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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:41 am |
TheTruth
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 485
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| Lafalum wrote: | | TheTruth wrote: | | Many schools like Lafayette (small private liberal arts) suffered 25%-40% losses in their endowment. |
Not colgate (-20.1), not Bucknell(-20),F and M lost 33 pct. . We paid a guy millions to keep us out of trouble...a professional who made the same mistakes "everyone else did." Colgate, Bucknell and F and M actually provide a report on their endowment every six monts to their alumni. I missed that report in my mailbox. We refused to ansewer questions from reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer several months ago unlike our peers.
And due to our higher administrative costs and discount for aid we depend more on our endowment for annual fiscal support than many others.( about 28 pct according to published reports) |
Everything I had read and discussed with colleagues suggests everyones endowment was down at least 25%, with some more distinguished schools suffering more.
I'm not as angry as you all are about the management of the endowment, although I understand why you are. My reason is everyone got sucked into this mess one way or another. it may have been a bad investment manager, bad advice on home purchases, supposed professions lying, greed, etc. Everyone was trying to maximize their investments and peopel who were suppose to know better were consumed with greed. Who knew this house of cards was built on such a poor foundation? If this was just an isolated case of Lafayette losing -xx% and everyone else was smelling like roses, then I would call for all Trustees to resign immediately.
I'm upset by the other thiings you mention, lafalum, which is the lack of communication and ownership of the situation we are in. Weis needs to suspend his plan to expand the faculty until next year when things have stabilized and we know where we are financially. And stop kissing up to the faculty. The faculty is smart enough to understand this recession and the consequences. Heck their friends at other colleges are really suffering.
Weiss has a very serious situation on his hand. The things Lafalum and others mentioned are troubling. His last letter did not instill any confidence that the College has a handle on this situation.
keep us up to date as best you can Lafalum. |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:45 am |
Franks Tanks
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 532
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| Franks Tanks wrote: | | Lafalum wrote: | | TheTruth wrote: | | Many schools like Lafayette (small private liberal arts) suffered 25%-40% losses in their endowment. |
Not colgate (-20.1), not Bucknell(-20),F and M lost 33 pct. . We paid a guy millions to keep us out of trouble...a professional who made the same mistakes "everyone else did." Colgate, Bucknell and F and M actually provide a report on their endowment every six monts to their alumni. I missed that report in my mailbox. We refused to ansewer questions from reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer several months ago unlike our peers.
And due to our higher administrative costs and discount for aid we depend more on our endowment for annual fiscal support than many others.( about 28 pct according to published reports) |
Good post-- the fact is that we seem to be more affected by this economic downturn than our peer schools. Why? Poor planning and leadership.
-Our endowment has taken a larger hit
-Our applications are down and acceptance rate is most likely way up-- not good. I wonder if Colgate has experienced this as severly.
-We have a bloated administration that is getting larger
-We will probably slip again in college rankings due to the above
In somewhat unrealted news
-Our athletic teams continue to suck big time overall and FB scholaships look like a no, which may result in Fordham leaving some uncertain times for the PL in football. In a poor economy does in not make sense to maximize investment and get optimal return? Scholarships will do this in FB, but they probably wont happen.
-Also they want to kick my frat and others off campus. The witchhunt has begun once again, and it is quite dissapointing.
I am pissed overall right now and dont really feel like giving money to support this travesty. |
Whoops-- I tried to edit some of my grammar errors and messed up. carry on |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:56 am |
ericatbucknell
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Posts: 26
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| Franks Tanks wrote: |
-Our endowment has taken a larger hit
-Our applications are down and acceptance rate is most likely way up-- not good. I wonder if Colgate has experienced this as severly.
-We have a bloated administration that is getting larger
-We will probably slip again in college rankings due to the above
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it is not entirely clear that lafayette has taken a significantly larger hit that most of its peers. lots of numbers get thrown around here, but without context (namely, start and end dates), it is hard to make informed comparisons. total losses, losses since june 30, total losses through december 30, losses between june 30 and december 30... you get the idea. heck, to make things even more interesting some schools (like columbia) have released numbers that exlude losses from large swaths of non-marketable assets in their calculations!
also, applications to colgate were down 17-18% this year, one of the largest drops among top schools in the country. reports have lehigh and villanova each down approximately 13% and bucknell down around 5%. does anyone have a number for lafayette?
as far as usnews goes, lafayette likely will struggle a bit more than most of its peers. per capita spending measures, which ultimately comprise a huge chunk of a schools ranking, will take a larger hit as lafayette is more defendant on endowment revenue than most of its peers. admissions outcomes will be interesting to follow, however. will the strength schools merit aid program outweigh the effect of the greater number of cross-admits with peer institutions, a battle lafayette (for whatever reason) seems to lose? |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 12:18 pm |
Franks Tanks
Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 532
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| ericatbucknell wrote: | | Franks Tanks wrote: |
-Our endowment has taken a larger hit
-Our applications are down and acceptance rate is most likely way up-- not good. I wonder if Colgate has experienced this as severly.
-We have a bloated administration that is getting larger
-We will probably slip again in college rankings due to the above
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it is not entirely clear that lafayette has taken a significantly larger hit that most of its peers. lots of numbers get thrown around here, but without context (namely, start and end dates), it is hard to make informed comparisons. total losses, losses since june 30, total losses through december 30, losses between june 30 and december 30... you get the idea. heck, to make things even more interesting some schools (like columbia) have released numbers that exlude losses from large swaths of non-marketable assets in their calculations!
also, applications to colgate were down 17-18% this year, one of the largest drops among top schools in the country. reports have lehigh and villanova each down approximately 13% and bucknell down around 5%. does anyone have a number for lafayette?
as far as usnews goes, lafayette likely will struggle a bit more than most of its peers. per capita spending measures, which ultimately comprise a huge chunk of a schools ranking, will take a larger hit as lafayette is more defendant on endowment revenue than most of its peers. admissions outcomes will be interesting to follow, however. will the strength schools merit aid program outweigh the effect of the greater number of cross-admits with peer institutions, a battle lafayette (for whatever reason) seems to lose? |
http://media.www.thelaf.com/media...shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition
From the Lafayette online paper (not sure if you can open the link) it states that applicants were down and acceptance % up, but does not give any concrete numbers. It does state however that the profile of the average accpeted student has raised slighlty. We are still attracting the same students it appears, but perhaps less borderline applicants are applying. I completely understand nobody is immune to the economic conditions, but I am just worried we are managing the crisis worse than our peers. |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:10 pm |
65Pard
Joined: 18 Apr 2007
Posts: 59
Location: Central FL or in Motorhome
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QUOTE [lafayette is more dependant on endowment revenue than most of its peers. admissions outcomes will be interesting to follow)
If we are more dependent on endowment revenue, why not curtail the redistribution of wealth agenda and become more dependent on Tuition revenue?....There are plenty of people who have worked hard to be able to afford a quality education for their kids and admitting a few more of these kids to LC could be done without noticeably affecting admission standards.
I believe that all things being equal, the admissions letter now goes to the "disadvantaged" kid rather than the one who can pay a greater share.....Is the latter somehow not deserving of a Lafayette education?? |
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:30 pm |
Lafalum
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Posts: 843
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Total applications were down 11-12 pct I understand, and we accepted a greater number of applicants, because we expect more not to matriculate. There is an expectation that we will use our wait list this year as we have not done in previous years. I would be surprised if the final matriculated class is as good as previous classes measured by the traditional metrics. We are shooting for a class of 620 vs last year's 600. That is understandable and makes clear sense. I would like to see us have larger classes. It makes us more efficient, covers a lot more fixed expenditure and allows for a more diverse academic offering without the individual cost burden on students and their parents. |
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| Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:37 pm |
cr
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 174
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| Franks Tanks wrote: | | ericatbucknell wrote: | | Franks Tanks wrote: |
-Our endowment has taken a larger hit
-Our applications are down and acceptance rate is most likely way up-- not good. I wonder if Colgate has experienced this as severly.
-We have a bloated administration that is getting larger
-We will probably slip again in college rankings due to the above
|
it is not entirely clear that lafayette has taken a significantly larger hit that most of its peers. lots of numbers get thrown around here, but without context (namely, start and end dates), it is hard to make informed comparisons. total losses, losses since june 30, total losses through december 30, losses between june 30 and december 30... you get the idea. heck, to make things even more interesting some schools (like columbia) have released numbers that exlude losses from large swaths of non-marketable assets in their calculations!
also, applications to colgate were down 17-18% this year, one of the largest drops among top schools in the country. reports have lehigh and villanova each down approximately 13% and bucknell down around 5%. does anyone have a number for lafayette?
as far as usnews goes, lafayette likely will struggle a bit more than most of its peers. per capita spending measures, which ultimately comprise a huge chunk of a schools ranking, will take a larger hit as lafayette is more defendant on endowment revenue than most of its peers. admissions outcomes will be interesting to follow, however. will the strength schools merit aid program outweigh the effect of the greater number of cross-admits with peer institutions, a battle lafayette (for whatever reason) seems to lose? |
http://media.www.thelaf.com/media...shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition
From the Lafayette online paper (not sure if you can open the link) it states that applicants were down and acceptance % up, but does not give any concrete numbers. It does state however that the profile of the average accpeted student has raised slighlty. We are still attracting the same students it appears, but perhaps less borderline applicants are applying. I completely understand nobody is immune to the economic conditions, but I am just worried we are managing the crisis worse than our peers. |
Again Colgate claims the same thing,ie that the drop-off of applications is from the lower tier of applicants and the profile of the incoming class will not suffer. Time will tell.
_________________
Go Gate! |
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