Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier and Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger attended the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting on Nov. 9. At the meeting, they reported on the state of Vassar’s finances, as well as fielded questions, heard concerns and took suggestions from Council members.
Before hearing the concerns of Council members Eismeier and Kitzinger presented an overview of the College’s spending and recent losses on the endowment. According to both, the endowment is currently down by 25 percent, but they are hopeful that by July the economy will recover such that the net loss will only be at about 10 percent down from where it was before the drop.
Kitzinger and Eismeier explained that the Board of Trustees is already planning for next year, when they will likely draw $50 million from the endowment. This is about the same amount that is being drawn for this year’s budget, but there will be significant cuts in capital spending next year.
Kitzinger and Eismeier went on to explain financial uncertainties for the year to come. According to Kitzinger, “[We are] hoping we’re nearing that bottom and that things will start to recover.”
As Senior Officers consider ways in which to save money, Kitzinger and Eismeier reiterated the College’s commitment to financial aid and need-blind policies. “We’re really committed to continuing the need-based aid,” said Kitzinger. However, they stated that in the short term a need-blind policy for transfer and international students is not feasible. According to Kitzinger, “It’s just not the right time.”
Later in the meeting, VSA President Jimmy Kelly ’09 introduced a resolution encouraging the College to move toward such a need-blind policy, but said of the resolution, “We recognize that this is not something that we can do next year.”
Instead, the resolution is meant to be a statement in support of an enduring goal, rather than an immediate one. “We [the VSA Council] have had a history in the past of doing things more long-term,” Kelly said.
In response to a question raised by Town Students President Dana Cass ’11 about the effect of the College’s finances on tuition, Kitzinger and Eismeier were adamant that there are not any dramatic tuition increases on the horizon. According to Eismeier, tuition does increase every year, but the percent of that increase is actually on the decline. “The key is financial aid,” she said.
The areas that Eismeier and Kitzinger spoke seriously about in regard to cutting back were employee compensation and changes to the physical plant of the College. Before the drop in the economy, “We started putting more money into the physical plant,” said Kitzinger. “It’s very hard to let go of that initiative.” The College had planned $40 million in renovations but, according to Kelly, this will have to be reduced to $9 million.
When the economy does stabilize, Eismeier and Kitzinger suggested that the College would pick up where it left off in terms of renovations, even if it means that the College might take on more debt.
“They’re kind of like silent members of the community,” said Eismeier of the buildings on campus. She said that their voices were not heard until they were very deeply in distress.
Just as major renovations are postponed, the College will hold off on hiring new faculty members whenever possible. Dean of Faculty Jonathan Chenette is looking at every contract of non-tenure track faculty members to see if those positions can do without being filled. Eismeier and Kitzinger also noted that the College will be able to give raises to employees next year, although they feel that it is important to keep salaries competitive.
They are hoping to leave 25 percent of open positions vacant in order to reduce the number of people that the College has to pay. “We have no desire to be firing people,” said Kitzinger.
After explaining some of the College’s plans and financial status, Kitzinger and Eismeier answered questions and invited comments and suggestions from Council members. As an indication of how much the community should get involved, Kitzinger joked, “We're thinking of putting a suggestion box downstairs…of ways that we can cut costs.”
“We’re looking at things that will affect your lives,” said Kitzinger. “You need to get your fellow students supporting this.”
Kitzinger noted that they were not overlooking small changes that community members can make. However, “It takes many small things to get where we need to go,” said Eismeier.
Kitzinger and Eismeier said that departments have been challenged to cut their operating costs by 10 percent. As everyone looks for way to help out, they have been “hearing some really creative ideas,” a positive outcome of challenging times.
According to Kitzinger, the Library is an example of an area where students in particular can help. The Library will have a difficult time cutting costs because so much of its budget goes toward the addition and upkeep of books, journals and databases, which would be a very regrettable loss. Kitzinger proposed that students think about what times of day the Library is the most useful, so that hours might be decreased.
Eismeier added that students could do their part to respect the facilities of the College and avoid unnecessary damage.
Kitzinger and Eismeier also addressed concerns about shifts in curricular offerings as the result of a potentially smaller faculty. “We’ve allowed our curriculum to grow in an undisciplined way,” said Kitzinger. She said that while this tendency produced some very positive academic results, it also generated curricular redundancies. This financial situation, she went on, is an opportunity to take a broad look at the curriculum and to make some structural changes.
In several instances during their talk to the VSA Council, Kitzinger and Eismeier stressed that these considerations were painful for the College. “It’s something that we don’t like doing,” said Kitzinger, of watching the endowment lose value.
They explained that it will take time to recover from the losses, citing the five years that it took for the endowment to regain its value after a less dramatic drop in 2000. Still, they have been working with other Senior Officers to prioritize spending by asking the questions, “Are there things we can prioritize?” and “Are there things we can do differently?”
The list of long- and short-term projects remains intact, as the College does not intend to drop initiatives entirely, but rather to table them for the time being. Looking toward the future at projects such as dormitory renovations and a possible switch to a 2:2 faculty course load, Eismeier said, “We just need to keep at it.”
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