[Alumni-chat] does Toni speak truth?

[Laura Fathauer]

During my research in the fall, I came across the article on budgeting at
liberal arts institutions. It compared 50 liberal arts institutions. Key points
were-

-all but two of the institutions 'subsidized' the cost per student. That is,
for the average revenue per student, the average cost per student anywhere from
10% to 100% greater then that revenue.

-Places with larger endowments spent more per student, and subsidized more per
student, then those with smaller endowments.

This is still going on. Liberal arts colleges are still making it today as
viable educational institutions. The base factors in budgeting in those other
institutions are the same base factors in budgeting at antioch- there is no
magic involved in "antioch college budgeting". 

The way Antioch is unique today is not that "liberal arts colleges are not
viable" as the chancellor believes. The way Antioch College is unique is that
we have a small endowment, AND the traditional other source of revenue (adult
programming) no longer wants to contribute to the home institution. It is not
liberal arts education that is not viable- it is the funding and the governance
structure at Antioch that is not viable.

Antioch College struggles because of the lack of "renewable resource" type
funding to make up the difference between the revenue per student and the cost
per student. The interest on endowment or revenue-generating programs you see
at other institutions are continually taken away from the College- from
spending the endowment on expansion, to canceling summer programs, to adult
campuses that don't want to fulfill their historical obligations to the College
(McGregor). 

Think about McGregor- a weekend and evening program, that utilized campus
buildings when the College program wasn't. The same buildings are producing
revenue during times they'd normally be unused. That's why those types of
programs succeed in generating revenue. This stupid bloody university built a
completely separate building- so now at every single hour of every day of the
week, the University has unused facility resources in Yellow Springs. 

Toni's vision of 'viability' is budgeting based on the principles at
revenue-driving, adult campus programs. The revenue of tuition covers the cost
of education.

Its not bloody rocket science.

I have an article written by Shay in 1976 that lays it out better.. I'll post
some when I get home tonight.

-l



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