Mostly nearby colleges benefit from planned SBC closing–In order–Hollins, Randolph, R-M and Lynchburg College.
The “next” Sweet Briar?
No dog in the hunt but again data sure changes when actually is measured: http://www.unsolicited.guru/sweet-briar/enrollment-and-how-moodys-got-it-wrong-the-sweet-briar-story-part-1/
I would be more interest in how non-profits use donor intent money…this could lead to headaches for many organizations.
Guru? Not much!
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Brittany Crawford, a freshman, describes the experience as "pretty awful." She says she's not just stressed about finals. She also has to worry about transferring to a school that will match the financial aid packet she got at Sweet Briar. And so far, she says, "the financial plan isn't working out. I don't even know where I'm going yet. Hopefully the alumni will help me out."<<<
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Well, here you go. Perhaps it would be a good idea for those lunatics who ignored the deterioration of their school to redirect their purported bounty to actually help their unfortunate sisters who listened to the sirens’ song.
Faculty and insiders will be taken care of as the closing was to ensure the ultimate distributions. The students will NOT be that fortunate. Of course, it was never about them in the first place. It is academia after all.
@Gator88NE How do you post a picture on CC??
I started this post days ago, but it holds.
The wolf already at the door…all SSB comes up with, so far, is 12M or so in pledges, some running to 2020. How the heck do they think they can raise enough money to sustain the school?
Despite all the fuss about different figures being too high or too low, who’s slimy, the various conspiracy theories, public posturing, the problem still starts with not enough alums, in the first place- too many in the past few decades who came in at big discounts to fill seats- and not enough uber wealthy willing to give big. If the 80/20 rule holds, the 80% aren’t giving (or are giving too small) and the 20% just aren’t there.
They started eliminating majors sometime ago, messed with faculty retirement contributions, looked to reduce the number of faculty, etc. Plus the article that a former president was investigating solutions back in 2003. How can anyone claim the state of the college was a complete surprise? The writing was on the wall, maybe folks didn’t want to believe it- but some must not have had the capacity to process the signs.
Most of us have seen plenty of colleges. We know some allow various states of disrepair to make ends meet. We’ve seen crappy stu unions, cheap additions thrown on, bare lawns, reduced day-to-day maintenance, etc. For some students, some institutions, that’s ok.
But are some saying this place should be Grey Gardens, just to be able to say it still exists?
As for donor intents, there was already a famous case with an Ivy where heirs disputed the use of funds and won the case. Most colleges are aware of that. I was part of a project by my employer to verify all endowed funds were either used as intended or reworked, with either donor/family or state AG approval. (Just as SBC says it’sworking with the Va AG.) New donations are usually carefully worded, to work for both sides. You may hear some living donor is disputing something, but you likely only hear a small part.
But lawyers always win. 80 millions were spent to unravel that mess.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/education/11princeton.html?_r=0
Princeton is not alone in facing such complaints. In 1995, Yale University returned $20 million to Lee M. Bass, a billionaire alumnus, after he argued that the university had not created the classes he had requested in its Western civilization curriculum.
Many of my artist friends have spent time at VCCA, the artist retreat across the street, on the former adjoining plantation SB owns/owned. They all comment what a beautiful place SB is, both naturally and the buildings. The nifty trick would be to convert the school to a nationally prominent college devoted to all the arts, including writing, music, theater. Give it a unique draw. Make people want to go there, specifically. Not simply for the lesser COA or the FA or as an ultimate safety. Raise it from the ashes through an uncommon redefinition.
I think this is where the Cy Pres doctrine would come in – where it is impossible to use the funds the way the gift was worded. The classic example is a donation to create a park “for the white citizens of ______.” You can’t run a park that way any more, so the courts have to decide how to use the gift in a way that honors its spirit.
^^ or a two year college for the international masses who have more cents than sense.
@TomSrOfBoston as with other edits, use the brackets and img and then /img. Between the brackets put in an URL, for example:
[LINK DELETED BY MODERATOR - Links to photos or other images are not allowed - see the Terms of Service.
One of the problems some schools have with the ridiculously wealthy internationals is: do they donate to colleges? On the plus side, yup, they’re full pay.
Hanna, we used Cy Pres in a number of ways.
They will not donate more than second or first generation students in the US. There is a history of doing only what represents a direct individual benefit. On the same line, internationals and especially Asians are prepared to pay dearly for participating in our education system or gaining a foothold for the future.
A pristine environment, not too hard classes, and a “pulse cum wallet” type of admission might deliver a hard to reject proposal. After all, they will have time to learn English with two years and Virginia and transfer to a better school. Fwiw, the number of students who fits that category is huge and so is the appetite for a school that could be sold as elitist and prestigious despite not really fitting that description.
In other words, an Antioch for the rich.
As an all-arts college, with a solid plan, willing to build the program over a few years- a goal of being one of the absolute best- yes. So many artists/writers/performers do take on short term positions, a number already aiming at VCCA could teach for lower aggregate cost than FT profs, supplement faculty (as well as being in touch with the real and broader arts world.) Same pool that currently supplements at the best known art colleges, theater programs, or in well known writing programs.
But not another fatiguing, half-baked, dog-chasing-its-tail plan. . I disagree with bringing them in for two short years, only to release them to four year schools they could have attended in the first place. This “get them in, then worry about tomorrow later” is part of what led to the current mess.
Antioch is the last example I’d call on. No more spit and baling wire.
And, in this small, rural environment, no pretending SBC is where they come to learn English. What sort of “campus community” does that build- and hence, what loyalty?
Give the school a genuine and competitive draw. Make it one of the “better schools” at what it does. That’s bigger than admitting guys or other triage. It’s about vision.
Not that anyone is asking us.
Well, I never said my “idea” was a well-thought one. You could make it a four year college but stress that the transfers would be an option if a really prestigious school was an objective. You can easily detect a healthy dose of sarcasm in my “idea” as I do not think highly of a playground for the rich --remember my comment about more cents than sense. In a way, except for the targeting the rich, it wouldn’t be a grandiose departure from today’s SBC in terms of academic status.
I think that very smart and well-paid people have declared the future of SBC as an impossible puzzle to crack in logical terms. Obviously, some will think that the remarkable assets should be converted into something useful as an institution. With enough resources and sufficient departure of the terms of the early donations, it could be accomplished. A more of the same … yields the same conclusion. The assets are worth more after closing the school than in trying to delay the slow economic death.
And you are correct. Nobody is asking us! That is for sure. Maybe they should call that obnoxious Brit from Restaurant Impossible and give him a couple of millions.
It is very easy to underestimate the liabilities of an organization going belly up. Ask any bankruptcy lawyer.
The bottom line is that it’s easy to look at a pile of dough in an endowment and to spend it six ways to Sunday. Once you are done with payroll taxes for your employees and unpaid bills, now that there is no tuition revenue coming in that endowment will start to dwindle very quickly.
“You could make it a four year college but stress that the transfers would be an option if a really prestigious school was an objective.”
This is an interesting angle. Not many schools can pull it off and still offer a meaningful four-year program, but there are a few. The Penn State satellites come to mind, though a big part of the draw is that they are a cheap in-state option. Landmark College, a hyperspecialized college for kids with LDs, ADHD, or ASD, is another example of a school that offers a 4-year program but applauds students who go elsewhere after 1-2 successful years.
The Sweet Briar academic was not broken and does not need to be fixed. Two things led to the current situation, both of which are very recoverable.
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The broke recruitment. Badly. Recruitment is the lifeblood, and the one are where you cannot skimp. Not only did they skimp, they cut deep. They didn’t even use CRM software. A lot of stuff was still done with that white stuff - I think it’s called paper.
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They broke development. Their donation requests were for $250 across the board. If an alumna has a $50k/year job, they asked for $250. If an alumna was worth $12MM, they asked for $250. That is just dumb. They cut their alumnae from helping with recruitment.they cut them from local direct contact with potential students. By doing so, they alienated the alumnae (donors) and hurt recruitment.
Fix those two things and everything else will take care of itself.