Iwant to begin by saying I love this college. My time here has been wonderful and I am glad that I came here. That being said, all colleges have their problems. Some more than others, but all of them do have problems.
I believe that because of the problems that Gustavus Adolphus has, this college will not be a college in 30 years or so.
It is evident that something is happening here. Class sizes are shrinking and sports teams are being cut. Currently, the Gustavus class is about 2,450, last year it was around 2600 and a few years ago it was around 2,700. This is unsurprising, considering that tuition around $40,000 a year, which is higher than it has ever been.
Most likely people will turn to the endowment because that is where many colleges get most of their revenue. But they will also claim that Gustavus’ endowment is too small. Gustavus’ endowment is around $144 million. Endowment includes donations given to a college by alumni and other outside sources. St. John’s has $644 million, Carleton $783.5 million, St. Olaf and St. Thomas are around $450, and Saint Mary’s university and Augsburg are around $40 million.
This leaves Gustavus as an average school compared to other private colleges in Minnesota. The good news is that in 2014 the endowment was $141 million, and in 2013 it was $109 million, meaning our endowment is growing. But is it growing fast enough? The top-rated colleges’ endowments are well above ours.
The colleges that are not as prestigious as Gustavus are desperate to increase their endowment. Hamline had merged with William Mitchell and the only reason why Augsburg has the endowment it has is because an anonymous donation of $10 million was made.
Because Gustavus is in the middle ground it is sink or swim at this point. If our endowment is not comparable to that of the other prestigious Minnesotan colleges we won’t be able to afford some of the programs that incentivize students to come here. Class sizes will shrink even more and soon endowment will follow because there won’t be enough alumni to donate.
With fewer students enrolling, and tuition and endowment rising, one has to ask why Gustavus is cutting programs like the Nordic ski team or the forensic team. Instead of tearing down incentives to come here the administration should be creating reason to apply.
The administration clearly has their work cut out for them. The question that should be asked is what should we spend our money on to gain bigger class sizes?
The answer administration gave is “spend it on ourselves.” Top administration’s salary is $90,000-102,875. These people are members of administration and President Bergman. On the other hand, professors’ salaries are anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000. Due to the inequality in pay, it no surprise there is no surprise there are complaints heard amongst professors here at Gustavus.
As time goes on the quality of the professors will deteriorate. The skilled professors will want to go to better paying colleges like Macalester or St. Olaf, while average or poorer quality professors will end up coming here. With less skilled professors, Gustavus will no longer be able to offer the high quality education that it is known for.
Luckily Gustavus is able to make some money back with housing. Gustavus is a four year residential college, meaning that it is expected that students live on campus, and only the lucky few are able get off campus and rent a house.
Gustavus students are being crammed into extremely small rooms. The average room size is much smaller than colleges like St. Olaf and Carleton. For example, a single in Carleton is twice the size of a double at Gustavus, which begs the question why come here and live in a small room for potentially four years? Instead, it make sense to go to a cheaper college that allows you to live off campus after at least one semester like Hamline.
Another place where Gustavus is able to gain money is through the caf. Because many people end up living in dorm rooms for three years they tend to stay on a meal plan for much longer than desired. Students are forced to pay for overpriced foods.
We eat multiple unhealthy meals a day, and are expected to pay for it no matter what. It is true that every residential hall has a “kitchen” with cooking supplies (save halls like Rundstrom that have had their cooking supplies taken away from them), but even then we still have to pay for a meal plan.
Then there is the issue of being a vegetarian or having any other dietary restrictions. A vegetarian’s options are so limited that I tend to see rice as an entree four times a week, and “quesadilla” at least three times a week.
On multiple occasions I have seen fries in the grill line and the vegetarian line. It is extremely ironic that the vegetarian options are some of the least healthy options here. As for dietary restrictions, good luck. The caf does not provide adequate service to students with dietary restrictions. It is particularly difficult to find nutritious food with a dairy intolerance.
This situation is not good for the college, because when prospective students start realizing how the caf is run they will not want to go here, thus decreasing our student size even more.
Our college is being run extremely inefficiently. Our class size is shrinking, but our endowment and tuition is growing. The meal plan is a rip-off that forces students to eat foods they cannot physically eat. Housing forces students to pay to live on campus in small overpriced dorm rooms.
Professors are not being paid enough, making it impossible to gain more great professors alongside our current ones. Most of these issues can be drawn back to our endowment not being big enough. But with all the money-making entities on campus and the increasing tuition many are asking where all the money is going.
Clearly it is not going to the betterment of the college, and with the way it is being run, Gustavus Adolphus will not be a college in 30 years.