Nazarene Colleges at Risk
By Ashley Desrochers
Nazarene colleges should consider where they spend their tuition money; many Nazarene colleges are at risk of closing. 15 percent of the faculty and staff at three different Nazarene colleges in the United States are being laid off due to recessing economy.
I am a senior at Nashua High School South, and prior to my Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) visit I was one of many who believed college tuition should be lowered; that if the tuition costs were lowered the number of students attending much better colleges would greatly increase. My view was quickly changed as I journeyed through the itinerary placed before me. I spoke with multiple professors and began to understand the mission of the University and what my money would be going toward.
Statistics show that lowering tuition would only make the college less desirable and less competitive. Students must seek scholarships, hope for grants, and turn to the government through FAFSA to help pay for their college tuitions; it is a tiring process but it is worthwhile for the education and experience that is all entailed in attending a great school.
“These are good years for Olivet,” said Dr. Quanstrom, a religion professor at ONU.
The tuition is set at a certain rate in order to make each dollar count, Paige Watson said, who was my tour guide at ONU. The admissions officers understand that charging less for tuition would mean settling for less; because the tuition is set at such a rate the University is able to advance aspects of the school in affect they are creating a better environment to live in and be educated.
“Olivet is planning on building a new chapel so that all of the students can attend every service, instead of having the student population split into thirds,” Watson said, “but it’s taking a while because they’re raising money rather than taking it from our tuition, but it’s nice to know that our money is going to more important things.”
Nazarene Colleges should consider what ONU has made their way of life, and use the tuition money toward more important things; such as better facilities to make the school more desirable and credible professors to create a more competitive atmosphere. This way more students would be likely to apply to the college and they wouldn’t be in danger of closing.
“I don’t think college could cost any less. Olivet is a nonprofit organization, and they don’t do this to make money,” Eddie Kish, a senior at ONU, said. Kish has also received grants from the University as well as scholarships and financial aid. Kish worked hard in high school, maintaining a part time job as well as seeking scholarships, and keeping up his grades so he could enjoy his higher education at ONU. He found that it was worth his money to attend a University that spent it in places that were necessary. Kish transferred from Eastern Nazarene College, one of the many declining Nazarene colleges, and believes that the two colleges are incomparable when it comes to the atmosphere and quality of living.
If the tuition money was put into places where the students felt it would be used to its full value it would make the students feel that their money and education at the particular school was worthwhile; then they just might consider what it would be like to attend a Nazarene college.
Instead of ONU’s admission rates dwindling they’re rising. I was told by ONU freshman of 2008-2009 that this year’s freshman class consisted of around 600 students while the fall of 2009 will consist of 750 students, including me. It takes a strong foundation of leaders and a well set tuition to allow colleges to survive through an economy such as todays, and ONU has the bar set high.
Anecdotal evidence isn't good research, never mind the various grammatical errors here. Nazarene schools aren't in danger of closing (for several decades, if at all) -- and certainly not because of the economy. Where is your evidence for these claims? This "conventional wisdom" is, like most conventional wisdom, ill-informed. Nazarene colleges aren't even well-endowed schools, as a recent Inside Higher Ed article pointed out (I can send you the link), so they're less affected than schools like Harvard in the "current economic climate".
ReplyDeleteStories about finances from religion professors and tuition rates from tour guides? If you want anecdotal evidence about ONU, I could easily point out that many, many students are upset at the way money is spent there, especially with regards to the new chapel. It's been a rather controversial issue, and many students see it as a moral and personal one, as well as a financial one.
I wouldn't expect you to understand, from what I've read so far, but issues like college management are far more complex than these stories suggest. ONU has done a great job recently with recruitment and advertising. Is that what makes a college to you? I'm sure you also aren't aware that the difference between "college" and "university" is relatively meaningless outside the Northeast. Look at RWC, Messiah, Gordon, Houghton, ENC, GCC, Geneva, Nyack, &c. and you might see the difference between those colleges in MA, NY, and PA in contrast to Nazarene "universities" in the rest of the country. I met a great ONU alumnus recently who was miffed that ONU calls itself a university. Traditionally, that's the difference between research and teaching. All Nazarene institutions are meant to be liberal arts colleges -- teaching institutions -- and you can find that Church leaders like Bresee and Chapman fought vigourously for that philosophy. Schools like Eastern Nazarene -- the only Nazarene school in the Northeast -- can't even choose to buck the Nazarene heritage and follow changing opinions by calling itself a university because, in Massachusetts, institutions must offer two doctoral programmes to even use that name. No Nazarene school meets this standard. Outside the Northeast, it's mostly about structure. Recall that that the new ENC moved to Massachusetts because the academic climate was most rigourous there, and was still the second Nazarene school to be accredited. The first? Northwest Nazarene -- in Idaho.
When it comes to educational quality, it's still more complex. My alma mater has students who could've gone to Harvard (I'm friends with one of them who's enrolling this year) but I doubt you've met many of them. Other ENC alumni go to Harvard Medical School after they graduate, or to Yale Law School -- both are top programmes. The acceptance rate to medical schools from ENC is 94%. The national average is 44-45%. MVNU has a 100% acceptance rate, but they only offer that figure based on the past two years. ENC also has had a 100% acceptance rate, into law schools, for the past 25 to 30 years. That includes third-tier schools like Suffolk, but the first Nazarenes to attend Yale, the top in the nation, were from ENC.
You might even want to look at Nazarene presidents. The big financial mess at Eastern Nazarene around the turn of the millennium was presided over by an NNU alumnus. The current president is a TNU alumna. If unhappy at the current administration in Quincy, perhaps Kish should've blamed TNU -- or, as a journalist, you might have pointed that out.
I'm certainly biased to defend my undergraduate education, but I don't see this blog any better researched, if not much poorly so. It's more influenced by marketing and advertising, which is far better at ONU than any other Nazarene school, and better than many other Christian schools. Perhaps it's significant because it does yield high enrollment when effective, but the emphasis here on good campus facilities belies the perspective that appearances matter most. You're ignoring issues like shared governance concerns and academic freedom, which have been recently investigated at ONU and found sadly lacking. Similarly, a study was done recently about the disparity between average graduation rates and the graduation rate among black students and ONU made the top 10 worst offenders (SNU made the top 20).
I like ONU at lot and have some very, very close friends from ONU, but I'm tired of hearing that it's so much better than other schools. Let me reiterate the problem with anecdotal evidence: not only is it not scholarly or scientific, but it's not accurate, even though it's often employed in journalism. I have my own issues with the Nazarene educational system, but this is little more than a poorly researched call for "spending money better" without any solutions presented. I agree that a page could be taken out of ONU's book, but many other pages could be tossed out. One bit on which you might ruminate: does declining enrollment (which has been a national trend for decades, by the way) indicate a poor education? I spoke with one ONU student who was convinced that "bigger is better" -- the more professors and programmes, the better the institution. By that logic, we might assume that any number of state universities are better than Williams College. I'm not convinced. Enrollment was always hard for the small Nazarene school in the Northeast because of the competition (Rankings support the status quo and are largely meaningless, but look at the competition within the U.S. News tiers -- I live in the Deep South and can attest to the differences). Creating a new Nazarene college in Ohio to draw off students immediately plunged enrollment for the Massachusetts school, as well. Since the Nazarene education board doesn't seem to be staunchly capitalistic and darwinian, a move to weaken already existing institutions never even fit.
Perhaps your message is better framed as "Nazarene colleges, please spend more of your money recruiting students so that your enrollment goes up, because that's what most important to me, Ashley Desrochers." The rest is smoke and mirrors. The question you should've asked is, "why has the cost of a post-secondary education outpaced inflation for so long, anyway?" Well, it might help to recall that Radcliffe College once had a bathroom as a biology lab. College costs so much because students want five-star hotel rooms for dormitories, gourmet food in their cafeterias, and a guaranteed well-paying job. And, of course, college costs more in the Northeast, where competition is more stiff -- for everything -- and all prices are therefore higher.
My sage advice to you is that you should try re-evaluating your priorities.