And
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Cry me a river.
I hate how the knee-jerk reaction of colleges is to immediately focus on the revenue side, increasing enrollment or increasing tuition (which has already happened at Midd this year), versus focusing on expenses. Increasing enrollment without also looking at fiscal restraint is just kicking the can for the next decade. Midd should look at reducing costs, and I am sure there are many opportunities to do this without impacting educational quality. Which pet projects or institutional priorities need to be de-prioritized? Cost cutting could impact the student experience, which is already country-club-like (golf course and a ski hill, c’mon). Something has to give.
Also, Midd’s top alumni could make this “deficit” go away in an instant but that is not a long term strategy.
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To be a little more specific on this point, the deficits have been perennial. They would need to be funded annually in the absence of other changes.
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Isn’t this press release about the steps Middlebury intends to take to reduce the recurring deficit without substantially impacting the educational experience? These steps include strategies to increase revenue and decrease costs. What am I missing here that warrants such outrage?
I will also note Middlebury isn’t alone in taking steps to improve fiscal responsibility in uncertain times. If the endowment tax increase goes through, even the wealthiest of schools will need to take immediate corrective actions.
https://www.amherst.edu/offices/finance_and_administration/budget-office/fy24-budget-faqs
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However, Middlebury itself regards its recent financial history as an “outlier” among NESCACs.
Agree, don’t understand the outrage.
The faculty and staff – usually an educational institution’s largest expense – is bearing the brunt of the changes. Besides the voluntary retirement program, benefits are being substantially cut.
Another small and obvious point: the increased number of students will have to be full pay.
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As an alternative interpretation, I hear a direct tone and see some thought-provoking points in that post — so the appearance of outrage maybe, but not real outrage.
As for my own opinion, Middlebury will need to address this, and has begun to do just that. Those interested in the school may want to follow along, however.
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One person’s wasteful spending is another person’s “raison d’etre”. Until you get into a spiral- I remember visiting Brown in the early 1970’s and seeing unkempt gardens, un-mowed lawns, paint peeling on the entry way to the dorms. When the college hit tough times, basic maintenance was the first thing to get trimmed. Nobody notices at first until the place looks like a dump (and Brown was known as the “dumpy” Ivy for quite some time). Then I visited a friend at Yale- and wow. If Brown was a dump, Yale was a dumpster fire. Broken windows in historically significant buildings. Shabby everywhere.
We’ve all got a “hit list” of dumb things to cut. But inevitably, YOUR dumb thing (nutritionists on staff to keep the kids with Celiac, vegan, nut allergies safe) is the thing that MY kid needs to stay healthy. My dumb thing (resource center, free tutoring) is the thing that YOUR kid needs to pass organic chemistry. His dumb thing (a legal team on staff instead of just paying outside counsel by the hour) turns out to be an actual and significant cost savings the first time the U gets sued by PETA for using mice in the neuro lab. Her dumb thing (paying for liability insurance instead of self-insuring) turns into a MASSIVE cost savings the next time a kid gets drunk and falls off a roof (and the stairway to the roof said in clear, large letters) “Accessing the roof is forbidden and dangerous”.
I know kids who specifically chose Middlebury for the skiing facility. If the U closes it, they just pick Dartmouth instead. Does that help Middlebury if their full pay skiers go elsewhere?
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Middlebury has carried a budget deficit for several years. Yes, carrying a deficit is unusual in the NESCAC, but Middlebury’s structure and business model are also unique. The majority of the deficit comes from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. Midd also operates the summer language schools, schools abroad, and Bread Loaf School of English. Many of these programs were abruptly shut during COVID, negatively impacting the college’s finances and making it difficult to plan. The language schools are profitable again, but MIIS continues to lose money.
Midd is also in a presidential transition period. In an unusual arrangement, Laurie Patton left in January and the new president doesn’t start until July. I welcome the change in leadership and hope Ian Baucom reprioritizes the undergraduate college and is more fiscally responsible than his predecessor.
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Speaking of Brown, I recently read they’re facing a $46 million budget deficit this year.
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Brown, Barnard — Middlebury is not alone with respect to budget deficits.
I wouldn’t say benefits are being substantially cut—at least not yet. We don’t know what the health benefit changes will be, and reducing the employer retirement match from 15% to 11% isn’t earth shattering. I know of few for-profit organizations that offer that high of a match. The national average for employer match is 4.6%.
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How about the planned increase in enrollment? Any opinions on this? It seems that such a change would be better made under an educational philosophy rather than an economic one.
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Of the ideas outlined in the letter, only increasing the enrollment is a “big” idea and it is on the revenue side.
100 new students x $90,000 per student = $9,000,000
The other ideas lack any clear financial metrics or are too vague to understand impact.
It is good that they acknowledge living within their means (a novel concept?) and that the structure is too complex. But, they also say don’t want to fire anyone (In fact they talk about the recent raise they have given to employees worth $22 million.)
Or change their mission, or degrade the educational mission, or harm the experience.
The letter seems tone deaf to me. I don’t see any hard choices being made. How about no raises until the budget is balanced ? How about a hiring freeze or reduced travel for faculty?
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I’ve worked for corporations that have imposed “hiring freezes” (they are a very popular response to a recession, for example) and they ALWAYS backfire.
Your corporate Treasurer resigns for a better job. You have a hiring freeze. But no global corporation which has payments around the world can go for long without a savvy treasurer. So sure, the junior members of the team step up, rely on the banking relationships to keep the wheels from falling off the bus. But that is a sub-optimal situation- and one small mistake can turn into a hundred million dollar loss before it’s fixed and put to bed.
In a university context- your most popular majors are Neuro and CS. The star professor leaves for a plum role at a university in Germany where the funding streams for her research are less dependent on wacky government decision-making, and the up and comer, “best teacher” in the department for the last three years gets an offer from Stanford and decides the weather is nicer and quits.
Now what? Two of the linchpin faculty (Middlebury is small- we aren’t talking University of Illinois here) in two critical majors have resigned but you have a hiring freeze. Oh well, incoming students can just switch over to History, who cares what they take in college anyway?
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Bringing enrollment to between 2,600 and 2,650 actually represents a significant decrease from the past four years. In fact, the last time Middlebury was close to the 2,500 target was the early-to-mid 2010s. As I’ve said before, Middlebury hasn’t been good about managing enrollment, which is perhaps one reason they’ve leaned so heavily into early decision when building recent classes.
Historical fall enrollment (full-time and part-time):
2010: 2,532
2011: 2,507
2012: 2,516
2013: 2,495
2014: 2,526
2015: 2,542
2016: 2,532
2017: 2,561
2018: 2,579
2019: 2,580
2020: 2,580
2021: 2,858
2022: 2,773
2023: 2,800
2024: 2,760
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Why wouldn’t they just admit people off the waitlist until they get to their target number?
Wait-list yields appear to be less reliable than those from standard admissions. Even with their wait lists, Grinnell and Bucknell under-enrolled several years ago, for example.
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Add Union:
https://www.timesunion.com/education/article/union-college-falls-short-enrollment-fewer-20328682.php
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Paywalled. Can you summarize?