Rez - Please note that Adam Amin uses "all the way from Addison" or "all the way from Elmhurst" equally with "all the way from Valpo" (he is from Addison). Adam Amin is great. Regardless, Valpo needs to engage its alumni network in a professional manner...and I agree that there is an extensive professional network willing to help (at no cost to Valpo).
@vu84v2 I would hope this world tour is just that then. An attempt to engage alums in a professional manner and not just as a pay piggy. You need to build trust before you start asking for cash.
Well, in regards to the World Tour, not hitting areas where more alums live (i.e., Chicago, Milwaukee) until Spring is not exactly acting with a sense of urgency. I see no reason why the rest of the schedule could have been maintained while doing ALL midwestern events within two months of starting.
@vu84v2 Perhaps a simple "extensive" would suit this better. However there is a contingent of Alumni in high places. One example being Adam Amin, who seems to coin every deep shot in the United Center as "Coming all the way from Valparaiso". My point is, you have resources and people who would like to see this school thrive. Case in point a massive endowment compared to other schools in the same situation (I understand these funds are locked, but the fact that the endowment is so high proves that the support is there) Why are they not being utilized(I speak generally here. Not courting big names, but just reaching out to alumni contingents as an olive branch)?
It's true that many of the private universities that are part of the current wave of closings had endowment funds under $100m -- some as low as the 10s, 20s, and 30s -- a fraction of VU's (~$327m as of end of 2022). However:
First, I've noticed a slightly upward creep in the endowments of universities that are closing, in some cases perhaps less noticeable because over the years those schools drew down from their endowments in an effort to avoid closing. For example, Birmingham-Southern College, a very well-known liberal arts school in the Birmingham area whose graduates have enjoyed many professional successes, closed earlier this year after drawing down on its once $110m endowment to the point where the amount was some $51m when it shuttered.
Second, VU's endowment, while competitive with many peer schools, yields only a modest amount of funds on annual basis, unless the University opts to raid the principal. In order to maintain the steady growth of the endowment, that roughly $327m will provide maybe $10-15m annually towards covering a given year's budget expenses, and many of those funds are restricted.
As I see it, schools like VU -- well-established, medium-sized, private universities, with good but not exceptional endowment funds and other sources of financial support -- have now entered a somewhat riskier status on the higher ed chopping block. I don't think they all are about to disappear, but some won't make it.
David81, as always, makes great and wise points. I will add another factor that I strongly doubt any of us will ever know. What are Valpo's donations for immediate use relative to other peer institutions? Some donors refuse to make endowed donations for any number of reasons. My guess is that this is very small for many of the medium or small private universities that fail.
but keep in mind that Valpo is not Stanford or Harvard. Still, Rez's sentiment here is good)
Check out Valpo's Board of Directors. You might be surprised. Granted we aren't loaded with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, but still many very impressive resumes.
https://www.valpo.edu/about/leadership/board-of-directors/
Right, Valpo's endowment is pretty good for the size/type of institution, but I agree with D81 it does not make us impervious to fiscal disaster or even closure.
As the townhall event/article noted, Valpo's ANNUAL deficit is $9 million and growing, and my understanding is this is already taking into account some portion of the endowment spinoff going towards annual operating expenses. Valpo does not have $9 million/yr to spare, and trying to bridge that gap in any significant extent with additional endowment funds would start to draw down the endowment and further limit future years' spinoff.
Although Valpo's endowment is decent, Valpo must stop what for the last stretch of years has seemed to be enrollment decline in free fall.
My original statement wasn't to highlight usage of the endowment. It was to highlight that an endowment is largely donor driven. With a meager sum in the endowment pool. I was using that sum as a statement that there are still folks who care enough about the school to put money into the endowment
My original statement wasn't to highlight usage of the endowment. It was to highlight that an endowment is largely donor driven. With a meager sum in the endowment pool. I was using that sum as a statement that there are still folks who care enough about the school to put money into the endowment
And I want to acknowledge that I did not interpret your comment as suggesting anything about specific usage. But we may be looking at the same dynamic from different perspectives. That is, yes, I agree, VU has demonstrated the ability to build a decent endowment via largely its alumni donor base. However, VU shares with many other very respectable universities the stark reality that its endowment and alumni base are not sufficiently sumptuous to overcome large revenue drops deficits due to sharp enrollment declines.
In a twisty way, the limitations of VU's potential donor base are in part a reflection of the great success of its traditional educational mission when those Gen Xers, Gen Jonesers, and Boomers attended the university. I and many of my VU friends came from middle class and working class backgrounds. Our VU education -- in the liberal arts and the professions alike -- helped to open doors that allowed us to climb at least one solid rung up the ladder, or at least to firmly solidify a secure middle class standing.
Based on that, I'll hypothesize that many VU donors are like me: Professionally successful and financially stable, but at a point where our bigger gifts to the university are likely to be given over time and/or as estate designations. A combination of monthly giving and an estate gift is how I'm funding an eventual endowed scholarship to support students who need financial help to enable them to study abroad. But the full gift won't vest for (uhhhhmmm....hopefully) many years.
This is why I'll further surmise that, at a school like Valpo, a lot of gifts in a big fundraising effort like the successful Forever Valpo campaign won't be fully realized until years from now. That's simply how things operate at universities like VU.
In addition, this helps to explain why there aren't many donors "of a certain age" who possess the giving capacity to write huge, budget deficit-melting checks.
My current university serves a similar constituency and purpose: It has a long history of giving its students opportunities to make something of themselves and to have meaningful careers. But it's more likely to be a stepping stone to the upper reaches of the middle class than to the top 5 or 3 or 1 percent, wealth-wise.
By sharp contrast, at the law school I attended, many of my classmates came from considerable money. A good number would go on to careers in major commercial law firms and corporate leadership positions. Some can write seven and eight figure checks without having to look at their bank balances first. Their generational jumps, if that, were like hopping from the top 5 percent to the top 3, or top 3 percent to the top 1.
Anyway, sorry everyone that I just droned on and on about this, but I've been thinking a lot about the challenges facing regionally-oriented, private universities, and the comparative make-up of their alumni donor bases has been part of that thought process.
But it's more likely to be a stepping stone to the upper reaches of the middle class than to the top 5 or 3 or 1 percent, wealth-wise.
I agree, though many from my generation/class, who made it to the top or near the top in the corporate world ( think Kathi Seifert, Ex. VP of Kimberly Clark)and once there, found that their kids needed to go beyond a Valpo education or believed their children needed or qualified for what they deemed to be "better" or at a minimum of "higher profile".
Moody's Ratings revises Valparaiso University (IN) outlook to negative from stable; affirms Baa2 issuer and revenue bond ratings
Sept. 2024
But it's more likely to be a stepping stone to the upper reaches of the middle class than to the top 5 or 3 or 1 percent, wealth-wise.
I agree, though many from my generation/class, who made it to the top or near the top in the corporate world ( think Kathi Seifert, Ex. VP of Kimberly Clark)and once there, found that their kids needed to go beyond a Valpo education or believed their children needed or qualified for what they deemed to be "better" or at a minimum of "higher profile".
Yup, that's another part of the ladder climbing dynamic. Oftentimes the kids go to higher ranked schools.
I attribute that to the influence of the US News rankings. "Doing better," generationally speaking = degrees from higher-ranking institutions. This is all too often the case even when the lower-ranked school would've provided a better undergraduate experience all around.
Moody's Ratings revises Valparaiso University (IN) outlook to negative from stable; affirms Baa2 issuer and revenue bond ratings
Sept. 2024
Depressing, but not too surprising. The previous credit rankings had indicated Moody's and other agencies were watching enrollment and making their projections dependent on VU improvement enrollment, when instead it has continued to decline.
According to news reports this week, the overall enrollment at public universities in Indiana this year has been excellent.
"Indiana’s full-time college enrollment increased this fall, marking the highest one-year increase since fall 2010.... More than 206,000 students enrolled full-time in Indiana public colleges. 'We are hopeful this is an indication that the declining trends will continue to reverse,' said Chris Lowery, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education. 'As much work remains, I remain pleased but not satisfied on this update.' Lowry credits the commission’s initiatives for the increase. Those include a pre-admissions program and expanded financial aid.... Purdue University’s flagship campus in West Lafayette had the most growth during that time with a 26.5 percent increase. Enrollment at IU Bloomington has grown about 15 percent over the last five years."
I believe regional enrollment is a zero sum game, which contributes to Valpo's nearly 10% decrease this year. If our local competition at Purdue and IU are growing so much, the impact on Valparaiso has to be negative. As Captain Obvious might say: a prime reason in a complex pool of explanations is the recent state of the economy. The simple observation is that lower and middle-class families particularly have been feeling the negative effects of high inflation in every aspect of their budgeted spending, especially since Covid, which initially impacted all universities. Therefore, if the reality, or even the perception, exists that their kids can get a good education at a lower cost, they are going to choose that path.
Unfortunately for VU, a rebound in enrollment after Covid is happening elsewhere at a time the economy has been terrible for many families. Valparaiso should be applauded if they can create innovative admission policies. However, as frustrating as it may be, the state of the economy is beyond the control of Valparaiso University. But a positive view holds that if the economy becomes much more improved in upcoming years, Valpo should benefit, unless the current frame of thinking about costs of education shifts all perspectives and becomes permanently entrenched in families' considerations about college.
