I would like to preface this by saying that I am a student in a sociology program attending a standard-sized state tech university. Being a sociology student in a tech school is strange enough, because I walk alongside many of my best friends who instead are majoring in engineering, mathematics, or the hard sciences. Of course, though degree fields like Sociology, English, and History were not standard in the early years of my university, the school has long since expanded its focus to encompass liberal arts majors, with pretty good job placement results.
I have been attending my University for three years now, and my wife and I have been very pleased to get generous financial aid. We've both got high grades, and for that, we actually get paid to go to school. We could be in a much worse situation, and we have friends who work their way through college. However, both of us have felt relatively insulated by the economic crisis... it wasn't until today that we realized how close we were... and still are... to economic ruin.
You see, it all started a few days ago when we arrived to class and our professors started telling us that their departments were out of money. He said that any handouts we receive from that point forward is out of hi sown paycheck. We kind of shrugged it off as necessary belt tightening in hard economic times. We should have been able to tell from the look on his face though that it was a little more dire than that.
Just today, in my political science class, our professor dropped a bombshell on us. My state university is 20-45% over budget, and may require at minimum 20 million dollars of cuts in order to stay afloat. The dean of the university was informed to prioritize programs and goals of the university, and sent an email to all of the professors that he is going to be doing this in the next few days. After talking to my teacher, he believes the situation is not very good at all.
You see, my university has several choices of what to cut... and none of them are very appealing. The first things that we discussed might be cut are the athletics program and student organizations. Of course, that probably wouldn't take care of all of the budget problems my school is having, so we also discussed the possibility of severe layoffs. Some entire departments may even go under as a result of too few classes being available to support their accreditation. Being at a tech school, the obvious possibilities for departments that might go under are the liberal arts departments.
That sent waves of fear through the minds of my wife and I.
That means that, when the letter was out, they were forecasting the shutting down of entire departments, the firing of staff and teachers, and hanging students out to dry who did nothing wrong. Several students in sociology, history, political science, economics, and other departments might see their accreditation and classes disappear, then triggering payment for their student loans if they cannot afford out of state tuition or to go to another school. Imagine being a junior or a senior faced with the prospect that all of your work might end up meaningless!
Keeping colleges afloat is necessary to keep our workforce educated. If everyone decided that paying for school was simply too tough, or a large mass of people were simply unable to continue their college careers, then not only are you removing an educated work force from our country, but you are also allowing a huge mass of people who need jobs to fill the country with jobless workers. Worse than that, many of these workers would enter the workforce with 20,000 dollars of debt and no college degree. This in turn would choke up our welfare system WITHOUT the chance of any major contributions to our economy longer down the road in the form of high paying, professional jobs. College aid is one of the best investments that our country makes, because it is welfare with the guarantee that a sizeable portion of those on this temporary welfare program will go on to make large amounts of money and contribute to the size of our economy.
We are not the only ones with this problem, and I suspect that this is a problem that is under-reported throughout the country. My professor told me that several universities are facing this problem, but it was mostly state schools without large endowments. He believes schools with endowments are probably faring quite better... But upon my own research, I find that this is not true. Endowments are also dropping precipitously!
American colleges and universities lost an average of 23 percent on their endowment investments last semester, according to a national survey to be released today, a drop that is hurting the bottom line across the board, from major state institutions to the Ivy League.
(emphasis mine)
23% in one semester means that these private colleges and large state schools around the country are facing similar problems. If the economy does not get better, I cannot see endowment funds even beginning to recover. Allowing our colleges to fall under would be the straw that breaks the camels back, in my opinion, and does not bode well for this nations future.
Other universities are facing similar cuts, even larger than my own university.
Public colleges and universities in Virginia are considering raising tuition by as much as 10 percent. In a survey by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, more than two-thirds of the schools that responded planned to raise tuition. Dartmouth College leaders announced last week that they would need to make $60 million in cuts. Brown University declared a hiring freeze.
What I am worried about is the serious underreporting on this possible crisis. My wife and I were not even aware that our lifestyle was in danger. We live fairly scrupulously, and we put every effort that we can into our education. All of this news comes with a burst of hope, though, and an increase in my ire towards the republican party... The stimulus bill has generous aid to college students and professors. My wife and I will see our pell grant increase by 500 dollars now, and $41 billion has been pledged to go to school districts. This is not a fix, though, and will not completely remove the threat of college programs collapsing, as much of the money will go to high schools and public school systems. Still, perhaps it can delay it enough so that this country can get back on its feet again.
In the meantime, my wife and I are waiting with our fingers crossed, and thankful to the Democratic party. I knew there was a good reason we decided to be Democrats so long ago.