"Tuition runs out today"

[asteriskea]

<p>Inside higher ed article focus is on a quite imaginative way for a college to call attention to high operational costs, tuition subsidies, and the importance of a strong alumni network when it comes to “giving back”- philanthropy.</p>

<p>

…today, Albright administrators say, student tuition dollars, which cover 66 percent of the annual cost of a student’s undergraduate education, run out (symbolically, that is) — and other revenue sources kick in.</p>

<p>Albright’s first annual “Tuition Ran Out Day” is designed to strengthen student awareness of the fact that donors are subsidizing their education and to drive home to students the point that private college administrators so often make when they’re criticized for escalating tuition prices: that the cost of tuition, even as it rises, still doesn’t come close to reflecting the true cost of education, borne by so many others…</p>

<p>Fitzgerald and Hahn stressed that the day is not meant in any way to belittle the amount students are contributing — the comprehensive tuition fee is set at $26,620 for full-time undergraduates this academic year at Albright, where the rate of tuition increases has stayed steady at around 5 percent for the past few years. The point, rather, is to educate students about the importance of giving and the economics of the college, which Hahn said many students mistakenly believe is “actually making money.”</p>

<p>“Our hope and goal is to foster communication and a connection between students and faculty, and [to emphasize] how important donations are to keep the cost of tuition down,” said Fitzgerald. “Just to keep it at what it is now is challenging. If we don’t have the support of revenue sources and donors, tuition is just going to keep going up.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/20/albright[/url]”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/02/20/albright&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[pjp1116]

<p>$530 for a Ping Pong Table? </p>

<p>$275 for a desk and chair?</p>

<p>Their purchasing dept must suck. Hopefully their alumni had great experiences in the ping pong room and will be active supporters after they graduate.</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>Not to quibble or haggle, but $530 is about average retail for, let’s say, a sturdy outdoor ping pong table - the price tag idea is gimmicky but, again, let’s face it, the college wants to drive home a point.</p>

<p>

To focus student attention on the cost of running the college, Albright is displaying 80 giant price tags around the Reading, Pa., campus today, including six big enough to cover the side of a building, said Michelle Hahn, director of the Fund for Albright. Among the dollar values to be posted on the bright blue and yellow tags: $222,128 for water and sewer for a year, $275 for a desk with chair, $529.99 for a Ping-Pong table, $875 for a projection screen, $3,194.95 for the pool lane lines, $17.25 million in scholarships awarded this year, and $1,239.93 for a security phone.

</p>

[pjp1116]

<p>Dont want to quibble or haggle either, but if an institutional purchasing department is paying average retail prices then I’d say you need to replace some folks in that department.</p>

<p>And I understand the point. Its not necessarily a bad one, to try to inspire future donors…</p>

<p>It would be interesting though if they put a sticker on the faculty and admins showing their loaded salaries, in addition to tenure status.</p>

<p>College costs are spiraling at a much faster pace than the level of inflation for a reason don’t you think? And they aren’t all associated with just salaries, buildings and the cost of Ping Pong Tables.</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>All worthy points to discuss, and of course, items like ping pong tables are not essential to the college experience or at the heart of tuition hikes. Yet, from what I understand some one (parent, alum or whomever) either donated that sum of money to buy a ping pong table or gave the table to the college, hence the tag. Apparently, at Albright students also take part in a program called “Thanks-for-Giving” introduced in 2006 and write thank you cards to donors, who include alumni, parents, students, employees and friends.</p>

<p>

The Thanks-for-Giving program took place during the two weeks before Thanksgiving. Stations were set up around campus where students handwrote thank you cards to donors who made a pledge or gift during the current fiscal year. Other students stopped by to sign cards during lunchtime in the cafeteria. All together, more than 250 students took part in the program.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.albright.edu/giving/awareness.html#tuition[/url]”>http://www.albright.edu/giving/awareness.html#tuition&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[StickerShock]

<p>

…some one (parent, alum or whomever) either donated that sum of money to buy a ping pong table or gave the table to the college, hence the tag.

So I could donate a ping pong table I purchased wholesale, turn around and deduct it at the retail price? </p>

<p>I think this exercise is a good one in theory. But it does emphasize how the “true cost” of attending is really a number picked out of the air, inflated substantially, in the hope that families will stop griping about tuition.</p>

[pjp1116]

<p>couple of excerpts from </p>

<p><a href=“http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/08/04/commission[/url]”>http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/08/04/commission&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Draft 3</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>College and university finances are complex, and are made more so by accounting habits that confuse costs with revenues and obscure production costs. The lack of transparency in financing is not just a problem of public communication or metrics – it reflects a deeper problem: inadequate attention to cost measurement and cost management within institutions. </p>

<p>In addition, colleges and universities have few incentives to contain costs because prestige is often measured by resources, and managers who hold down spending risk losing their academic reputations. As public subsidies for higher education decline, institutional attention to cost – and price – control will inevitably become an urgent priority both for internal institutional accountability and public credibility.

</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>The tagged prices reflect real operating costs -

On Tuition Ran Out Day, blue helium balloons mark the areas where price tags of various campus items are displayed. Some of the items are more costly than one might think…”

</p>

[pjp1116]

<p>AHH You know I have no attachment to Albright. </p>

<p>How much do you figure it costs to have a sign printed up saying “This Building cost $10.75 million and $200,000 in upkeep per year including gas,electricity, and maintenance services”. Oh yeah and the sign is as big as the building.</p>

<p>Not shedding any tears for Albright</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>Pjp, I am not sure whether it matters or not if you have ties to Albright - I certainly do not - and I am all in favor of transparency when it comes to donations-philanthropy (money or in-kind) as well as for other college operating costs. Is this “philanthropy day” pure gimmick and nothing more?</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>Many colleges, such as Carlton College, abide by the donor bill of rights that states 10 policy commandments of philanthropy:</p>

<p>

Philanthropy is based on voluntary action for the common good. It is a tradition of giving and sharing that is primary to the quality of life. To ensure that philanthropy merits the respect and trust of the general public, and that donors and prospective donors can have full confidence in the nonprofit organizations and causes they are asked to support…

</p>

<p><a href=“http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/development/stewardship/policies/[/url]”>http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/development/stewardship/policies/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Obviously, colleges have created a high demand for charitable giving - most of us like to think about this in terms of generosity - so to meet ever higher goals they have to reach out both farther and deeper to find and establish networks that will yield significant funds.</p>

[asteriskea]

<p>I couldn’t help but think of this thread and Albright’s novel efforts to stimulate alumni giving when I read " Survey: College giving up sharply – especially to wealthiest schools" - may be it doesn’t hold a candle to what the elites rake in but as this CNN article states “they have to be out there asking for it”. </p>

<p>

Colleges “are making a good case for support,” Kaplan said. “The level at which they can receive contributions will have something to do with the economy, but they have to be out there asking for it.”…</p>

<p>The elite fund raisers typically get money from a higher percentage of alumni, but the real difference comes from a small number of mega-gifts. About 40 percent of Stanford’s total came from just 10 donations, Shell said, the largest of which was $100 million from alumnus and real estate developer John Arrillaga.</p>

<p>The university’s latest campaign aims to raise $4.3 billion over five years. Stanford charges $43,361 this year for tuition plus room and board but says it provides full financial aid for students who need it, and does not charge families with annual income under $45,000.</p>

<p>Stanford’s endowment, valued at $14.1 billion last August, kicks in about 18 percent of the university’s $3.2 billion operating budget. Typically, voluntary support provides for less than 10 percent of expenditures on higher education, according to CAE…

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/21/colleges.giving.ap/index.html?eref=rss_education[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/21/colleges.giving.ap/index.html?eref=rss_education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;