Reed College in Portland is refusing admission to students who need too much financial aid, the New York Times reports. It is a stark emblem of the recession’s pressures, as the Times’ Jonathan D. Glater points out, that a college known for its liberal values must take such a step. And you can tell that people there are distraught — “Sometimes I wonder why I’m still doing this,” the school’s financial aid director told the Times. Reed is also betting on a quick recovery from the economy to avoid cutting departments and selling real estate.
According to this Times graphic, Reed’s money is largely furnished by tuition and fees paid by students. At the University of Oregon, the model is somewhat different, as you can see on the third page of this document, which contains a budget breakdown for the University, made up of only 38 percent tuition and fees.
An interesting point within the article as the University of Oregon continues work on its new basketball arena is provided by Reed’s president Colin Driver. He says:
Perhaps it would be a good thing, he said, if the recession could refocus college administrators on the quality of higher education, rather than on investments in climbing walls (Reed does not have one) and other “country club” aspects of college life that have fueled an academic arms race reliant on tuition increases and fund-raising.
“The catering to consumer tastes — I keep trying to say, we are in the education business,” Mr. Diver said, describing the pressure to keep up with wealthier colleges and expressing a frustration rarely voiced publicly by college presidents. “The whole principle behind higher education is, we know something that you don’t. Therefore, we shouldn’t cater to them.”
But no college president wants to be first to make major changes in the college experience; Reed, for example, is not abandoning plans for a new performing arts center. “If we’re going to change our ways, we’re really going to need to be pushed,” Mr. Diver said, referring to colleges generally. “It’s not going to well up from within.”