for the 150 of us or so that attend games....
I spoke too soon about rich USC. I say they are rich because they have a lot more sources of income, especially, for athletics, than Furman.Furmanoid wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 2:20 pmI think his point is that USC is an example of the widespread panic. I guess we can hope that FU bigwigs are taking a calm, reasoned approach, but I doubt it. I bet they’re freaking out. They have to figure out a way to sound so, so concerned about the pandemic and staying safe at home, and all that stuff on the one hand. But then they have to turn around and convince people that it’s ok to fork out $67k to go stay in dorms in a red state run by virus-loving yahoos instead of staying safe in the basement and getting the same credits for a few grand. I’d be in a panic.affirm wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 1:59 pmSC’s move is no big deal. The students will have very few class days after TG anyway, and those few days will be done remotely. SC athletics will not suffer. They are rich.FU3 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 12:53 pmFurman has a current business model that requires a substantial annual increase in tuition,fees and room and board
(current sticker price is $67,000 per year). A good economy and booming stock market have enabled institutions like Furman to avoid addressing some serious long term issues, those days are over. All of higher education is going to have exist in a very changed environment in how they market and operate. Every college and university in the country is panicked on how many of its students will return in the fall or hang around for perhaps another round of remote education in the spring (SC is cancelling fall break and sending students home for the semester before Thanksgiving in anticipation of another spike). Time will tell if cutting a few sports as the initial way to address this crisis was a prudent move or gave a skittish clientele another reason to question the value of attending or returning. Guess that is why they pay the folks at the top the big $$$.
By the way, I think I recall Muschamp already having accepted a pay cut, perhaps related to his results on the field; not sure.
When I ran the numbers for my daughter a couple of years ago I think it was coming in at around $30-35k. She decided to go to C of C for free and use the money we saved for top of the line grad school. I went to Furman as did father, uncle, 3 aunts and 2 brothers, but it just doesn’t make much sense anymore. I wouldn’t want to be their salesman.FU3 wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 3:33 pmUm ... no. Here is the yield per student in 2017. and it has increased since then. Also remember that the average student includes all those receiving full or partial athletic scholarships scholarships so your "average" parent is paying ...a lot.
https://datausa.io/profile/university/furman-university
The proverbial least dirty shirt in the hamper.
I'd imagine the women's sports will be the ones with the most significant scholarship reductions. You'll still probably see football, soccer, and maybe a few others go down, but the girls sports are easier to fill up a roster given the current student body.Paul C wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 3:45 pmI wondered why, in an effort to save money, we only cut men's sports. It seemed to me that if we dropped men's lacrosse and baseball we could cut at least one of softball or women's lax.
On the JD call he said that equity/compliance issues (title IX) resulted in just cutting mens sports and to change that we'd need to increase overall male enrollment....so I looked it up and FU is now 59% female!!
Regarding "FU has lost $100M in endowment money in 3 months due to the financial downturn". Excuse me, but even a dumb History major like me knows you haven't lost anything until you sell! I'm assuming Pres. Davis is referring to the 3/31 statement balance. Well, the market has rebounded quite a bit in Apr. and the S&P 500 Index closed 60 points higher on Monday than it was this time last year. I can understand having to dip into the Endowment to get some money to refund all that tuition, but the prudent way to do this would be to withdraw the needed funds from the fixed income (bonds) part of the portfolio and not liquidate any stocks while they are depressed. Most investment grade bond funds are in + territory for the year.ksummerlin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 11:52 amThis isn't just about sports, the whole academic community at Furman was cut. FU has lost $100 million in endowment money in 3 months due to the financial downturn. They had to refund $4 million in room and board fees and incur unexpected costs to shift to online classroom instruction for the remainder of the year. The president took a 20% pay reduction, vice-presidents a 10% pay reduction. Football and basketball head coaches took a 10% temporary pay cut. 10 week summer furloughs will begin soon. In addition, estimates are that there will be a 15% decrease in enrollment next year.
As a Furman alumni, I hate this news. I spent countless afternoons across the street from my dorm watching games at the stadium. I don't have to like it, but I understand it and how hard it must have been to come to this decision.
I also think that this is not the last news of its kind that we will hear. Other schools have started cutting programs as well (see Akron, Old Dominion, etc). This will impact private institutions much harder than it will public institutions. I wouldn't be surprised to see some private institutions shutter for good.
God bless these players and coaches -- they must be devastated.
If the Greenville community cared, they would have supported baseball. Never happened. Sounds like you need to support Wofford. In the past, I’ve often thought you were really an ankle biter fan. There is no way you can be a supporter of Furman.apaladin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 8:53 pmBy the way S.C. is also starting on campus classes 2 weeks early this fall, August 10th. I really thought Furman had finally made a little headway in becoming Greenville’s team. Something that really had been in name only previously. What progress had been made went out the window yesterday. The Greenville community as a whole is now mad at Furman and don’t understand this decision. I’ve heard a lot of negativity addressed at Furman from various sources. Even the guy at checkout in the grocery store talked about it and was upset. Doubt we will see 6k at the well next year. We asked the Greenville community to get behind Greenvilles team then do this. One other thing that comes to mind is the athletes themselves losing part of their community. Loved seeing the baseball teams reaction to the last second win at the well against WC. Btw on tonight’s news they said WC had made some changes including things like a freeze on spending. WC has no plans to cut any sports. I am sure they will gladly take Furman’s spot against CU and S.C. next year at Fluor.
Either propose better solutions or shut up.apaladin wrote: ↑Tue May 19, 2020 8:53 pmBy the way S.C. is also starting on campus classes 2 weeks early this fall, August 10th. I really thought Furman had finally made a little headway in becoming Greenville’s team. Something that really had been in name only previously. What progress had been made went out the window yesterday. The Greenville community as a whole is now mad at Furman and don’t understand this decision. I’ve heard a lot of negativity addressed at Furman from various sources. Even the guy at checkout in the grocery store talked about it and was upset. Doubt we will see 6k at the well next year. We asked the Greenville community to get behind Greenvilles team then do this. One other thing that comes to mind is the athletes themselves losing part of their community. Loved seeing the baseball teams reaction to the last second win at the well against WC. Btw on tonight’s news they said WC had made some changes including things like a freeze on spending. WC has no plans to cut any sports. I am sure they will gladly take Furman’s spot against CU and S.C. next year at Fluor.
