Student financial aid will not get slashed next year as departments and offices campus-wide are making cutbacks to reduce endowment spending. In fact, the 2009-2010 operating budget, approved by the Board of Trustees in February, reserves $24,563,000 for financial aid––up from the existing $23,325,000––to cover current families and attract new student talent.
According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Independent Colleges at the end of last year, 93 percent of its 372 members were “greatly or moderately concerned about preventing a decline in student enrollment.” In her presentation to the Student Assembly on March 9th, Karen Leach, Vice President of Finance and Administration, acknowledged that Hamilton’s foremost commitment is to “keep current students here.” So far, the college has “re-packaged” 43 current families.
“Just as Hamilton is faced with unprecedented fiscal pressure, we recognize that our families face similar challenges,” Joe Urgo, Acting President and Dean of Faculty, wrote in a letter to Hamilton parents last month. “The growth in the financial aid budget is larger than the increase in the comprehensive fee to reflect the greater need that we anticipate many of our families may demonstrate during these difficult times.”
To balance out the budget in light of the increase in financial aid, every department and office has been asked to make a four percent cut, which amounts to a $650,000 reduction in operating costs across the board. Yet Leach anticipates these changes will “be relatively invisible to students.”
The Math Department, for instance, is making such relatively invisible cutbacks, reducing its copying costs by utilizing the less expensive copiers in the Print Shop and saving paper by posting homework assignments online and limiting exams to one-page instead of the typical seven-to-nine pages.
“These may seem like minor changes, but the college makes millions of copies each year and that starts to add up,” explains department chair Richard Bedient.
Bedient also plans to save on software costs by encouraging professors to use the software that the college makes available online instead of installing the programs onto their individual computers.
Cutbacks within the Government Department, however, will be more visible to students, according to department chair Stephen Orvis. While a $1,000 reduction in the operating budget––e.g. photocopying––can be endured “without any real significant cuts,” the reduction in the number of professors will make classes tighter.
“In normal times, we would have had two visiting professors next year, covering for people on leave,” Orvis explains. “We were authorized for only one of these. College-wide, only about half of such requests were granted, so we got 1 out of 2, our fair share I guess. The bottom line is we have one less faculty member teaching next year, which means five fewer courses over the year, making Gov dept. courses that much more crowded. I don’t think this is outrageous under the circumstances, but it may well be felt by students.”
Leach admitted that senior administrators have been more lenient with the Admissions office regarding cutbacks because recruitment is one of the college’s biggest revenue generators. “It’s tricky because applications are going up, which means more visitors to campus and more mailings to produce,” says Monica Inzer, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. “Our costs went up without our being able to control it.”
Still, Inzer described “strategic” cutbacks to make room for “the things we do that touch students.” For instance, the office stopped producing a print edition of the college application and course catalog, and instead, mailed postcards that directed students to the Hamilton website to apply, saving $13,000 on postage. In addition, receptions on the road were bagged because they were not “converting” people at a high enough rate. But interviews were, so the office replaced its traditional Fall Open House on Columbus Day with a three-day interview marathon over the holiday weekend, which was “more productive” and not as costly.
“We were able to serve students and families just as well and give them more personal attention,” Inzer explains.
Despite a new and improved approach to targeting prospective students, Hamilton still experienced an 8 percent decline in applications for the Class of 2013. But the college stands in good company as application rates dropped 20 percent at Williams College, 12 percent at Middlebury College, and 10 percent at Swarthmore College, according to Bloomberg News. “I never thought I’d be excited about a decline in application rates, but compared to many of our peers, we are faring better,” Inzer exclaimed.
Concerns about student enrollment have prompted Admissions to become more vocal about the close attention paid to applicants’ ability to pay during the decision-making process. According to Leach’s presentation, a goal “threatened” by the economic downturn is the college’s ability to be “need-blind,” or to evaluate students without considering their financial situation. But Inzer counters that the Admissions office has always been “need-aware” and was cognizant of students’ finances long before the economy tanked. Last year, seven percent of decisions were affected by a student’s ability to pay. “We’ve never tried to sugarcoat this factor because we want to continue to be able to meet 100 percent of a family’s need,” Inzer adds.
She justifies maintaining a sizable financial aid budget as essential to preserving the college’s “long history of socio-economic diversity.” But keeping the Hill solvent as the economy continues to go downhill takes precedence over a need-blind admissions policy. “Ideally, because we’re a public good, we want to be able to say all deserving students can come,” Leach declares. “We haven’t been able to do that yet, but we are working towards that goal.”
