoah, $71,875 (-14.21%)
Ferrum, $57,950 (-12.05%)
Averett, $21,802 (-13.82%)

Ohio
John Carroll, $271,248 (-6.28%)
Baldwin Wallace, $181,875 (-15.42%)
Mount Union, $150,993 (-10.57%)
Capital, $125,444 (-8.53%)
Muskingum, $90.078 (-3.48%)
Heidelberg, $59,889 (-4.45%)

Presidents
Allegheny, $264,304 (-8,57%)
Westminster, $132,583 (-4.00)
Washington & Jefferson, $130,983 (-14.01%)

SAA
Berry, $1,236,198 (+1.92%)
Sewanee, $439,971 (-15.25%)
Centre, $408,796 (-2.72%)
Rhodes, $394,337 (-8.67%)

SCAC
Trinity, $1,704,816 (-0.66%)
Colorado College, $822,931 (-9.43%)
Southwestern, $366,390 (+0.42%)
Austin, $157,925 (-13.63%)
Texas Lutheran, $95,683 (-14.61%)
U. of Dallas, $85,555 (-12.57%)

SCIAC
Caltech, $3,635,000 (-4.47%)
Pomona, $2,749,865 (-9.40%)
Claremont McKenna, $1,142,670 (-6.50%)
Chapman, $580,821 (+2.29%)
Occidental, $575,933 (+0.02%)
Scripps, $460,616 (-14.70%)
Harvey Mudd, $401,525 (-9.51%)
Redlands, $232,004 (-10.50%)
Cal Lutheran, $133,136 (-8.14%)

Skyline
Yeshiva, $681,075 (-10.41%)
Sarah Lawrence, $14,236 (-4.51%)

St. Louis
Principia, $855,284 (-3.77%)
Webster, $143,986 (-8.60%)

SUNYAC
Oneonta, $66,608 (-12.23%)
Cortland, $54,532 (-10.95%)
Oswego, $53,910 (-4.89%)
Potsdam, $43,027 (-12.64%)
Fredonia, $42,206 (-13.33%)
Plattsburgh, $25,521 (-11.21%)

UAA
Washington U., $12,252,329 (-9.48%)
Emory, $9,997,742 (-9.37%)
New York U., $5,148,741 (-7.64%)
Carnegie Mellon, $3,967,324
Rochester, $2,739,187 (-14.26%)
Case Western Reserve, $2,188,161 (-7.05%)
Brandeis, $1,205,167 (-6.29%)

Upper Midwest
Bethany Lutheran, $48,033 (-8.78%)

USA South
Mary Baldwin, $32,744 (+2.11%)

Wisconsin
Eau Claire, $147,408 (+38.11%)

Ron Boerger · March 01, 2023, 09:03:22 AM

Again courtesy of Steve Ulrich's D3Playbook.com, this terribly depressing article THE NCAA NEEDS THE POWER FIVE. DO THE POWER FIVE NEED THE NCAA? by Joe Moglia, chair of athletics at Coastal Carolina, predicting the departure of Power Five football from the NCAA. It has the pretty typical myopic "we'll still get ours, and the impact on everyone else doesn't matter because we're a bidness" focus typical of big D1 sports.

He predicts a split within the next three years.

Oh, BTW, this attitude is no surprise given that this guy used to be CEO/Chairman of TD Ameritrade and is currently chairman of a couple wealth management firms. And while he was at Ameritrade, also the HFC at Coastal. His LinkedIn profile headline: "Always looking for the next big win." You could probably add "at the expense of others" to that.

Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) · March 01, 2023, 09:27:21 AM

This has been a long time coming. You'll get four 16 team leagues doing their own thing. The only question is if throwing a bone to everyone else is good PR and they keep the NCAA around to administer the non revenue sports. I've been predicting this on these boards for more than a decade. Talked to a retired Big12 AD in 2005 who told me this was on the table as a future development even before 2000. The only question was when they could pull it off.

Ron Boerger · March 02, 2023, 05:35:40 PM

Finlandia folds, will not enroll students after the current school year https://www.finlandia.edu/about/teachout/

Captain_Joe08 · March 02, 2023, 11:07:03 PM

Yeah it was an uphill battle for them in Hancock. Being across the bridge from Michigan Tech didn't help matters with a limited amount of majors to pull people and athletes into their doors.

markerickson · March 03, 2023, 09:24:24 AM

Just stumbled upon this NACUBO information. I knew about NACUBO through the lens of "tuition discounting." Good reading material after this weekend. Thanks.

Ron Boerger · March 08, 2023, 09:12:38 AM

Speaking of schools with big endowments, there's been a lawsuit filed against the Ivy League schools alleging they engage in price-fixing by not awarding athlete scholarships like other Division I schools do. One wonders, if the lawsuit is lost or they just don't want to fight it, if they might just take their act to D3. Doubt it, and they have more money than Croesus to fight this, but with the changing landscape in D1 athletics you never know.

Ralph Turner · March 08, 2023, 11:44:36 AM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on March 08, 2023, 09:12:38 AM
Speaking of schools with big endowments, there's been a lawsuit filed against the Ivy League schools alleging they engage in price-fixing by not awarding athlete scholarships like other Division I schools do. One wonders, if the lawsuit is lost or they just don't want to fight it, if they might just take their act to D3. Doubt it, and they have more money than Croesus to fight this, but with the changing landscape in D1 athletics you never know.

Don't you love this!

Do you think that the average D-1 message board would have a Classical reference to the King of Lydia?