Reply to Which universities have gone DOWN in stature over the years?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would say Occidental.[/quote]

Who thinks the PP just got rejected from Oxy?[/quote]

I don’t think it was recently because every few months someone posts about how Occidental is supposedly in dire financial straits but the only “evidence” for it is some article from when the pandemic first sent all the kids home from school and someone said “this will have an impact on us”. I guess them and every other school.

If you check the Forbes financial health grades you can see Occidental gets an A-.  I have no connection to the school except my kid looked at it (didn’t end up applying) b[b]ut the trolling bugs me. [/b][/quote]

It's not trolling when it's true. $30 million in debt in 2020.  The Board of Trustees had to allow a dip into the endowment (which is already small compared to, say, Pomona's).  From the college itself:  https://campaign.oxy.edu/news/oxy-faces-financial-impacts-covid-19-pandemic[/quote]

Thank you for showing up and making my point. Every school had to adjust finances in 2020 because of the pandemic and nearly every school’s endowment is small compared to Pomona’s, which is in the top 10 endowments in the country on a per student basis. [/quote]

But Occidental and Pomona once had the same sized endowment.  Due to mismangement, Oxy's is now 575 million while Pomona's is a whopping 3.5 billion dollars.  They are the same size and have roughly the same history.  I don't know of any other college of Oxy's size that was $30M in debt in 2020 (and still struggling to make that up) and also had to have the Board vote to tap into the endowment.  [/quote]

I freely admit I don’t know the history of the endowments of these two schools over the last 20 years but a) just comparing the numbers doesn’t tell you one was mismanaged unless by mismanaged you include “failed to get big contributions from alums” and b) just because the endowment is smaller doesn’t mean the school is in financial difficulty, which was the original claim.

And Pomona has said they had a deficit of $37 million in 2020 so it sounds like they were in pretty much the same place with regards to the impact of the pandemic. [/quote]

Occidental had to fire 120 employees.  [/quote]

The point is every single school had budget problems in 2020– go ahead and google college budget deficit pandemic.  Pomona furloughed employees too.

But that doesn’t mean Occidental is on shaky ground for its long term financial future which is what you/others keep suggesting here (I expect the school would say the layoffs protect its long term financial future). Harvard lost $300 million from its operating budget but no one is going to suggest it is in ling term trouble because of that. Occidental is not Harvard but its not Hampshire either (and Hampshire seems to be hanging on). 
[/quote]

OK, you are one of those persons who just have to be right even when they don't know what they are talking about.  BTW there are several people chiming in here.  I am not the first PP.  If you had bothered to check the internet you would know:

1) Oxy had an unexpected $30 million dollar deficit
2) Trustees voted to tap endowment
3) 120 employees furloughed
4) Establishment of Employee Relief fund to aid furloughed employees
5) rescue campaign started
6)widespread economic pressures resulting in  sharp budget cuts
7) sudden and steep drop in enrollment having a substantial impact on revenue streams
8) no contributions to faculty retirement funds
9) football canceled permanently

President Elam, April 2021.  State of the College address. Less than a year ago. And he also said "We will not be returning anytime soon to our pre-2020 economic, educational or social realities, nor will we find immediately ahead a stable or predictable “new normal.” "
[/quote]

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