US Colleges Face Declining Enrollment/Masters And PhDs Are On Welfare

[AlbanyJet]

As far as I know, SUNY and CUNY schools still teach like it's the 1980s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/bu...eMSVvA0IEehCWA

Downturn Still Squeezes Colleges and Universities
By ANDREW MARTIN
January 10, 2013

An annual survey of colleges and universities found that a growing number of schools face declining enrollment and less revenue from tuition.

The survey, released by the credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday, found that nearly half of colleges and universities that responded expected enrollment declines for full-time students, and a third of the schools expected tuition revenue to decline or to grow at less than the rate of inflation.

“The cumulative effects of years of depressed family income and net worth, as well as uncertain job prospects for many recent graduates, are combining to soften student market demand at current tuition prices,” Emily Schwarz, a Moody’s analyst and lead author of the report, said in a statement.

The growing financial challenges for colleges and universities come as students and graduates have amassed more than $1 trillion in student debt, and many are struggling to pay their bills. Nearly one in six people with an outstanding federal student loan balance is in default, the federal government says.

Before the financial crisis of 2008, colleges and universities routinely raised tuition with little effect on the number of prospective students who applied. Some private colleges said that applications actually rose when they increased prices, apparently because families equated higher prices with quality.

But that attitude has changed, in part because family incomes have declined. Ms. Schwarz also noted, “Tougher governmental scrutiny of higher education costs and disclosure practices is adding regulatory and political pressure to tuition and revenue from rising at past rates.”

In addition, she noted that budget negotiations in Congress could lead to cuts in student aid programs while the share of students that depend on government help continued to rise. At public universities, federal loans finance a median of 40 percent of student charges; at private schools, the median is 21 percent.

While nearly half the schools that responded to the survey expected enrollment declines, the changes are expected to be minimal and overall enrollment should remain relatively flat. The enrollment declines are more pronounced among graduate programs; small, lower-rated universities; and public schools in the Northeast and Midwest, where the number of high school seniors is declining.

By comparison, about 15 percent of the schools that responded to the survey in the fall of 2010 reported enrollment declines.

Daniel J. Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said he was not surprised by the findings. He said that after years of cuts, he expected an uptick in state financing for public colleges and universities in the coming year.

In addition, he said states had become more strategic in how they finance higher education, offering incentives for schools that provide more graduates in critical fields, like engineering.

Tony Pals, spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which represents nonprofit private schools, said the report confirmed the tough realities of higher education. “Economic, demographic, marketplace and technological trends are converging to cause an unprecedented time of change for higher education. The new reality is that colleges are expecting to have to do more with less for years to come,” he said in an e-mail.

But Mr. Pals noted that his members had a history of resiliency and innovation. “We are seeing a jump in three-year bachelor’s degree programs, so-called no-frills satellite campuses and academic partnerships between four-year private colleges and local community colleges.”

Over all, 18 percent of private universities and 15 percent of public schools in the survey projected a decline in net tuition revenue for fiscal 2013. A much larger share, one-third, said net tuition revenue would decline or grow by less than 2 percent.

“Such weak revenue growth often means a college cannot afford salary increases or new program investments unless it cuts spending on staff and existing programs,” the Moody’s report said. By comparison, in fiscal 2008, only 11 percent of private schools and 9 percent of public schools did not increase tuition revenue by 2 percent or more.

Since the financial crisis, tuition at public schools has grown more rapidly than private ones, largely to offset sharp costs in state financing. Public universities have responded by recruiting more out-of-state and international students, who can pay more than in-state students.

Private schools have provided more and more financial aid to students to offset their higher price, a trend that many view as unsustainable.

Moody’s has a more upbeat view of the most elite private schools and flagship public universities, which continue to have strong student demand and, in many instances, many other sources of revenue.

The Moody’s survey included 165 nonprofit private universities and 127 four-year public universities.


http://www.timesunion.com/business/a...ps-4184158.php


HVCC trims 28 jobs as enrollment drops College cites economy in effort to reduce non-teaching positions
By Scott Waldman
January 10, 2013


TROY — Hudson Valley Community College is cutting or reducing 28 positions as its once explosive enrollment growth is now dropping.

The school announced the cuts on Thursday and officials said no academic programs will be affected. The job losses are all professional and administrative positions and no faculty will lose their jobs. Officials blamed the cuts on the poor economy.

"(The economy) was once a boon for us," spokesman Dennis Kennedy said. "Unfortunately, the recession has dragged on and that has caused a slight decline in enrollment."

http://www.businessinsider.com/infog...-stamps-2013-1

More And More Of America's PhDs Are On Welfare

The Great Recession and the very slow pace of subsequent recovery has sky-rocketed unemployment, as well as people on welfare and food stamps. A record high of 15 percent, or 46.37 million Americans, were on food stamps in June last year — that's almost one in every seven Americans. That number is not expected to come down much without a significant improvement in the unemployment picture.
Even worse, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The number of people with graduate degrees — master's degrees and doctorates — who have had to apply for food stamps, unemployment or other assistance more than tripled between 2007 and 2010. Of the 22 million Americans with master's degrees or higher in 2010, about 360,000 were receiving some kind of public assistance, according to the latest Current Population Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau in March 2011.

So holding a PhD does not automatically walk you into even a decent paying job any more. Source: OnlineColleges.net

[rbstern]

Decades of raising prices at three to five times the rate of inflation. Predictable and well deserved consequence.

If government didn't meddle so much in financing this area, this would have self-corrected twenty years ago. Universities and colleges would have been forced to stick with realistic market prices for education. Instead, they leveraged easy government loans into vastly inflated prices.

Sound familiar?

[Warfish]

The cost of education is horrific. Forget Oil, lets explore why Education costs so much, given the massive public subsidy and exceptionally low overhead costs of Education.

While we're at it, lets find out why $3.00 worth of paper and cardboard sells for $390.00 in the College Bookstore.

$1,000 for a single 3-credit local lolCommunity College Class, for whats worth about $150.00.

[Trades]

Originally Posted by Warfish

The cost of education is horrific. Forget Oil, lets explore why Education costs so much, given the massive public subsidy and exceptionally low overhead costs of Education.

While we're at it, lets find out why $3.00 worth of paper and cardboard sells for $390.00 in the College Bookstore.

$1,000 for a single 3-credit local lolCommunity College Class, for whats worth about $150.00.

Agree that book prices are ridiculous especially when they come out with new editions for their captive audiences to kill the used book industry by adding 3 pages of new content. The only issue I have with your statement is considering it $3 worth of paper and cardboard. You left out the only value the book actually has which is its content. Still not worth $400 but I can see $40/book being reasonable.

[AlbanyJet]

There's just way too many useless liberal arts degree programs. Even law school graduates can't find jobs.

[JetPotato]

E

Originally Posted by Trades

Agree that book prices are ridiculous especially when they come out with new editions for their captive audiences to kill the used book industry by adding 3 pages of new content. The only issue I have with your statement is considering it $3 worth of paper and cardboard. You left out the only value the book actually has which is its content. Still not worth $400 but I can see $40/book being reasonable.

E-Books will have this problem licked soon enough

[Brooklyn Jet]

Sounds like the housing market.... vastly inflated prices, easy to get loans...

Sadly not surprising... when the cost of a good or service is deemed to be more than the benefit, consumers make other choices. Piles of debt, few jobs... I can see why some would opt against going to college. Its sad, because its going to contribute to the dumbing down of America.

Hopefully things will be allowed to auto-correct. But Im not holding my breath.