Hobart 2020

[FMUBart]

What's the real story with our financial situation? I realize many schools, especially the smaller NE liberal colleges are in trouble; however, with our stated endowment of over $200mil, that would seem to provide a cushion to get over the current national health crisis. Does anyone know something factual, or is it all conjecture?

[Farfromgeneva]

It’s not just the crisis, it’s a population problem. It’s been stated various places but many papers and forecasts predict as many as 25% of NE private colleges will fail in the next fifteen years and that was before Covid. Corona only accelerates the problem for some just like Hertz, JC Penney and others might’ve been able to stumble around 3-5 more years before finally failing and just got pushed off the cliff with the pandemic.

https://www.hws.edu/offices/business/fi ... ments.aspx

$5mm operating loss in fiscal 2019 and likely to be a negative number even when throwing in restricted asset income. Likely to have some decline in endowment earnings, seems like we’ve never had very good performance and chase the wrong allocation in the 9th inning regularly. We’ve got a alumnus base that for a stretch in the back half of the Dick Hersh era who has one of the lowest participation rate imaginable, call it basically graduates from 1990-early 2000s, who are now in prime earning and giving years who just wont give. We’ve dropped about 15 spots in USNW rankings in the last decade of Gearan a tenure and the last 2yrs.

All that and add in the northeast issue with declining enrollment coming and we haven’t exactly had administrative and managerial prudence or strong operational management, still a high 1yr attrition rate to boot. $200mm isn’t what it sounds like. Best case is we can pick off top students from other regional schools more likely to fail (Hartwick,Utica, Nazareth, St John Fisher, maybe some PA and MA schools) and improve the position though that’ll require more financial aid probably.

So dire, not next week. Worth being concerned about and taking serious administrative action, by which I mean more serious management and oversight for sure though. I bet in the next decade we see at least one NE college w well over $100-$150mm in endowment goal for sure, $200mm isn’t anything special.

[Laxgunea]

Since we are a tuition driven school, much of our situation is up in the air. You wanted just facts, so maybe the most important thing to know is the the incoming class is looking to be very low ... maybe under 500 for the second year in a row. Discount rate, which dropped last year, is back up ... plus more aid to already admitted students who are facing financial hardship. Expecting a 15 percent drop in high school graduates in 2024 because of decline in birthrate after 2008 financial crisis. However, this may get smoothed out as this years admits defer. Long and short of tuition side is that we are returning to our traditional size of 2000 students. Current deficit for next year projected at 10.5 m in a best case scenario right now ( all bets off if there is a vaccine, etc...). Still no plan on reopening. Probably will be a bounced next week.
200m endowment puts us in better situation than other schools currently going under, but long term survival depends on increasing that. Fargromgeneva is right that the situation is dire ... not next week, but fundamentals must change.
Staff is underpaid in relation to comparison schools. 7.7 percent payouts or furloughs announced earlier this month. Assistant coaches moved from 12 month positions to 10 month positions. Faculty underpaid by 10000 or more in relation to comparison schools. No raises in 4 years and no contractual increases in 2 years. Same 7.7 percent cut in pay, plus 5 percent reduction in retirement matching. A few people have been let go. Morale in Geneva is low. It's been years of tough times.
Back to lacrosse: along with other parts of athletics, it is a real bright spot.

[Laxgunea]

Since we are a tuition driven school, much of our situation is up in the air. You wanted just facts, so maybe the most important thing to know is the the incoming class is looking to be very low ... maybe under 500 for the second year in a row. Discount rate, which dropped last year, is back up ... plus more aid to already admitted students who are facing financial hardship. Expecting a 15 percent drop in high school graduates in 2024 because of decline in birthrate after 2008 financial crisis. However, this may get smoothed out as this years admits defer. Long and short of tuition side is that we are returning to our traditional size of 2000 students. Current deficit for next year projected at 10.5 m in a best case scenario right now ( all bets off if there is a vaccine, etc...). Still no plan on reopening. Probably will be a bounced next week.
200m endowment puts us in better situation than other schools currently going under, but long term survival depends on increasing that. Fargromgeneva is right that the situation is dire ... not next week, but fundamentals must change.
Staff is underpaid in relation to comparison schools. 7.7 percent payouts or furloughs announced earlier this month. Assistant coaches moved from 12 month positions to 10 month positions. Faculty underpaid by 10000 or more in relation to comparison schools. No raises in 4 years and no contractual increases in 2 years. Same 7.7 percent cut in pay, plus 5 percent reduction in retirement matching. A few people have been let go. Morale in Geneva is low. It's been years of tough times.
Back to lacrosse: along with other parts of athletics, it is a real bright spot.

[FMUBart]

While the lower pay of profs is discouraging, I also think that most profs are overpaid given the limited office hours, teaching 2 classes or so a week, endless sabbaticals--still better than the big schools teaching with TA's! Colleges have been gouging parents' for years with the annual hikes in tuition and fees. Only industry where prices seemingly go up despite economic factors. HWS is still a popular place, hoping they can keep it afloat...the declining incoming class is an obvious concern, especially with Covid-19.

[Laxfan1234]

College President sent this message out this morning:

Dear Members of the Hobart and William Smith Community,

With the spring semester successfully completed and Maymester courses now underway, I write to provide an update on our progress regarding planning for the next academic year.

It continues to be our intention to open this fall for residential instruction. With the Finger Lakes region now in phase 1 of Governor Cuomo’s 4-phase, staged reopening for the State of New York, opening this fall is well within our capabilities, and we are looking forward to welcoming our students, faculty and staff back to campus. What is emerging from our planning is a conscientious in-person learning and living community, one that adopts the latest guidelines from health care officials and that is built for maximum flexibility should our understanding of the COVID-19 virus shift.

We hope to resume faculty laboratory research as early as mid-June and to begin bringing some staff back to campus in July, with the remainder of faculty, staff and students arriving in August. We intend to follow a schedule for the fall that tightens the semester without decreasing intellectual contact between faculty and students. The goal is to limit travel to and from campus once students have returned, and to have most students back home by Thanksgiving in case there is a late-fall resurgence of COVID-19. We therefore expect Fall 2020 semester classes to begin as scheduled on Monday Aug. 24 and residential instruction to occur through Tuesday Nov. 24, after which Thanksgiving break will begin. Final exams will be administered using remote techniques with most students staying home until the spring semester. Campus will remain open so as to ensure that those students who need to stay will continue to have access to wireless technology and dining, among other services. Sports teams would continue on whatever league schedules are developed and would have access to the campus throughout their season schedules.

We are considering expanding Winter Break programming to include remote learning options similar to what we are offering now via our successful Maymester courses. Spring semester would run on or very close to standard schedule, with a possible one-week-later start and subsequent dropping of our weeklong Spring Break if the virus' course makes that plan preferable.

This plan remains just that – a plan – until we submit our full reopening document to the State of New York in mid-June. Once we have State approval, we will share full details on everything from academic and residential life to screening, testing, isolating and tracing protocols. We understand that for some in our community who have preexisting health issues, the residential education model raises reasonable concerns. We are working now to determine the ways in which the Colleges can best assist in these situations and will have more information throughout the summer. Although Hobart and William Smith are located in a geographic area that has avoided significant infection, the health and wellbeing of our entire community and of Geneva will always be my top priority.

Although life on campus this fall will be somewhat altered to support the health and safety of the overall population, I can assure you that the spirit of community and collaboration we all so deeply love about the Colleges will not be changed. Students should expect to return to a group of faculty and staff who have dearly missed them and who are working now to bring the curriculum to life in new and energetic ways. And we will find ways to gather safely, some planned and others spontaneous, some that will continue to enrich the intellectual journey and some for just plain fun.

I am grateful for the work to date of our three task forces whose analyses and recommendations have shaped the Colleges’ approach. The senior staff and I continue to be in daily contact with higher education colleagues and health care professionals across the state and nation, and their insight and thoughtful perspectives have been extremely helpful as we finalize our planning and prepare to enter our implementation phase. We will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves and adjust our short- and long-term planning accordingly. I will be in touch throughout the summer with details on our progress and, as always, you can contact me any time at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Joyce P. Jacobsen
President

[Farfromgeneva]

My memory is getting atrocious but how do we think the new face off rules will impact Blanchard and Shea? Feel like Shea was quicker and Blanchard more dig in and wrestle type. Either way wing play will be more important next year.

[SMAIN]

I'm sure my post will not be popular..... but why not cut cost to help with our financial situation.... do we really need the various majors that have popped up over the last few years? Majors such as LGBTQ or Women's Studies... how about just the traditional study programs.

[Laxgunea]

Majors don't cost money ... they just don't. They are nothing but sets of classes that are already being taught. If you cut small majors, you will be cutting the classes you want to preserve: Classics, Math, Physics. The classes you mention are filled with students. Lack of enrollment is our current problem.
Also, any professor teaching 2 classes per week and having limited office hours is an adjunct. They make a whopping $4,000 per course usually teaching 25 to 30 students. It comes to about $15/hr when you take into account the prep, the grading, the office hours, the class time. It isn't a lot to pay off 10 years of student loans. BTW, the adjuncts are not being rehired, and the ongoing positions were not rehired for next year. It is a skeleton crew. Just so you know, it is a HUGE hit on the economic situation of Geneva. About 40% of faculty live in Geneva, and a similar or higher percentage of staff. The city will be devastated if the Colleges collapse (Cornell is cutting back and the hospital was just sold, so that will leave the City itself as highest employer).
Look at actual data, and you will see that faculty are the highest rated part of the Hobart and William Smith experience. Faculty teach because they love the students ... there is not a natural scientist or economist on the faculty who could not make more money working fewer hours in the private sector. They regularly stick around for 30, 40, and more years making a life in the community. I know many faculty members, and they all work 60+ hour weeks. Did you know that HWS faculty are on 9 month contracts? That's your "summer off" for you.
Bloat comes from growth in administrators (including necessary administrators like NCAA compliance officers) ... please look at actual data ... and lawyers, and insurance, and student affairs people. But more importantly, costs increase because of what parents and students demand. If you want to reduce costs, what you should do is reduce amenities ... but be careful, because some sports will go the way of baseball and wrestling (no ... it was not a Title IX thing ... it was a money thing).
As for gauging and education being the only field where prices continue to go up despite economic downturns ... well, that would be true if you took out insurance, medicine, pharmaceuticals, law, and anything associated with the stock market.
If you want a deeper analysis of problems at HWS, go back and read some of FarFromGeneva's posts ... I don't usually comment on them because this is a Hobart Lacrosse thread.
Speaking of which ... maybe we can stick to lacrosse here?
On another note, the Dome collapsed.

[FMUBart]

Laxgunea, I usually appreciate your posts, but not this time...totally disagree with your Kool-aid response re: faculty...not talking about adjuncts. Just ask ex-president Vincent about the faculty and their commitment. While I had a great experience at HWS both academically and athletically, fast forward 35 years later and the professors where totally out of line/spoiled brats when they were asked to get more committed, that's fact.

Now, back to lacrosse..

[shoothi]

You want more money from alumni, provide courses that allow students to make money in the future... business, engineering, coding etc.

These humanities simply do not pay large dollars in the real world.

[Laxgunea]

https://www.fltimes.com/sports/college- ... 5ce05.html

Again, please talk facts. HWS ROI is great. Humanities classes teach people to write and think, that's why they are valuable. If someone doesn't want those, they go elsewhere. Get rid of those classes, and you have economics professors teaching writing, which they don't want to do. We could offer business degrees, but they are not worth the money they are printed on (at the undergraduate level) … it is common knowledge that the only business degree worth anything is an MBA, and you really should have some business experience BEFORE you sign up for one.

Isn't there a BOT member on this list? Ask him what happened to Vincent. It wasn't a faculty takedown. Faculty don't have that power. Vincent became an embarrassment and a distraction. The most damning thing was the Herald Article written by students who pulled his dissertation and cited 50 plus citation errors. This from the guy who wanted to take us to over 2500 students --- we sort of dodged a bullet when he departed because if we followed his plan, we'd be even further underwater now. I liked Vincent and supported him, but he alienated people. The students called him President Selfie because he was so self-promoting and he couldn't remember a student name.

Please, just talk to the administrators who worked with him … talk to his secretary (who requested a transfer) or to anyone who actually worked with him. When you are serious about the discussion, please check Gearan and Vincent's departure packages. Then we can talk real money.

[FMUBart]

Two sides to every story...agree to disagree.

[Laxgunea]

Me too.
Re: the Dome, the good news seems to be that repairs will mostly be covered by manufacturer, per Robb Flower in the FLT story. I have to think it is a tremendous draw for athletes.

[FMUBart]

Me too.
Re: the Dome, the good news seems to be that repairs will mostly be covered by manufacturer, per Robb Flower in the FLT story. I have to think it is a tremendous draw for athletes.

Laxgunea-- OMG!! I thought you were referring to the Carrier Dome renovation! Thanks for posting!

[Laxgunea]

Yeah ... I walked over there earlier today and saw it. Pretty devastating. But, again, looks like a manufacturer's problem and that it will be fixed at little cost to us. Just really happy no one was in it when it came down ... also happy it was a manufacturer's problem and not vandalism.

[Farfromgeneva]

There’s some accurate positions on both sides of that brief debate in that generic Bs in business would be a waster, but excelling in a few areas more than what we have would make sense. I’m biased but my primary major was economics which was pretty strong back then for being less quantitatively focused (which I liked) w McGuire, McGowan, Drenna, Mickinneys, Frishman, Gilbert, Waller, Gunn and a few others. Not sure the current group is as strong but removed there other than a rare conversation w McGuire or Drennan.

Faculty does have way too much stroke w the BOT and overall. Fairly coddled, perhaps there’s some unspoken exchange for not paying that well but it’s net negative long term to the colleges. Same with largely local/organic admin mostly alums and/or from within 50mi of the area. Ton of great folks, some are my friends, but have a lot of influence for a group that lacks a meaningful enough breadth of experience or perspective often lacking the professional outside hires.

We needed to turn over some people, break some skulls. Not like a SS Chief like Dick Hersh was but a profession who had run chunks of large successful institutions and other outside experiences. The academic issue on citations were real my understanding is they are a technical violation but still important, more to the low stakes academic world, he claimed mistake which may be true. We also know he had a lot of success in and outside of academia after that. I also know from a friend academic where I live who has a faculty friend in Geneva that the executive search firm they engaged for the Vincent hire was well known for being weak and not very good in that world and most would’ve caught this normally. Got the sense he could’ve done some things, but there was going to be some bloodshed along the way, improving academics and financials but the citation issue was reals enough that if he had to go he had to go. But the faculty did drive that hard along with some admin.

Like everything else in the world,there’s plenty of blame to throw around

[FL-GO]

Isn't there a BOT member on this list? Ask him what happened to Vincent. It wasn't a faculty takedown. Faculty don't have that power. Vincent became an embarrassment and a distraction. The most damning thing was the Herald Article written by students who pulled his dissertation and cited 50 plus citation errors. This from the guy who wanted to take us to over 2500 students --- we sort of dodged a bullet when he departed because if we followed his plan, we'd be even further underwater now. I liked Vincent and supported him, but he alienated people. The students called him President Selfie because he was so self-promoting and he couldn't remember a student name.

Please, just talk to the administrators who worked with him … talk to his secretary (who requested a transfer) or to anyone who actually worked with him. When you are serious about the discussion, please check Gearan and Vincent's departure packages. Then we can talk real money.

The above is accurate based on conversations I've had with staff and faculty at HWS back in 2018. Honestly our Board missed an opportunity for suing UPenn for those errors. That's more on them than Vincent imo. Still I am glad that chapter is over, even if Vincent was clearly more pro-athletics than most.

Smaller classes and new offerings should help. I know the coaches had a strong year recruiting and this year's class could be close to 50% student athletes which is great. Glad we are moving towards the 8/24 open. Fingers crossed that means fall sports. Time will tell.

[FL-GO]

Faculty does have way too much stroke w the BOT and overall. Fairly coddled, perhaps there’s some unspoken exchange for not paying that well but it’s net negative long term to the colleges. Same with largely local/organic admin mostly alums and/or from within 50mi of the area. Ton of great folks, some are my friends, but have a lot of influence for a group that lacks a meaningful enough breadth of experience or perspective often lacking the professional outside hires.

I also agree with this statement. Gearan gave the faculty a bit too much of a say. That looks like it'll change and the Provost hire (basically chief faculty officer) was an impressive one (Ponoma - much higher rated lib arts school than us).

Still have concerns with local / long term people in influential roles. Not sure we can make the leap we need with the old guard in tow, but I don't think they are all expendable.

[Farfromgeneva]

Either way it’s a great place but we just need to be vigilant and continuously working to maintain as its just pretty treacherous waters colleges in the NE are going to be navigating this decade.