Farfromgeneva wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 2:24 pm
NNELax wrote: ↑Sun Apr 28, 2024 1:57 pm
What's the small college environment looking like across NY? Seems like Hobart will be just fine given their endowment and continuing to turn a "profit" (according to their 990). My guess is over the next decade a lot of these smaller schools will not be so lucky....Already starting to happen in other places...
Falling apart. Hartwick has been in the ropes. Elmira hurting. Couple like Sarah Lawrence closed. Same as MA.
Trust me our opex has nearly a $20mm structural deficit as we shrink enrollment and our endowment barley grew between 2000 and last year and we had the forth largest endowment decline in the country in 23. Too many tenured profs who need to go hanging in there for a school 25% smaller than its 25yr avf. Jut got $100mm from two alums one of which has to be motorist stingy ABigail Johnson of fidelity dough but still well below $350mm which I peg as the min to survive (throwing off 5%-$15-$20mm for operating budget each year)
I honestly don't see why Hobart doesn't bite the bullet and go back down to d3. I understand their reasonings for transitioning up (it made perfect sense at the time), but the NCAA hogtied them and effectively prevented them from competing at the d1 level for over 3 decades, and I'm not sure I see them establishing the kind of foundation at this late date that lets them regularly compete in the NCAAs.
If they dropped down to d3, they would be competing in one of the two most elite conferences in the country when it comes to lacrosse. They would instantly be competitive on the national stage (after the transition period required to move down), they would have a dozen teams in easy driving distance, many of them regular top 10 and top 20 programs. I know there was outrage and protest when they announced the possibility of such a move several years ago, but I am not sure why.