Schools hit hardest by economic crisis

[ornithology]

Which universities have been hit the hardest by the economic crisis? And how will that play out this year?

And which universities are going to use this opportunity to steal people from UC schools?

[Caligula]

The UC school system took (is taking) a terrible hit, as did Harvard.

[ecg1810]

As a general rule I would guess that state schools are having a harder time than private schools, but that's not 100% true.

[RockEater]

I'd say UC system has been hit the worst. UW has been having a rough time of it for a while now. First there was a Republican-controlled legislature that had no real desire to spend money on a "liberal bastion" school. Then the economy tanked and the state's trying to distribute its scant resources where it can.

[zilch]

State schools in Illinois are taking a beating. I think stated this in a post somewhere else but here it is again. UIUC, the flagship institution of the University of Illinois, has only received 7% of their appropriations from the state for the fiscal year ending this summer. Furloughs have been implemented for faculty and staff and they're scrambling to cut whatever they can in case the state just doesn't cough up the money. Southern Illinois was actually facing the possibility of having to close http://thesouthern.com/news/local/education/article_b073fbbc-e54e-11de-8ddb-001cc4c002e0.html), granted it's not really a research institution but it's still 20,000 students (grad and undergrad combined).

Edited February 2, 2010 by zilch

[NeuroNerd86]

UCs definitely, but I don't really know about others. Most schools are affected in one way or another, I would imagine.

[ornithology]

all good responses! i knew that harvard lost a lot--but was their loss just relative (i.e they used to be super rich and now they're just rich?). also, i have heard rumors that certain schools did not lose as much money as anticipated & are trying to take advantage of the economic crisis to woo faculty/incoming grad students away from places like berkeley. a glimmer of hope for us prospective students?

[modernity]

I remember reading an article saying that it's not just public schools. Private schools are also having issues as their donors and endowments are taking hits from the economy and stock market/bank issues. I can't offer particular schools though - at least not any that haven't already been mentioned.

[LateAntique]

Harvard lost more money than most schools will ever have. The UC system is definitely the worst off. I didn't even bother applying because of that.

[JerryLandis]

At least this will give us all excuses for not being accepted. Well, me for sure.

[fate of equb]

I applied to most of the UC universities (Computer Science, PhD). I have a financial support from a scholarship (Fulbright): 30,000k per year for the first two years. So do you think economic crisis will increase my chance to get in? Because of being funded already by another source?

[curufinwe]

I applied to most of the UC universities (Computer Science, PhD). I have a financial support from a scholarship (Fulbright): 30,000k per year for the first two years. So do you think economic crisis will increase my chance to get in? Because of being funded already by another source?

with less people applying there due to the crisis and lack of funds, and them not being financially obligated to accept you, yeah it seems you have a better chance. However, I don't think Fulbright funds you completely, they tend to co-fund you with the school. Or at least as far as I know, thats the case.

[peregrin]

Schools across the board all took a hit. The UCs lost $6.2 billion (20% of its endowment). UF lost $1 billion (20%). NYU lost $1 billion (15%). Brown lost $800 million (30%). Harvard lost $10.6 billion (30% of their endowment. It's ridiculous how rich they are!). Yale lost $6 billion (29%). All the Ivies together lost $27 billion.

Forbes published a really interesting article a few days ago explaining why the Ivies did so poorly compared to everyone else: http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/29/ivy-league-endowments-personal-finance-ivies.html?boxes=Homepagechannels .

[figurefive]

California schools affected by the crisis go beyond the UCs and include private institutions as well. I wrote to a POI at Stanford last fall, and he responded that budget cuts meant that the history department there would admit only about half its normal quota and that he personally would not be taking any students. He added (in what is possibly the most discouraging email I've received to date): "You have, unfortunately, picked the worst possible year to apply."

He did, however, point me in the direction of another POI at Stanford who was taking students for the fall, so to me the better question might be: Is there a rhyme or reason to which sub-fields might still be accepting students in even the schools that are hardest hit by the economic crisis? I have to imagine that schools are making decisions to invest in areas that they consider "hotter" than others or from which they would consider it a potential political liability to cut funding.

[Diverchica]

All I know is that many programs I've contacted (wildlife/natural resources) departments are all short on funding and many aren't taking new students

[red_crayons]

He did, however, point me in the direction of another POI at Stanford who was taking students for the fall, so to me the better question might be: Is there a rhyme or reason to which sub-fields might still be accepting students in even the schools that are hardest hit by the economic crisis? I have to imagine that schools are making decisions to invest in areas that they consider "hotter" than others or from which they would consider it a potential political liability to cut funding.

Someone in the department has a big grant.

One department I applied to has $4-5 million in new faculty/research group grants, so they're accepting tons of students (relatively speaking). Yet, another department at the same school (that I also applied to) is taking 1-2 instead of 3-5 because they mostly fund through university fellowships and TAships, not through grant money, and the university is making a big show of being poor (although they're only "poor" in relative terms, because they had at least one ex-Goldman executive calling the financial shots for a couple years and - surprise! - getting the university into a lot of highly leveraged debt; I could rant about this a lot).

My application quickly got shifted into the richer department's pile; since I had another option, faculty were willing to do that to give me a better shot. I'd imagine this is a possibility for someone interested in several "subfields", too - that you could get shuffled to a slightly less perfect fit if they want you and if a slightly different lab has grant dollars.

[javagdss]

USC is doing relatively well, and has added several big names to the faculty in the past couple of years.

[grad_wannabe]

USC is doing relatively well, and has added several big names to the faculty in the past couple of years.

I imagine USC is having a field day poaching talent from the UC system right now.

I just finished my UG at a UC and it's not pretty. Art facilities are being gutted, classes canceled or overbooked, professors asked to leave before they're eligible for tenure.

I told one of my professors about the funding tracks for all MFA students at USC (it's practically free) and she sighed, "The financial system at UC right now is so depressing. We're trying to help as many grads as we can but the university is making it very, very hard."

[cleisthenes]

Most private institutions lost 20% to 30% of their endowments in 2009, but since the markets have recovered about 60% since their low-point, one can reasonably assume that a lot of this money has been recouped, although probably not in time to have a significant effect on this year's admissions.

Public institutions, in a way, are far worse of, since they generally do not have a lot of capital in the form of an endowment, relying instead on state or federal funding which, once decreased, is extremely hard to get back.

[neuroJ]

I agree with with @cleisthenes that most public schools are in terrible shape because of the budget crisis, but there are at least a few notable exceptions. For instance, my POI told me that Ohio State is actually in really good shape because the state government's reaction to the recession was to flood education with money (not a typical, but certainly a welcome response).

[casey825]

I am curious about these questions:

1) How have Midwest Big 10 schools' budgets been affected, compared to other public schools'?

2) How do arts/humanities departments compare to science/engineering, in terms of both % losses and total $$$ losses?

[rising_star]

USC is doing relatively well, and has added several big names to the faculty in the past couple of years.

And yet they are closing departments, like schools elsewhere and in worse financial situations are...

[dzk]

I am curious about these questions:

1) How have Midwest Big 10 schools' budgets been affected, compared to other public schools'?

2) How do arts/humanities departments compare to science/engineering, in terms of both % losses and total $$$ losses?

Can't speak for other Midwestern schools, but Michigan is doing quite well (all things considered), because the state economy has been in the shitter for years and they've adapted.

Edited February 4, 2010 by dzk

[ColorlessGreen]

Don't know about other Big 10 schools, but Iowa's got a tuition surcharge this year for sure, and probably next as well. Mostly that's because they're still rebuilding from the last flood, though.

[Sparky]

Yale is in trouble, too. (NY Times article from Wed.; apologies if someone has posted it already)