Future of Division III

[scottiedoug]

MCScots2023...God won't forbid Maryville's closing but money will! Schools without rich alumni are challenged. If a college does not prioritize graduating people armed to get rich, it makes it hard!

[Ron Boerger]

MCScots2023...God won't forbid Maryville's closing but money will! Schools without rich alumni are challenged. If a college does not prioritize graduating people armed to get rich, it makes it hard!

Maryville is doing fine relative to many schools, showing positive net earnings every year but one since 2011 and has increased its net assets from $86.0M to $178.0M in that timeframe.

MCScots' point, I believe, is that the relationship between the school and its founding demomination is at arm's length rather than being intimate as it is at schools like Liberty, Baylor, BYU, etc.

[MCScots2013]

I'm doing my best to be one of those rich alums, Doug.

[Ralph Turner]

That might be misleading. Many private colleges were at some point associated with a denomination more than just name-only like today. A Maryville closing, God forbid, would be vastly different from Liberty.

The Parable of the Fig Tree. Luke 13:6-9. If the fig tree bears no fruit, cut it down.

If one reads the charters of the numerous Christian schools that have closed and the content of their "About" web pages over the previous few years, it becomes apparent. They stopped bearing fruit.

[Kuiper]

There is probably a sampling bias in correlating school failures with religious affiliation.  The vast majority of small colleges were formed with a religious affiliation, most of those colleges are the backbone of current D3 schools, and most of the school failures are small colleges.  So, it should come as no surprise that it seems like a lot of the colleges going under have a religious affiliation.

There may be a few of those schools that failed because they lost some subsidy from the church, but I don't think that is all that common anymore.  They are failing for the same reason other small colleges are failing.

[MCScots2013]

The Tenth Commandment—don't covet. Exodus something:other (can't quote you the exact verse and Googling it just to prove a point would be in bad taste)

I want Maryville to be the best Maryville possible. Just like Ron wants Trinity to be the best Trinity possible.  Same with awadelewis with Sewanee and Hawks88 with Huntingdon. I couldn't care less what other schools have. Good for them. Centre just got a $200M gift. Great! Just because someone hasn't done that for Maryville doesn't make me hate Centre (more) or become upset that we don't have that person in our Rolodex. And it also doesn't mean we're closing because we don't have half a billion in the bank.

Maryville's Board just signed President Bryan Coker to a 6 year extension through 2032. I'd venture to guess he's mid to late 50s. I hope he sticks around for 20 more years. He's actively engaging the community, enrollment is growing, growing support amongst businesses (alum and non-alum alike), dropping huge news on fundraising the last few years, and not to be understated—just finalized construction plans for the Alexander Institute. From my understanding, this is going to be $80M of both state and private funds; here's hoping we don't have to go the bond route like we did for the Clayton Center.  There are lots of things to celebrate. We can toot our horn, too, ya know...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

That might be misleading. Many private colleges were at some point associated with a denomination more than just name-only like today. A Maryville closing, God forbid, would be vastly different from Liberty.

The Parable of the Fig Tree. Luke 13:6-9. If the fig tree bears no fruit, cut it down.

If one reads the charters of the numerous Christian schools that have closed and the content of their "About" web pages over the previous few years, it becomes apparent. They stopped bearing fruit.

My experience with struggling and ultimately closed religious institutions is over what kind of fruit is being born and who gets to decide the criteria.

[WUPHF]

Not sure if this affects D3 PER SE, but half of all the schools that have merged or closed since 2020 have been CHRISTIAN.

https://www.tgthree.com/half-of-colleges-that-closed-or-merged-since-2020-were-christian/

The vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States were founded by Christians, so is this really a surprise?

Many more that closed between 1636 and 2020 were Christian.

Other Christian colleges would easily survive the AI and zombie apocalypses (e.g. Wheaton).

I would bet good money that the vast majority of those who were involved in the founding of both Case Tech and Western Reserve were Christian.

The folks who apparently had your beloved institution on the right side of history were probably heavily influenced by their Christian faith.

[scottiedoug]

I agree that Maryville is doing well compared to lots of schools and that Bryan Coker has presided over much of the improvement. I also know that especially new faculty cannot afford to live in Maryville in the ways that they could a decade ago (buy a house, for instance)and that many leave because of money. The religious affiliation issue does not seem particularly important in that regard or in any other.  Faculty and staff have been getting raises but not enough to stay or catch up with inflation.  It is easier to attract money for capital projects than for paying people!

[DagarmanSpartan]

Not sure if this affects D3 PER SE, but half of all the schools that have merged or closed since 2020 have been CHRISTIAN.

https://www.tgthree.com/half-of-colleges-that-closed-or-merged-since-2020-were-christian/

The vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States were founded by Christians, so is this really a surprise?

Many more that closed between 1636 and 2020 were Christian.

Other Christian colleges would easily survive the AI and zombie apocalypses (e.g. Wheaton).

I would bet good money that the vast majority of those who were involved in the founding of both Case Tech and Western Reserve were Christian.

The folks who apparently had your beloved institution on the right side of history were probably heavily influenced by their Christian faith.

Regarding Western Reserve College (later Western Reserve University), yes.  It was originally founded, as many American universities were, with a Christian affiliation (Presbyterian), and later served as a feeder for Congregationalist ministers.  It went secular and dropped all religious affiliation in 1882.  This was a part of the move from Hudson, Ohio to Cleveland.

As a part of that secular move, they changed their motto from "Christo et Ecclesiae" (Christ and Church) to "Lux" (Light) in 1885.

Case School of Applied Sciences was secular from its very beginnings in 1880.  It was founded as a scientific/technical/engineering school. 

Of course when Case Institute of Technology merged with Western Reserve University to form Case Western Reserve University in 1967, it merged as a wholly secular and non-religious institution.

If CWRU were to ever fold or merge again, it would go down as a secular school having done so.

The thing is...........a big chunk of recent mergers/foldings have been Christian schools; it'd be interesting to see how many were either D3 or NAIA.

[MCScots2013]

I agree that Maryville is doing well compared to lots of schools and that Bryan Coker has presided over much of the improvement. I also know that especially new faculty cannot afford to live in Maryville in the ways that they could a decade ago (buy a house, for instance)and that many leave because of money. The religious affiliation issue does not seem particularly important in that regard or in any other.  Faculty and staff have been getting raises but not enough to stay or catch up with inflation.  It is easier to attract money for capital projects than for paying people!

Totally agree. Maryville, TN being a "best kept secret" got out and cost of living post COVID is wild. Faculty and staff are being out-bid by new residents.

Here's to hoping capital projects lead to higher student retention, better student recruitment, higher overall enrollment and revenue with cost-of-living adjustments to follow. Not sure if that's coming from my Econ degree or Field of Dreams "If you build it...".