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Financial Aid Spending Among Faculty Meeting Topics

At the November 5 faculty meeting, the group heard progress reports from the directors of the Program in Speaking, Arguing, and Writing and the Center for Leadership and Public Advocacy; learned of a greater-than-predicted expenditure on financial aid; elected members to several committees; and discussed the search processes for the dean of the college and dean of the faculty positions.

President Creighton informed the faculty that she learned just prior to the board of trustees meeting that the College's expenditures on financial aid this year are likely to exceed the budgeted amount by $1.4 million. This projected overage is a result of an "error in projection rather than a worsening of our situation," she said. "I am not pleased with this and the board is not pleased with this." She announced that the College has retained the financial firm of Coopers & Lybrand to review the College's financial aid forecasting and processing mechanisms.

Creighton noted that the growth in financial aid continues to be the most destabilizing part of the College's financial profile: the College receives forty-four cents on every tuition dollar, "a discount radically larger than our competitors." The "good news in the bad news," she continued, is that the year-to-year growth in aid expenditures has slowed dramatically, that the average family contribution of the first-year class is up significantly, and that the changes in admission policy that will go in effect this year will give the College more control over this area of the budget. This will allow the institution to achieve financial equilibrium over the course of The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2003.

This year's overage will likely lead the College to record an operating deficit in fiscal year 1998 because it is not realistic to expect to achieve savings beyond the $1.6 million in budget reductions already envisioned for this year, Creighton said. "We cannot solve this problem through reductions alone, nor can we do it through fund-raising or endowment performance," she said. "We must get more revenue through tuition."

In other business:

• Eva Paus, director of the Center for Leadership and Public Advocacy; and Lee Bowie, director of the Program in Speaking, Arguing, and Writing, gave updates on their areas of responsibility. The gist of these reports was previously published in the CSJ.
• Both external (non-MHC) and internal (MHC) candidates will be considered for the dean of the faculty position. Campus interviews of finalists are tentatively expected to take place in February. Associate professor of French Catherine LeGouis was chosen to fill the slot on the dean of the faculty search committee vacated by associate professor of geology Lauret Savoy.
• Assistant professor of biological sciences Susan Barry and associate professor of anthropology Andrew Lass were named to the LITS Advisory Committee.
• SGA president Avery Ouellette '98 asked the faculty to make representation on the dean of the college search committee equal among faculty, students, and staff members (the original composition was five faculty, two staff, and two students). A proposal modifying the committee's composition to three faculty, two staff, and two students was passed.