Future of Division III

[Little Giant 89]

The only hard science St. Norbert would have as a major is biology?  That's shocking.

[Ron Boerger]

Exactly what I was thinking, LG89.  STEM is apparently not going to be a thing at SNC.

[Ron Boerger]

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

Berger-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.

In 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."

Somewhat surprising to take such actions on a very small deficit given the sizeable endowment at the school, which showed a $38.8M net income in 2021 and a $19.6M net in 2022.  Trinity CT actually showed a much larger loss in 2023, nearly $10M.  Have to wonder if they also have had a look at enrollment for the upcoming year and seen issues there.

[IC798891]

I was looking on St. Norbert's chemistry page, as it's one of the majors being considered for elimination, and I saw a testimonial from a student — emphasis mine:

"Because of the small classes (some of mine had as few as six students) ..."

Yes, we often spin small class sizes as a positive — citing more one-on-one attention from professors — but there's a a flip side here that if there are so few students in a class, it can speak to enrollment issues within that program.

The reality is, not field of study can be a major. The school is breaking ground on a sizable new building for its Business school, so it's clearly still investing in areas of academic growth. This seems like this might be a situation where these 13 majors simply aren't attracting enough students. It happens. My masters' degree program at Ithaca College similarly no longer exists.

[Little Giant 89]

It is a difficult balance, certainly.

I work at an institution that trumpets its small class size and easy faculty accessibility.  Those sound like wonderful values and for the students in the program they absolutely are.  For the business office trying to balance the books those small numbers raise harder questions.

How long do you let a program linger when it's not graduating majors on a regular basis?

You also have an admissions questions to consider.  How many high school students who love chemistry (or whichever program its is that you are considering downgrading or eliminating) are not considering your institutions because you don't offer the program that is attractive to them.

How many alumni-donors do you alienate when you eliminate the major that they graduated with that led to their successful career and fulfilling life.

[Ron Boerger]

You may have recently seen news about colleges being awarded "R1" research designations by the Carnegie Foundation, an institution which classifies colleges in a number of ways.  The research designations have historically indicated those schools which spend a certain amount of money on research (R1, $50M annually) and issue a certain number of doctoral degrees in research-related fields (R1, 70 per annum).  R2 is similar, only requiring $5M and 20 degrees.  There were 187 R1 and 139 R2 designations awarded this year. 

But what of schools that conduct research but do not offer doctoral programs?  Carnegie has created a new designation, "Research Colleges and Universities", to recognize such schools.  The requirement for this recognition is to spend $2.5 million on research, and any institution that meets this requirement, doctoral awarding or not, will be designated an RCU.  This year, 216 schools including a number of D3 colleges were recognized as RCUs. 

This is kind of opposite of the St. Norbert's situation, obviously, but will allow undergraduate schools which offer their students research opportunities to stand out for prospective students that are interested in performing research as they pursue their baccalureate degree.

More on this year's research desiginees and the schools at each level can be found on the Carnegie Classifications Research Activities Designation announcement.

[Little Giant 89]

Quite a few D-III schools in that third category.

A great deal of the money reflected in that report has been put in jeopardy recently.

[IC798891]

It is a difficult balance, certainly.

I work at an institution that trumpets its small class size and easy faculty accessibility.  Those sound like wonderful values and for the students in the program they absolutely are.  For the business office trying to balance the books those small numbers raise harder questions.

How long do you let a program linger when it's not graduating majors on a regular basis?

You also have an admissions questions to consider.  How many high school students who love chemistry (or whichever program its is that you are considering downgrading or eliminating) are not considering your institutions because you don't offer the program that is attractive to them.

How many alumni-donors do you alienate when you eliminate the major that they graduated with that led to their successful career and fulfilling life.

Right, as you say, there's a lot you have to consider. But the harsh reality facing schools now is, if the whole institution shuts down, your major is going away anyway.

What I don't like is when these articles come out, they don't typically mention how many people are enrolled in the major right now, if it's trending up or down, the actual calculus schools use to determine these things.

None of this is to say that what St. Norbert is doing is the correct path of action. I'm just trying to point out that if they had enrollment concerns in those majors — which I admittedly pulled off of a single anecdote about some chemistry classes with small class rosters — then it might explain the process.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I've got a lifelong friend who's a chemistry professor and he's really doubtful about the widespread future for the hard sciences.  The number of students required to keep undergrad programs open is much larger than the number of jobs that exist - and most require at least a masters, if not a PhD.  Even then, there are few opening that pay well enough to justify all the schooling.

That will only intensify if there's a cut in gov't funding for research.

My friend said he's not recommended more than 1 or 2 students to PhD programs in the last decade.  If they really love chemistry, he tells them to get a masters and go work in pharma.

He is in a liberal arts setting, not unlike St. Norbert.  I suspect things are quite different at Chicago or Emory.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

It's not always enrollment number, either.  You have to think about the ancillary resources required by certain majors.  Sciences have labs and equipment.  Music departments require practice rooms and pianos and concert venues at a certain level.

[Kuiper]

Northland announces it will close at the end of the academic year

For immediate release: February 19, 2025

The Northland College Board of Trustees today voted unanimously to close the College at the end of the 2024–25 academic year. Founded in Wisconsin in 1892, Northland was the first US college to fully integrate an environmental focus with its liberal arts curriculum. Located on the south shore of Lake Superior, surrounded by northern forests, Northland College inspired its students to explore the fundamental interconnections between nature, place and people.

"Despite the collaborative efforts of the entire Northland family, we no longer have the resources needed to navigate the economic and demographic storms endangering small, liberal arts institutions today," said Ted Bristol, Chair of the Northland College Board of Trustees. "With declining enrollment and soaring costs, it takes more to operate the College than we raise in tuition. Even after enacting aggressive measures to cut costs and raise revenues, Northland College has no sustainable path forward."

Northland's innovative, interdisciplinary learning approach fostered dynamic educational experiences, research and partnerships that extended well beyond its classrooms. The College's mission was driven by the belief that understanding and addressing complex environmental and social challenges requires inclusion of diverse perspectives, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration.

Northland's capacity to finance itself had been in jeopardy since March 2024, when its Board declared financial exigency. More than one thousand donors responded to a spring 2024 fundraising appeal and the College reduced costs by streamlining its academic offerings and cutting staff. Northland began the fall 2024 semester with a smaller student body and a focus on nine majors.

The Board of Trustees today also accepted the resignation of President Chad Dayton and appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Barb Lundberg as Northland's interim president.

[CNU85]

A friend of mine is in the middle of shopping for universities for his youngest daughter. He lives in Virginia. His oldest daughter is currently a sophomore at Tennessee. So he's been in the college shopping mode for years. He said that a college in Texas....i want to say he mentioned Texas A&M, but don't quote me on that....is growing so fast that they had to put the brakes on. They are building 4 large dorms plus academic buildings etc. Knowing the situation of many universities, he asked what was the secret of this Texas school. He was told that the belief is that fewer students want to go to school in the north and even fewer want to or can afford schools in the northeast.

I'm curious if anyone has done any geographic analysis of the schools that have closed. Just off the top of my head, it seems like they are across the board....Birmingham Southern, Wesley, Finlandia.

Does anyone have access to any analysis?

[Ralph Turner]

My opinion on the demise of schools whose origins were faith-based is they were no longer faithful and true to their original mission. Among United Methodist schools since 2020, we have MacMurray IL, Wesley DE, Martin Methodist TN, Iowa Wesleyan and B-SC. If a school can morph to a new identity, then it can survive.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

A friend of mine is in the middle of shopping for universities for his youngest daughter. He lives in Virginia. His oldest daughter is currently a sophomore at Tennessee. So he's been in the college shopping mode for years. He said that a college in Texas....i want to say he mentioned Texas A&M, but don't quote me on that....is growing so fast that they had to put the brakes on. They are building 4 large dorms plus academic buildings etc. Knowing the situation of many universities, he asked what was the secret of this Texas school. He was told that the belief is that fewer students want to go to school in the north and even fewer want to or can afford schools in the northeast.

I'm curious if anyone has done any geographic analysis of the schools that have closed. Just off the top of my head, it seems like they are across the board....Birmingham Southern, Wesley, Finlandia.

Does anyone have access to any analysis?

If there's a geographic center it's been in Massachusetts.  Five, I think, in the last 4-5 years.

[Captain_Joe08]

Kinda figured the end was unavoidable for Northland. It's hard to climb out of the hole they were in. Plus they were looking at a long painful climb back to relevance in athletics with all the talent drain from the first potential shutdown.