ACUHO-I News Blog

Are young adults happily spending their parents’ money again? This article* says they are. This one** says they’re not. Both use the phrase  “The  Bank of Mom and Dad.”

What have you seen on your campus? Is discretionary spending beginning to tick up again?

To make it interesting, let’s handicap things:

* This article links to a page that, as of this posting, has a link to a story: “Girls With Tattoos: It’s not just a guy thing,” as if this is something new.

** This article links to a page with a link to a story: “How Barbie Got Her Geek On,” which Barbie is rumored to do every few years, and it never really happens.

Last fall, the Higher Ed world feared that health care reform would invalidate university plans, since it had no accommodations for those programs at the time.  Six months and much wrangling and lobbying later, there is a provision in the bill for college and university student insurance plans, though fewer students may need to be on them. Insurance companies will be required to allow young adults, up to age 27, to stay on their parents’ insurance plans.

However, this article notes that there’s nothing in the bill that exempts student health care plans for certain stipulations in the bill, namely that pools of generally young, healthy people–such as college students–must be averaged with other, less-young, less-healthy people. These rules don’t take effect until 2014. Lobbyists for higher education have time to argue that colleges and university health care plans should be allowed to remain exclusive to students. Otherwise, the costs of those plans could go up.

Unnoticed in much of the hullabaloo, student loan administration was also changed as a part of the health care bill. Private lenders can no longer make federally-subsidized loans; only the federal government can.

Some groups have estimated the new bill will eventually result in an annual $3000-per-employee savings for colleges’ and universities’ faculty and staff health care costs. If they occur, those savings won’t appear for several years.

Go here to read the report from ACUHO-I’s Innovation Summit, held in October 2009 after our inaugural Business Operations Conference. Your colleagues contributed ideas that have worked to reduce costs and stress on their campuses, and there may be suggestions there you can use as well. What’s worked for you? Contribute more ideas, or brainstorm, in the comments.

What would it take to spur change? President Barack Obama spoke last week brilliantly about where he is hoping to take the nation. In his address he mentioned green jobs and our push toward becoming number one in the green sector. As I watched I thought this was brilliant another opportunity to push a vision. This vision is very aspirational when considering the size and consumption level of this wonderful country. However this is a great idea to pursue with implications towards a bright future.

After watching the speech I wanted to find other discussions or general information regarding green jobs on college campuses. Through a bit of Web surfing I pulled in a blog that highlights the discussion of green jobs. This particular blog did a great job of touching on the transition of brown to green jobs. I think it would be very interesting to see how campuses are creating these jobs and whether they are being fueled by green funding.

During the President’s address I pondered two questions:

Question #1-Have we reached the tipping point in regards to how green jobs are advertised? What I’m trying to say is in this economy are green jobs just jobs? I think we have moved passed the label far enough that we often do not notice the green unless its explicitly spelled out.

Question #2-How well do green positions fold into the housing and residential life organizational chart? In other words are green positions becoming stand alone positions or are they still seen as a collateral assignments for housing and residential life professionals?

Progress is good but with the current economy I could understand why there may be hesitation in reorganizing the organization and adding a position. However there is serious value in recruiting our incoming green students into our greening residential communities.  They will consume less. With this in mind it would be important to consider creatively positioning our organizations now to focus our efforts on attracting these students to live with us now and possibly work for us in the future.

This is my first blog contribution to the sustainability discussion/green movement. I have to admit that just typing this post feels fresh and green.

Hope to post more.

A study, discussed in the article “Parental Transfers, Student Achievement and the Labor Supply of College Students,” has determined what many student affairs administrators have likely figured out: Many college students work, and most of the four-year students work about 20 hours a week, mostly for daily necessities and spending money. The article, by Charlene Kalenkoski and Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, will appear in the Journal of Population Economics.

The researchers found that 46% of students at four-year institutions and 72% at two-year institutions were employed during their initial semesters in college. Four-year students averaged 22 hours a week; two-year students averaged more than 30 hours. The researchers noted that if parental contributions dropped, the students’ working hours increased nominally–not nearly enough to make up the difference. They also found that attending a more expensive institution, or rising fees, did not prompt students to work significantly more. The researchers hypothesize that while many students do pay for their education, they’re doing it after the fact–by taking out loans during college and repaying them later. The structure of a job seems to be a benefit: Students who worked about 20 hours a week had higher GPAs than students who worked more, and students who didn’t work at all.

Let’s get the bad news over with, shall we?

The title subtly hints at the plot: Drowning in Debt: The Emerging Student Loan Crisis is a report from the Washington think tank The Education Sector. Their data is from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Survey. The authors, Erin Dillon and Kevin Carey,  found a slight increase from 2003-2004 to 2007-2008 in the proportion of students who took out loans. This isn’t really the bad news, though; the problem was that Dillon and Carey found that students are borrowing more, on average and that they are using private loan companies considerably more; up to 14% from 5%. The authors blame this on escalating tuition costs, and say the proposed changes designed to make federal grants and Perkins loans more widely available will not help this situation.

The National Consumer Law Center released a report this spring on private student loans, which also sounded the alarm about increasing student use of these services. Private loan servicers are not regulated as heavily as other private loan institutions. In addition, private loans are more expensive, with interest rates ranging from 11.5% to a credit-card-like 19%.

Patricia Steele, a research associate at the College Board, disputed the “hype” in the Education Sector report, saying that half of students don’t use any loans at all. Detractors point out that for the students who do take out loans, the ensuing effects on their lives and society matter quite a bit. Part of the problem seems to be how the numbers are crunched, and how well the students do post-college: Are their student loan payments a small detail as they find jobs and establish themselves financially, or are they burdensome, especially when the borrower is out of work or in other financial straits? This Chronicle of Higher Education article is considerably more cheerful, stating that while 65% of students leave higher education with debt, the average total is $20,000 — a chunk of change, but not overwhelming. About 8%, however, have totals of $40,000 or more.

On the upside, colleges and universities have responded to the economic situation by increasing the availability of institutional financial aid and reassessing pricing structures. As a result, most students are going to the sort of institution they think will be best for them, whether private or public, in-state or out-of-state, according to Maguire Associates, an educational consulting firm. The firm twice surveyed seniors, once to see what sorts of institutions to which they were applying and which they preferred, then again in May 2009, to see how the students’ plans had panned out.

The situation may be different for the younger brothers and sisters of the initial survey group. High school juniors were also surveyed early this year, and will be queried again when college enrollment time is neigh. Maguire Associates reports this group, with their university application process more steeped in the recession, is considerably more uncertain about their future prospects.

A study aims to follow a group of students, who entered college as freshmen in 2007 through their lives until the participants reach age 40, to see how their financial personalities are formed and mature. The researchers have collected their second set of data. The study, “Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students,” is following a group of 2,098 University of Arizona students. The initial data collection took place during the students’ freshman-year spring semester in 2008. The researchers initially planned to conduct the next data collection during the students’ senior year, but when the recession hit, they realized this event should be integrated into the fabric of the study, so they surveyed the participants again in the spring of 2009. That data will be compiled by this fall. But information from the initial data collection is already available at the link above. (more…)

Even with the recent cuts and furloughs, higher education is the place to be in the job market. So says a report from HigherEdJobs.com. While jobs overall in the US have plunged considerably, the higher education job situation has remained steady. Since people often use a recession as an opportunity to return to higher education in order to be better candidates when the job market improves, colleges and universities may actually see more business. Community colleges are seeing amazing enrollment numbers.

The picture isn’t entirely bright; new hires are mostly of faculty, not administrative staff; most schools are being conservative about hiring; and many are adding more part-timers and adjuncts than full-time positions. Check out the results here.

The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s current issue offers an article that’s unfortunately timely and appros. Debt Bomb is Ticking discusses an unfortunate confluence of events: higher education institutions borrowed a lot of money to build and renovate structures (including residence halls). Thanks to the lackluster economy, the value of the assets held by the institutions have plummeted, leaving the institutions with a risky debt-to-assets ratio. An unbalanced ratio may violate the terms of the institution’s agreement (or covenant) with the bond holder or bank. In these circumstances, the loaning institution can demand repayment of all or part of the loan.

As with other elements of the declining economy, the effects can cascade. The US Department of Education uses financial data to determine institutions’ eligibility for federal student aid. Some of the debt swaps institutions made to hedge against rising interest rates on their debts have now become problematic, and unless interest rates change considerably by June, these transactions will have to be labeled liabilities in year-end financial statements.

This story, provided to National Public Radio by Youth Radio, illustrates the challenges some students have when facing colleges. For some young people, college is assumed, expected and anticipated. For them, it’s a place to get away from watchful parents and a time to explore careers and interests. But for others, such as Mayra Jimenez , higher education is an opportunity and a risk not to be taken lightly. On one hand, there’s the chance to make a better life for herself and her family. On the other hand, higher education is expensive, and she fears being forced to leave school for financial reasons, without a degree.

In an uncomfortable contrast, this New York Times story points out that in order to financially assist some students, colleges and universities have to get that money from wealthier applicants whose families can pay the full cost of higher education. As a result, applicants who can pay tuition outright are given closer consideration for admission.

Not a lot of institutions have spare cash lying around, but for those who do–or those who can scrounge some up–now is prime time to request bids for construction projects, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article. The cost of construction materials are declining, and of course firms could use the business, so prices can be very competitive.

These tight times will mean that some firms will likely cease to exist, as the weak are winnowed from the herd, so to speak. And of course this period will be (one hopes) short-lived, so there are a limited number of schools that can use the downturn to their advantage.

So you’ve probably heard something about a stimulus package that Congress is concocting, and you might have also gathered that some parts of it benefit higher education, specifically renovation of facilities (not new-build) in higher education.

But how can you educate yourself on how this legislation could benefit you and take advantage of these opportunities?  First, pay attention to ACUHO-I’s announcements and e-mails in the coming weeks.  Second, check out these Web sites, which make the legalease a bit easier to digest.

National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities NCEF has put together a great site on how the stimulus package affects school facilities. They neatly explain how the funds are allowed to be used.

Shovel Ready SCUP’s site’s title refers to the tight turnaround required by recipients of federal funds for renovation. Projects you wish to fund must be planned and “shovel-ready,” with only a few last-minute preparations to go. This is not the time to look for a new project. Instead, go through your list of renovation to-dos: energy-efficient windows to replace old, leaky ones; modernizing a building with new technology; or replacing an old roof. The major restrictions won’t affect residence halls much: monies cannot be used for sports facilites that charge admission or for a building in which worship services are held. The money also comes with use-it-or-lose-it time restrictions.

Keep an eye on the Chronicle of Higher Education, for stories such as this: The $7-Billion Patch for Campus Maintenance.

Also, talk to your colleagues through the ACUHO-I Social Network, and share tips and ideas on how to identify projects and get the money to make them happen.