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Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget ImplicationsContributed by Office of the President on 05/10/09 I would like in this message to update you on deposits for the incoming freshman class and on the resulting budgetary outlook. We have very good news combined with some significant cautions and challenges. As you know, the economic turmoil of the last nine months created a great deal of uncertainty about private college enrollments next year. Families were insecure about the economy and national experts were predicting shifts in enrollment patterns. At that time we had every reason to fear a small class. In response to these challenges, I decided that Ithaca College must hold down the rate of increase in tuition relative to prior years as well as make a significantly increased commitment to the financial aid budget. In addition, I asked the entire campus community to join the staff of the admission office in becoming "recruiters" for IC. The results of these efforts yielded the second-highest number of applicants we have ever had. Over 1,200 prospective freshmen and families attended our Ithaca Today events (up 62 percent from prior years), and 4,000 admitted applicants participated in our social networking initiative, IC Peers. Our goal for May 1 deposits was 1,765, in order to yield a fall class of 1,600. I am pleased to report we have surpassed this target and as of May 6 we have 2,158 deposits on hand. As always, we will have some "summer melt" from students who change their minds about Ithaca. However, even with the melt we will have this fall the largest entering class in the history of the College. Preliminary data on the incoming class indicates that we have been able to maintain an academic profile comparable to the entering class of 2007, with average SATs of 1177 and the average student being in the top 20 percent of their class. In addition, the number of students of color increased from 196 in 2008 to 254 for 2009. Given all that we were facing going into this recruitment cycle, these results are amazingly good news. I want to especially thank the admission and financial aid staffs for their leadership in getting us to this position of strength. I also want to offer an enthusiastic "thank you!" to the deans for their leadership in each of our schools, to the faculty who talked individually with students, and to the staff who greeted visitors to our campus. Your collaborative work was outstanding, and you all helped produce these wonderful results. I promised some "cautions and challenges" along with the good news, so don’t stop reading yet! Although the incoming class will be large, it will not provide us as much budgetary benefit as one might expect. In recent years, the price of a private college education has become more and more difficult for many families to bear, and the current economy has accelerated that trend. Even though we made the largest commitment to financial aid in College history for next year, many applicants came to us to ask for additional support. We also found that our offers of admission were more likely to be taken by students to whom we offered our best financial aid packages. As a result, institutional financial aid commitments to the incoming class far exceed what we had planned. This will significantly diminish the net revenue that will come to us from these additional students. In addition, a portion of the new revenue must be allocated to reduce the planned budget deficit approved by the Ithaca College Board of Trustees in February. We will of course do everything possible to make sure each student in the class of 2013 receives a quality Ithaca College experience. I have asked the vice presidents to begin work immediately on planning the adjustments necessary to serve this large incoming class. We will, as needed, create new sections of certain courses, expand housing options, and more. We must all be creative to ensure that we fulfill each student's expectations of the Ithaca College commitment to excellence. In short, our successful recruitment of the largest incoming class in IC history will not give us the opportunity to fill a pot with gold and bury it in the quad. But it will enable us to remain the vibrant and financially healthy campus we have long been. It will enable us to continue our quest to be the standard of excellence for residential, comprehensive colleges. The challenges we will face next year will be very different than those we would have had if we had not met our enrollment target. In only a few weeks, the class of 2013 will begin to arrive for their first experience as members of the Ithaca College community. They will have many questions at orientation and we will be working hard to have answers to these questions. They will come to a campus filled with excitement, engaged in planning a new strategic vision. They will encounter a faculty ready to energize them in pursuit of their highest academic achievements. They will experience first-hand the commitment that our faculty and staff have to each individual student. The collaborative spirit that enabled us to recruit this class will also enable us to meet the exciting challenges of welcoming this class in true Ithaca College style. I look forward to working with you to produce another year of transformative educational and residential experience for our students. Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget Implications Comment from
bhotchk2 on
05/11/09
I share Bryce’s sentiment. Though enrolling more students will stave off the effects of the deepening recession on the coming budget, I fear that overcrowded dorms, classrooms, and other spaces on campus will only present more problems for the College. Students will feel crowded, but the salary-frozen faculty and often-underappreciated staff will bear the real brunt of this increase.
While unprecedented recruitment numbers should be applauded, and I will welcome them all to campus in the coming months, will we be able to sustain this growth in future classes? Demographic studies have indicated that class sizes at Ithaca and other private schools will decrease over the next decade. Can the campus community continue to accept increasingly more applicants to confront all future economic uncertainty? The College must formulate a more secure financial plan in the coming years to safeguard itself against larger economic turbulence – one that does not diminish the academic experience or rely on a limitless capacity for student bodies. Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget Implications Comment from
mhine on
05/11/09
First, let me applaud the Intercom editors for printing the above critiques. An open dialog is extremely important. During my short tenure here, I have observed that this kind of conversation has been encouraged.
In this economic climate, we can not expect to proceed with business as usual. While it is our duty to serve our students to the best of our ability, we must simultaneously find creative ways to persevere. Sacrifice is an underutilized word because it has a pejorative tone. I would like to think of it as each of us doing our part - a challenge to maximize our resources and do the best during a difficult time. The fact that we have such a robust enrollment speaks to the reputation of Ithaca College. To maintain that reputation we must be forward-thinking and embrace change. In short, we must adapt. Sustainability often means sacrificing convenience for effort - effort, in my opinion, that has become a necessity. Lastly, it is important to continue addressing the implications of a larger in coming class. The more conversations that take place the easier it will be for the campus as a whole to work together to address these challenges. Only through open, honest dialogue will we remain a vibrant institution. Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget Implications Comment from
tkerr on
05/11/09
If I were a manager in this situation, first thing I would do is to reinstate cost-of-living raises: good for morale, especially as everyone prepares for a historical bumper crop of students; good for IC faculty and staff, many of whom lost thousands upon thousands of dollars in retirement accounts; good for students, assuming good faculty and staff morale is good for students; good for the economy, since cost of living raises feed directly into it; good for the nation, assuming confidence, strength, and corresponding positive action is good for the national psyche and economy.
Seems like we have suddenly reached the benchmark that would justify, if not require, a sudden thaw in frozen salaries. If I were a manager, I would not miss such an opportunity, one that would likely pay valuable quality-of-education dividends for years to come. And just think of the good local press: "Ithaca College Makes Bold Move: First College in Region to Thaw Frozen Salaries." Could even be a national headline: "Ithaca College Leads the Way Out of the Recession: Thaws Frozen Salaries." Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget Implications Comment from
dlong on
05/11/09
As the institution has needed to become more mindful of the economy and student demographics over the past few years I have heard push back from those protective of an idealized vision of academia. Coming from 20+ years as a business owner, I tend to take a pragmatic view. Quality of life for students, faculty, and staff must be the priority within the constraints of economic realities that ebb and flow.
We seem to be at an intersection wherein the business of running the institution must mesh with the business of providing an excellent academic experience at a new level of challenge. The challenge requires faculty, staff, and administrators to extend themselves beyond comfortable status quo expectations, keep the student experience foremost in mind, and do so with a personal generosity of spirit that will most certainly require us to dig deep. Reality is staring us in the face. We need to be responsive to the times and create a new Ithaca College mindset that results in our becomming a stronger academic institution. Let's keep the goal in mind and use our collective energy and resources to make it happen. Update on Fall Deposits for Freshman Class and Budget Implications Comment from
banders1 on
05/11/09
As a note, there isn't an editor who publishes comments. This is a direct-post forum. That's how my sarcastic, 4 am editorial makes it online.
I agree that these measures have a distinct effect on community morale. This is probably because the people making the decisions are not the people feeling the effects. Will I see a refund in my housing payment because my living spaces are full of other students? Doubt it. Am I bitter? Absolutely. Perhaps we could move students into Fountain Place to alleviate some of the overcrowding? |
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I'm afraid that enrolling more students means damaging the social atmosphere by taking away the only social spaces on campus open to students after 12 am. It also means packing the dining halls and filling the classrooms with more students than they should reasonably hold. It might look good on paper, but it sucks to live in overcrowded residence halls and wait in line 20 minutes just to not find a table in a dining hall. It's often difficult to use a school computer or printer because the library and other labs on campus are overcrowded. Just because we have the ability to enroll more students doesn't mean we have the facilities to comfortably let them live here. I apologize for not jumping with joy. ...Go bombers.