The Bigger Picture
Mary Schantz February 16th, 2009
Harvard to lay off 275 (6/24/09)
Harvard University announced that it will lay off 275 staff members, across most of the university’s 10 schools, beginning this week. An additional 40 staff will be offered positions with reduced work hours. Read more.
Harvard dean details need to slash spending (4/16/09)
Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences faces a projected recurring annual deficit of $220 million within two years if it does not cut spending substantially and reshape its academic ambitions. Read more.
Hiram College administrators take pay cuts (4/16/09)
Hiram College’s president and to administrators have taken a five percent pay cut and a hiring freeze has been imposed. Read more.
Wellesley lays off 44, freezes salaries (4/10/09)
Wellesley College is reducing its staff by approximately 80 positions, including 44 layoffs, and freezing administrative and faculty salaries. Read more.
Princeton sees $5B decline in endowment, will trim budget (4/8/09)
Princeton’s endowment will lose 30 percent of its value, some $5 billion, by the end of this fiscal year. In response, the university will cut 6.8 percent from its operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Read more.
Ohio University lays off 89 (4/8/09)
Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis outlined the 89 layoffs the university has had to make to close a $15 million budget shortfall in an e-mail to faculty and staff last week. Read more.
Colorado College drops three teams, including football (4/6/09)
Colorado College plans to cut three teams from its athletic program: football, softball, and water polo, citing the need to cut spending. Read more.
Harvard may cut capital spending by $500M next year (4/4/09)
Harvard University is planning to cut its annual capital spending in half for the next two years. The reduction, by as much as $500 million per year, will set back the university’s plans to expand its main campus across the Charles River into Boston. Read more.
The Financial Downturn and Its Impact on Higher Education Institutions (3/3/09)
Colleges and universities are extraordinarily stable institutions, in part due to their mission and role in our society and in part due to how they operate and are managed. Nonetheless, the current financial downturn is impacting higher education institutions in a wide variety of ways.
Read More.
U.S. Higher Education Outlook (3/3/09) Read More.
John Carroll pay cuts could affect all employees (3/3/09)
Administrators and staff and John Carroll University must take a two-week leave and faculty members will vote on cutting their own wages to help the university through a budget squeeze. Read more.
Well-regarded public colleges get a surge of bargain hunters (3/2/09)
The application deadline at SUNY-New Paltz is April 1, but school officials conservatively predict 15,500 students competing for 1,100 spots, a 12 percent jump over last year. Read more.
To keep students, colleges cut anything but aid (3/1/09)
With the economy forcing budget cuts and layoffs in higher education, colleges and universities might be expected to be cutting financial aid. But no. Read more.
Recession prompts campuses to trim faculty, classes and construction
Half of private colleges and universities have frozen new hiring and slowed construction and renovation projects, while dozens have initiated layoffs, program cuts and other changes. Read more.
Hartwick College offers three-year degree, for recession stressed students
Hartwick College became the latest college to announce a three-year bachelor’s degree, which it says will reduce costs for students and their families by more than $40,000. Read more.
UMass, faculty union agree to one-year pay freeze (2/26/09)
A union representing faculty and librarians at UMass has agreed to a one-year salary freeze. Read more.
Kalamazoo faces $2.8M deficit; job cuts likely (2/24/09)
Kalamazoo College officials are projecting a $2.8 million budget shortfall in the 2009-10 academic year, which will probably lead to the elimination of some positions, though how many and which ones is not yet clear. Read more.
Harvard University will offer buyouts to 1,600 (2/17/09)
Harvard University will offer buyouts to 1,600 workers, or almost 10 percent of its nonfaculty employees, to help deal with the loss last year of $8 billion from its endowment. Read more.
Johns Hopkins freezes hiring and salaries (2/17/09)
The Johns Hopkins University will freeze all hiring and most salary increases, and reduce top administrators’ pay by five percent, in response to the economic crisis. Read more
Dartmouth College to lay off 60 employees (2/17/09)
Dartmouth College will lay off 60 administrative employees and cut its budget by $72 million in the next two years in response to a sharp decline in its endowment. Read more