This coming November, 35 MBA students and staff at the University of Connecticut Stamford are planning a 10-day trip to Beijing, Shanghai and Jinan to observe business practices in China while mixing in some sightseeing.
For travel agencies, the request for proposals was a sight for sore eyes after a brutal year in the corporate and university travel market ”“ and given the uncertainty for university spending in the coming school year.
Amid continued uncertainty over how the recession could impact enrollment, colleges and universities are doing their best to limit expenses, with a ripple effect on the vendors that regularly do business with them.
Some 44 percent of institutions polled by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) said they have restricted travel in the past year, among 15 measures to control costs while limiting the impact of the recession on their student bodies.
In the aggregate, private colleges actually expect enrollment to tick upward slightly this fall at 0.2 percent overall, according to the NAICU survey, but plenty of schools indicated they expect declines.
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In response, 38 percent of colleges had slowed the pace of construction and renovation, though just 16 percent reported canceling outright any projects as a result of the recession.
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That in turn is having an impact on the businesses that supply products and services, either for one-time expenditures or on an ongoing basis. Earlier this year, the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis estimated that the state”™s 16 independent colleges and universities contributed $6.2 billion to the state economy annually, in a study commissioned by the Connecticut Independent College & University Institute.
With more than 22,000 workers in the aggregate, independent colleges employed more people than all entities save the state government (including public universities) and Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. Researchers also found they support nearly 59,000 more jobs through spending for various goods and services.
On average between 2003 and 2007, those colleges spent more than $100 million annually on various capital projects, for about a $450 million economic impact taking into account the ripple effect of additional spending from those expenditures.
“Stability is an under-appreciated element of the economic impact of these schools,” said Judith Greiman, the study”™s author. “Colleges and universities don”™t move out of state or outsource operations overseas.”
While tuition and fees at independent, four-year colleges are slated to rise again this fall at 4.3 percent, according to NAICU, that was the lowest percentage increase since the 1972-73 academic year. Last year tuition and fees rose 5.9 percent, and hikes have average 5.5 percent the past decade.
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In a bid to keep up demand ”“ meaning bodies in seats ”“ institutions are also raising their financial aid programs by 9 percent on average.
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“Private college and university budgets have been hit by dropping endowments, a reduction in charitable giving and growing student financial need,” said David Warren president of NAICU. “Freezes and cuts in other campus budget areas ”“ construction and renovation, salaries and benefits, and travel and other staff expenses, to name a few ”“ have allowed institutions to use those savings to temper tuition increases and keep student aid available.”
Last year, Fairfield University offered full-tuition scholarships to Bridgeport high school students whose annual family income is under $50,000, and whose assets likewise are relatively small. Nearby Sacred Heart University took it one step further by offering a similar deal to incoming first-time students from Fairfield County. And Yale University pledged any family with income of less than $60,000 would not have to pay a penny toward their child”™s Yale education.
Elsewhere in the state, Connecticut College and Wesleyan University stated they would make grants in place of loans that might be offered as part of a financial aid package in another year.
Meanwhile, as the University of Connecticut weights travel agencies for UConn Stamford”™s upcoming trip to China, they also will be examining bids on another request for proposals ”“ seeking consultants who can help the university with organizational strategy and development services ”“ including in the field of “human capital management” to optimize the university”™s employee base.
