keep an eye on Xavier's construction

[MuskieCinci]

Xavier is freezing all of its spending right now, like hiring new employees or ordering new computers, etc. It will continue the construction though as planned. Xavier was actually ahead of the curve when it came to schools deciding to freeze all of their spending. Miami halted its contruction even though they are currently building because they predict that education is one of the things the Ohio government will start to spend less on. Xavier is private though, so that isn't as big a deal.

[huddleup1487]

Xavier may be a private institution which does not directly receive a bulk of its finances from the government (Ohio and/or Federal), but many of its students do receive such aid. I cannot speak in direct terms as to that aid because I have not spoken with them about the exact amount, but I can say that, through grants (Fed. Pell, Ohio, Student Support Services Trio, which is funded by a Federal Grant) I receive about $7,000 a year for college. If you take that money away, well, then I would not be on this forum because I would not be a Xavier student!

As I said, I know other students who receive as much, if not more, federal and state aid as I do. If that money were to dry up, I can say, with almost absolute certainty, that the number/quality of future Xavier students would decline dramatically. The effects are already starting to be seen. This year's budget shortfall of 1% came from the Education School, which draws teachers from the local community to take classes to advance their education (often paid for by the schools themselves). If those schools, which are often public schools, do not have enough operating money, they will stop sending their teachers back to get more education, and Xavier will begin to see more budget shortfalls.

The same can be said for the Business School. If tuition costs increase, do to a lack of available finances (ala- interest rates on loans are too high or we cannot get enough debt), I would expect to see decreased enrollment in the Business Program. Not only would employers stop paying for their workers education (MBA, et al), but students are going to end up going to cheaper institutions (while we may not like UC very much, I work with quite a few current students in my co-op and they are well trained, well schooled, and highly successful in the marketplace- granted, I work with the Honors Plus Program's students, who may or may not be head and shoulders above the rest of the population).

Therefore, to go back to my previous post, this may not be the best time for Xavier to be undergoing construction. More likely than not, our endowments have decreased in value due to the stock market troubles of the past few weeks. We more likely than not will have trouble obtaining debt with low(er) interest rates, and students' families, who already are forced to pay ever increasing college tuition fees, more likely than not are seeing their pockets being pinched and opt to send their sons/daughters to equally reputable, less expensive public institutions. All of these concerns lead to one outcome...future budget shortfalls, spending cuts, faculty and staff layoffs, and higher class sizes (one of the things that separates XU from other colleges and universities).

Now, I know a lot of people disputed these facts when I first posted, but the facts are becoming clearer as time progresses. XU, which has secured a lot of the finances for the construction, still needs to secure a lot more. The market is not presently set up for this type of financing. The economic recession will last for quite some time (at least a year). Future classes may experience future graduating seniors opting for expensive private institutions.

If families do not have work, they are barely paying off their house/car mortgages and credit cards, if their retirement plans are going to the shi**er, well, then we all can expect the enrollment of students in an institution like XU will decrease, especially if the school attempts to have another 6-8% increase in tuition!