Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That puts a three- to five-month hold on pay raises, provided the Board of Trustees approves them later this year, said Tim Hill, vice president of business and finance for the college.
Faculty, who are on nine-month contracts, usually receive salary increases in September. Salary raises for other college staff - classified as 12-month employees - normally have been effective July 1. Both have been delayed until January, Hill said.
At a meeting over the weekend, the board of trustees withheld a decision on salary adjustments. Hollins President Maggie O'Brien notified faculty and staff by memo Wednesday that next year's budget "includes a provision for employee salary adjustment, pending board approval and review in November, starting in January 1994."
Hill hesitated to call the delay a salary "freeze."
"I don't think it's accurate to say the decision was made to freeze salaries but the board was trying to function in a prudent way," Hill said. "But it's true there will be no adjustments for faculty and staff until January, should the board decide to make adjustments."
Joe Leedom, dean of the Hollins faculty, said it was difficult to gauge reaction because the raise delay had been, up until Wednesday, purely rumor. But he said he didn't think people were overly concerned.
"We understand what the college is facing," Leedom said. "We are anxious to help and will do what is necessary. We are really devoted to Hollins, so it doesn't seem to be an issue of concern right now." Hollins relies heavily on tuition, room and board to sustain operations. The fees comprise 70 percent of the college's operating budget.
Aggressive recruiting has brought a slight boost in the number of incoming freshmen, Hill said.
Yet, total projected undergraduate enrollment for the next year is 800, compared to 826 in the 1992-93 academic year. Enrollment in graduate programs is projected to be about 200, the same as 1992-93 figures.
Firmer enrollment figures will not come until late summer, closer to the beginning of the next school year, Hill said. It is possible the college could gain a few students - or lose a few, he said.
Hollins is not alone in its struggle to stay afloat in an increasingly competitive market. The fight for students is a struggle for all colleges and universities, but perhaps more so for women's colleges.
"We compete for students with co-educational institutions," Hill said. "But because of the nature of Hollins, being a single-sex institution, it makes it even more difficult."
Not only do single-sex institutions have to compete for a declining number of high school graduates, they also must compete for an even smaller group of students who choose to attend those institutions, Hill said.
"That creates an even smaller pool of candidates that we're competing for," he said.
With tuition, room and board at $18,250 per year, has Hollins priced itself out of a competitive market? Its tuition, room and board ranks among the highest in the state.
"This is a very, very competitive market," Hill said. "We participate in that market along with other educational institutions. Education certainly is not getting cheaper."
The college's financial aid costs have risen substantially in the last few years, Hill said. And more students - 60 percent, compared to 35 percent to 40 percent three years ago - are getting some form of financial aid.
While the aid makes a Hollins education more affordable to more students - boosting enrollment - it does not translate into a better financial condition for the college.
"Even though you have more students, is that really creating additional revenue?" Hill asked. "What that really is, is discounting of the fees. What really matters in pure financial sense is: What's the bottom line?"
Other women's colleges in Virginia were hesitant to project 1993-94 enrollment figures.
"We're sort of holding our own," said Monica Dean, director of public relations for Sweet Briar College. "It's really too early to tell anything much."
The college had 201 new students last year and expects the same this coming school year, Dean said.
"We're fortunate in that we are not a tuition-driven institution," she said.
Southern Virginia College for Women in Buena Vista is projecting a slightly higher enrollment this fall.
"We are a two-year college and purposefully keep our enrollment at a low number in order to maintain . . . low student-faculty ratios," said Grace Sarber, public affairs representative for the college. "Because our focus is different, we do not try to compete with" other women's colleges in the area, she said.
The Washington-based Women's College Coalition conducts a survey each year of enrollment at women's colleges. Preliminary figures, based on applications for the 1993-94 year, indicate that applications are up, said Jadwiga Sebrechts, executive director of the coalition.
"They are up this year in more than 85 percent of women's colleges," Sebrechts said. "It's not confined to dramatic increases at a few institutions, it's all over the country."
The application figures are skewed by the fact that one person may submit applications to several colleges. But Sebrechts said the application figures and those for enrollment have remained fairly consistent in past surveys.
Sebrechts attributes the surge to an awareness young women have in deciding where to apply to college.
"The Anita Hill events, the Year of the Woman, talk of general inequities that exist in a co-educational world - those kinds of events have raised consciousness," she said. "So has the visibility of Hillary Clinton, when it became known that she went to a women's college.
"There's something of a glamour or acceptability attached to that."
by CNB