HOW WILL WE HANDLE THE RECESSION?
Jill Radwin
Issue date: 5/28/09 Section: News
In December of last year, President Stephen Ainlay addressed the campus community, alumni, and students' families in regards to the recent economic recession. Overall, the message was positive.
"We are doing well, enjoying a period of growing institutional momentum, but preparing for the inevitable effects of the economic downturn on the College," he said. He cited this past family weekend as an example of Union's security despite the country's financial instability, noting a 20% increase in attendance from the previous year.
He also commented on alumni's continued support, stating, "For the past two ReUnions, we set records for attendance, and the ReUnion dinners both years were 'sold out.' We continue to see dramatic increases in attendance at events we have held in major cities around the country."
Unlike other colleges and universities, Union has no investments in "The Common Fund," which has caused difficulties for some other schools. Ainlay, however, says that Union is not immune to the effects of a struggling economy: "The State of New York has already cut Bundy, direct institutional aid, and additional cuts have been proposed to help reduce the state's budget deficit."
Even more recently, in February of this year, President Ainlay and six senior staff members addressed the campus community once again about the economic impact on Union at two separate panel discussions. Ainlay noted that there have definitely been strains on endowment income, tuition, and fundraising. Nonetheless, he feels that Union will be able to adjust appropriately to these strains due to the "relative liquidity of the endowment," a strong group of applicants, and a budget surplus for the fiscal year.
The money in Union's endowment is measured on June 30 of every year. The school takes a three-year average to decide how much to take from this pool of money every third year. For this reason, next year's budget will be enough to uphold Union's programs and academics. It is the following three years which raise concern, as there may be significantly less money factored into the endowment. According to Dean of Students Stephen Leavitt, the vice presidents are currently involved in an "exercise" in which they determine what they could hypothetically remove if Union's budget were cut by five percent.
"We are doing well, enjoying a period of growing institutional momentum, but preparing for the inevitable effects of the economic downturn on the College," he said. He cited this past family weekend as an example of Union's security despite the country's financial instability, noting a 20% increase in attendance from the previous year.
He also commented on alumni's continued support, stating, "For the past two ReUnions, we set records for attendance, and the ReUnion dinners both years were 'sold out.' We continue to see dramatic increases in attendance at events we have held in major cities around the country."
Unlike other colleges and universities, Union has no investments in "The Common Fund," which has caused difficulties for some other schools. Ainlay, however, says that Union is not immune to the effects of a struggling economy: "The State of New York has already cut Bundy, direct institutional aid, and additional cuts have been proposed to help reduce the state's budget deficit."
Even more recently, in February of this year, President Ainlay and six senior staff members addressed the campus community once again about the economic impact on Union at two separate panel discussions. Ainlay noted that there have definitely been strains on endowment income, tuition, and fundraising. Nonetheless, he feels that Union will be able to adjust appropriately to these strains due to the "relative liquidity of the endowment," a strong group of applicants, and a budget surplus for the fiscal year.
The money in Union's endowment is measured on June 30 of every year. The school takes a three-year average to decide how much to take from this pool of money every third year. For this reason, next year's budget will be enough to uphold Union's programs and academics. It is the following three years which raise concern, as there may be significantly less money factored into the endowment. According to Dean of Students Stephen Leavitt, the vice presidents are currently involved in an "exercise" in which they determine what they could hypothetically remove if Union's budget were cut by five percent.
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