Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 9, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 31 We insure businesses large and small: CONSTRUCTION • FARMERS • FINANCE & REAL ESTATE • HOSPITALITY • INSTITUTIONS • MANUFACTURING • PROFESSIONAL OFFICE • RETAILERS • SERVICE • TRANSPORTATION • WHOLESALERS • WOOD PRODUCTS At Acadia Insurance, our service starts with an in-depth knowledge of your business and the local market in Massachusetts. That perspective comes from an understanding of your operation and its unique exposures, working in partnership with your insurance agent. The insight we share together is the key to what we deliver: coverage closer to the needs of your business — and to you. A personalized perspective for your Closer Coverage SM Closer Coverage SM means more value, delivered with a personal touch. C O L L E G E E N R O L L M E N T F A C T B O O K jobs in our regions," Vander Hooven said. Framingham State expected a big drop in students this fall. In fact, it predicted a 12% drop, and ended up at about 10%. Now, President Javier Cevallos said, the university will work toward getting many of those students back. Some have deferred their enrollment by a year, but many others may have decided to indefinitely postpone college because of family or work obligations. Framingham State's student body is traditionally 40% Pell grant recipients – those who demonstrate a financial need – and nearly half first- generation college students. Cevallos is among those who are concerned those students may never enroll, their career plans thrown off course forever because of the pandemic. "ose are the populations we need to support," Cevallos said. Like at Framingham State, enrollment this fall has fallen the most among first-year students, indicating general enrollment drops were likely attributable to students choosing not to begin their college careers rather than existing students not returning. Framingham State's freshman enrollment dropped this fall by 21%. e school is near its lowest enrollment at any point in the past quarter century, according to the state data. At Mount Wachusett, first-year enrollment this fall is down 26%. A few exceptions to first-year declines exist, most notably at Worcester's Quinsigamond Community College, where freshman enrollment grew by 5%. Student numbers were already trending downward in Massachusetts before this fall. Among all state schools, enrollment is now down for seven straight years. UMass enrollment, which did not include the medical school in Worcester, is roughly flat this fall. Enrollment has been down this fall nationally, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. First-year enrollment nationally is down 16% and total undergraduate enrollment is down 4%. Enrollment is down twice as much – 8% – this fall for students who receive Pell grants, according to the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, indicating a potentially especially notable effect on lower- income students who may need a college education the most to get ahead economically. e NAICU study found 57% of colleges nationally reported a drop in enrollment this fall. Less revenue and more costs Revenue is on a sharp decline nationally. In June, the American Council on Education estimated revenue loss this school year of $23 billion thanks to fewer students enrolling. Colleges have cut a combined 337,000 workers since before the pandemic, according to Robert Kelchen, a higher education expert at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Most of those appear to be temporary, Kelchen wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education in October, but some signs show colleges are taking aggressive steps to significantly pare their faculty ranks. Cost-cutting efforts should prevent widespread college closures, Kelchen said. "But the next several years will still be painful ones for higher education," he said. at's a struggle being felt on public campuses in Central Massachusetts, where fewer students have meant lower revenue levels, and a state budgetary crisis has brought an expectation for less state aid. In fact, budgetary challenges started in earnest back in the spring semester, when many campuses refunded room-and-board charges once they sent students home early, while spending to upgrade classroom technology and improve sanitation practices. ose fiscal problems have only worsened. e state's nine state university campuses have seen nearly $25 million in revenue drop, and more than $11 million drop in state aid this school year, according to EY-Parthenon, a Boston consulting firm working with the Board of Higher Education. ose losses are being offset by more than $39 million in debt restructuring, $14 million more in higher-than- expected tuition and fee revenue, and more than $9 million in cost savings. at leaves a gap of nearly $18 million among the nine universities whose budgets total more than $800 million. ree of the nine state universities Barry Maloney, president, Worcester State University Javier Cevallos, president, Framingham State University Continued on page 33

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