The Impact on Students of College Financial Difficulties

Unfortunately, colleges sometimes face financial difficulties. These financial problems may affect you or your student negatively by resulting in layoffs of professors and other personnel, removal of majors, increase in tuition, reductions in merit aid, college mergers, or college closures. One way to stay abreast of possible current or future financial problems at private universities is to follow the annual Forbes financial stability ratings.

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona and West Virginia University are currently facing financial difficulties. At the University of Arizona, the president indicated in late February that there would likely be layoffs as one measure to deal with its $177 million deficit. West Virginia University recently raised tuition by about 3%, discontinued 28 majors, reduced the number of faculty by 143, and combined two colleges to deal with financial difficulties.

Cabrini University

Nearby, Cabrini University announced it will close at the end of this school year; Saint Joseph’s University is providing admission for Cabrini University students. In 2022, the state-run Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education merged six of its 14 universities. In October 2023, The College of Saint Rose announced it would be closing; the college shrank from 4,004 students in the fall of 2019 to 2,800 in 2022. At the end of 2021, Becker College closed after 200 years; its approximately 1000 students ended up at colleges, including Assumption University, Clark University, Worcester State University, and Worcester Polytechnic University.

William Paterson University

In New Jersey, William Paterson University made layoffs in late 2021 due to a $30 million budget deficit, and New Jersey City University declared a fiscal emergency in June 2022.

Temple University

Introduction: Temple University is a public university with its main campus in North Philadelphia. There are other campuses including:
  1. The Ambler campus, a suburban campus with majors in Horticulture, Criminal Justice, Community and Regional Planning, and more         
  2. A Health Science Campus, just 1.5 miles from the main campus, housing a hospital, medical school, pharmacy program, and clinicals        
  3. The Harrisburg campus for freshmen and graduate programs       
  4.  Overseas campuses with housing, Temple faculty, and Temple courses in Rome, Italy and Tokyo, Japan.
Temple University has about 27K undergraduates with an average class size of 27. There are lectures with teaching assistants teaching the recitation sessions.
Ambiance: There is a major street going through campus. There are lots of students around. Food trucks abound and there are many fast food outlets. The campus does not have a uniform building style and there is not much open green space.
Safety: The campus has 600 security cameras, 259 security officers and is the most-lit campus in Philly. The patrol zone is about 5 blocks outside of campus. Part of freshman orientation deals with being safe in an urban area.
Extracurricular activities: Temple has over 300 clubs and provides free student tickets and transportation to their football and basketball games.
Something surprising: The Tech building was filled wall-to-wall with hundreds of students on computers doing work quietly.
Construction: The Morgan Residence Hall was opened five years ago. A new health and wellness center opened in the Fall 2017. A new science building is being constructed and when it is finished, the two old science buildings will be knocked down and will be replaced with a green quad. A new library will open in Fall 2018 with a robot-retrieval system, the third in the nation..
Price: For out-of-state students the tuition averages about $28K/year and the Room/Board averages at about $11K/year. Tuition varies by college, with the Fox School of Business being the most expensive.
Applying: Temple University is a Common App school. Students who apply are automatically considered for merit aid and the honors program. Students who apply Early Action by November 1 are notified of acceptance by 1/10. Subsequent to that date, admission is rolling with a typical acceptance response in 4 – 8 weeks.
Temple recommends that students with an SAT score of less than 1000 who write well apply test optional. Test optional students are considered for merit aid.
Merit aid ranges up to full tuition plus one $4K summer educational stipend. Scholarship notification is by 3/1.
The average accepted student has a 3.56 GPA (weighted) and a 27 ACT or 1220 SAT. The ACT is not super-scored.
The average Honors student has a 3.9 GPA and a 32 ACT or 1450 SAT.
Housing: The Freshman housing deposit deadline is May 1. Students can pick their building usually starting in February. Housing is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Morgan Hall fills fast. Living/Learning community students can get rooms later. The View at Montgomery, is privately-owned off-campus housing right next to campus. 

Manor College

Manor College is a  two-year Catholic college in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The total enrollment is about 800 students. The school has three buildings and has room for 100 students to live on campus. Manor College has transfer agreements with Arcadia, Temple, Drexel and some of the local Catholic colleges. Popular programs are dental hygiene, vet technology, and the paralegal program. There is a new criminal justice program.  The most competitive programs are the Expanded Function Dental Assistant and Dental Hygiene programs which have only a 10% acceptance rate and only half the students finish the program. The mid-50% SAT scores for the entire school are Critical Reading 340-430, Math 310-430, and Writing 310-510.

La Salle University

La Salle University is a Catholic collegei Philadelphia.  A new 78,000 square foot business building will be opening in January on the 133 acre campus
The top five majors at LaSalle University are accounting, nursing, communications, education, and psychology.  
The business school provides students an opportunity to get a Bachelor’s degree in four years, while having 2 co-op experiences or to get a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA in four years.
With 3400 students, La Salle is the smallest of the Big 5 Philadelphia colleges that play Division I basketball against each other.  
La Salle’s mission focuses on practical education and serving others.  Their students live that mission by providing over 50,000 hours of service every year,
The Summit Program at La Salle, admits about 130 students with good grades, who don’t test well.  The school provides these students with intrusive counseling and help to improve their study skills.
La Salle is diverse in many ways.  About half of the students are first-generation college students. Students come from 35 countries, and thirty per cent of students are from a minority group.  La Salle is accepting of students who are not Catholic.  
Tuition and room and board cost about $54K per year and the average financial aid package is $22K/year.  There is a $10K stackable service scholarship.
La Salle is more concerned with high school grades than test scores.  Typically, they look for students with a 3.3 – 3.4 GPA.  Nursing students need a higher GPA, lots of science in high school, and a score of at least 1000 on the Critical Reading and Math sections of the SAT.  With a lower SAT score, the students might be admitted to pre-nursing.
What is your experience with La Salle?