 Apr 27,2009
Ideas Solicited
Jeff Spear, Vice President for Finance
It’s likely that all of us are aware to some degree of the financial difficulties confronting our nation and world today. Through a series of events over the past year or so, we have seen real estate plummet in value, the stock market decline over a third and credit needed to purchase bigger ticket items very difficult to obtain.
Bailouts and bankruptcies are daily news items, with the names of companies including those that were thought to be invincible. The largest banks, insurance companies and auto manufacturers would have likely gone out of business altogether were it not for the government throwing money their way. It’s a combination of unfortunate events that will likely take years to improve.
For MVNU, it is difficult to quantify the potential challenges of these ongoing struggles. Will our students or prospective students’ families lose jobs or a major part of their income, becoming reluctant for a son or daughter to borrow to obtain an MVNU education? Will loans or grants even be available to students to help offset enormous college costs? Will energy inflation return or interest rates spike and cause hardship for us or our comparison institutions? Will the stock market ever recover so that MVNU’s endowment can rise back to a level that enables endowed scholarships to be awarded?
Preparing budgets is always challenging. We are never totally certain of our assumptions. The lack of clear, predictive data today, adds measurably to those difficulties. We want to be careful stewards of our students’ monies but do not want to be overly cautious so that we miss out on potential opportunities.
This is where you come in. You may have ideas about what the University should consider doing as we confront a changing world. Perhaps you have thought for years that we should do this or that but have never had the opportunity. Well, now is your chance.
I ask that you send an e-mail with your idea to Mindy Williamson in the Human Resources office with your idea or suggestion. She will compile them and forward them to me. If you wish to be anonymous, only Mindy will know your name.
We’ll put them all together and, those who are willing to chat about their ideas may be contacted for further clarification. Otherwise, we’ll try and publish as many as possible and get the community thinking about what we could potentially do together as the world around us deals with this crisis.
As always, you are valued as a part of our community. I hope you will freely participate in this process. The last date that e-mails will be accepted is May 29.
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