<p>^ True. Amherst is probably going to go 8-9:1. But even with the difference in enrollment, the cost of actual operations is about the same–you can only save so much more money by replacing X amount more light bulbs with energy-efficient ones. And IIRC, Smith’s overall endowment is smaller than Amherst’s, for a much larger number of students (but I’m not sure about the numbers, so feel free to correct).</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m not interested in Amherst for other reasons. It just seems that increasing S:F ratio by adding enrollment = larger classes, while doing so by cutting faculty = less diversity in course offerings. This may be offset by an initial difference in number of courses offered, I don’t know–that’s why I’m asking. It is a concern for my secondary field of interest, computer science, which is a small department at pretty much any LAC. (Primary interest, English, is popular enough to maintain reasonable breadth/depth even with faculty cuts.)</p>