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• “One of the worst things we can do is talk about how good we continue to be in spite of all these cutbacks.”

  D. Bruce Johnstone

  Director, International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Published: July 16, 2009

The economic downturn will hurt some higher education institutions more than others, with private schools that have small endowments and less selective admissions processes most likely to suffer, D. Bruce Johnstone told an audience of about 80 people at his UBThisSummer lecture Wednesday.

According to Johnstone, former SUNY chancellor and director of UB’s International Comparative Higher Education Finance and Accessibility Project, factors that influence how well public colleges and universities will fare include states’ financial health, the priority legislators place on higher education, the size of applicant pools, the amount of federal dollars faculty members can bring in through their research and schools’ ability to raise tuition.

Private institutions’ prospects hinge on such factors as the size of applicant pools and endowments, said Johnston, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education. Schools that have small endowments and that depend on tuition and fees to survive will struggle as fewer students can afford to pay. Private colleges and universities that are less prestigious and selective are most likely to experience problems with enrollment, losing students to more affordable public counterparts.

Johnstone thinks strained finances may force a limited number of higher education institutions to close. As for the rest, the poor economy has the potential to damage the quality of education, hurting students and employees. Locally, cutbacks already are having an impact.

“One of the worst things we can do is talk about how good we continue to be in spite of all these cutbacks,” Johnstone said. “(Things) have already turned down, and the only way to get them turned back, to me, is to acknowledge the losses that we are taking. Losses not so much to UB or Buffalo State College, or to our faculty or to the programs here, but to the people of New York State and their opportunities for quality, affordable higher education. That’s the only way I believe this will turn around.”

At higher education institutions around the country, budget-cutting measures that would have seemed drastic just a few years ago have become the norm. Faculty and staff are facing furloughs, increased workloads and the loss of previously expected benefits, such as sabbaticals. Serious concerns for employees include layoffs and the reduced likelihood of faculty members of receiving tenure.

Students, too, are being affected. Tuition is rising, which could force students to take time off from school to work to make money. Johnstone worries that teenagers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds will lose their aspiration for college as financial woes continue to confront their families.

Johnstone believes, however, that not all problems stemming from the financial crisis are serious. To save money, some students are choosing to forgo opportunities to study abroad or attend a private college or a school far from home.

“How disastrous is that?” Johnstone asked. “Well, economic hard times bring hard times. I’m sorry for a student who thought he or she was going to the University of Rochester or Cornell and now is reduced to a second choice, which may have been Binghamton or UB. But I really don’t feel that sorry. It happens.”

Locally, Johnstone sees UB’s prospects as being bright. He believes the university will continue to serve as a source of regional and state pride. He predicts that faculty members will continue bringing in research dollars and that the school’s reputation will continue to benefit from growing biomedical research and the area’s expanding bioengineering corridor. With fewer students willing to pay to attend private institutions, the number applying to UB could go up.

In the long run, however, one important question for colleges and universities nationwide is whether losses in revenue are so deep and lasting that schools will need to permanently alter their operations.

Ideas floated in the world of academia have included increasing faculty teaching loads, asking students to spend more time in class and reducing the amount of time it takes to earn a degree.

“Will we have fundamental changes in the way we do business, or will we suffer a bit for a while and then return to about back where we were?” Johnstone asked.

“Is it possible to conceive of a three-year bachelor’s degree as a norm?” he continued. “Of course it is. Britain has it and, in fact, most of Europe has something equivalent to that.”