An Audit of W&M Financials by a Curious Alumnus

This post was inspired by the conversations that I've had with my family about the cost of attending university in the United States. While this has been in the news recently, most are not impacted by the increase in tuition because they are not attending college. But for those that have children in high school (or younger), the costs are startlingly high.

As always, here is a too long, didn't read summation: In 2009, the year I graduated, William and Mary's out of state tuition was ~$37,000. Since then, the cost of tuition has increased by almost 50%, with out of state tuition sitting at ~$55,000. The value of attending William and Mary can not have increased by that much, and I can not in my right mind continue to contribute to William and Mary.

Notes: Throughout this post, The College of William and Mary will be referred to as The College, W&M, William and Mary, or some other combination. I will refer to "tuition" as being the total cost of attending school, which includes room and board and other associated costs that colleges subject upon their students (or whoever is footing the bill for them to attend college).

A Case Study: The College of William and Mary

It is typically easiest to compare information when you have a frame of reference. Fortunately for me, my frame of reference provides a significant amount of information online. To supplement this post, I am using data from financial statements provided by the The College of William and Mary . Being a public institution, it publishes financial statements readily available on their website. You can find them here. William and Mary also publishes the history of tuition, where you can follow changes in tuition. That data is also readily available, and can be found here.

When I graduated high school, I was lucky enough to be accepted to William and Mary, and to have family support so that I would not have to worry about the cost of tuition. My last year of college, the out of state tuition rate was ~$37,000. At that time, that was the roughly the starting yearly salary that I earned as a first year teacher in Williamsburg, VA. In my mind, those numbers roughly made sense. Since then, the cost has increased to $55,000, while the starting salary has only increased to $41,000.

Since graduating, I have not given much thought to the cost of college. I had some debt from graduate school which I was making monthly payments on, and living a life of a teacher. My only direct connection to the cost of college was the phone calls I would receive asking for donations. Every few months, I would get a phone call from a student at the College asking for a donation, and usually I would acquiesce, on the condition that they tell me a joke. Usually the conversations went like this:

Student: "Hi, can I please speak with Mr. Savage?"
Me: "Yes, this is he."
Student: "Hi, my name is [blank] and I'm a student at William and Mary and we are raising money (When are they not?). Are you willing to donate?"
Me: "What dorm do you live in? And what are you studying?"
Student: "I'm studying [blank] and I live in [blank]."
Me: "Oh, that's awesome! I hope you are liking it. I loved being at William and Mary. Ok, I'll make you a deal. You are asking me for something, so to get it, you have to give me something. Tell me a joke. If you tell me a joke, I will make a donation. And to give you time to think, here is a joke. [Insert bad joke here: If you were to lose a body part, what body part would you lose? I would lose my spine. It's holding me back.]
Student: "Oh wow. Ok. Here is a joke: [insert equally bad joke]."

After this exchange, I would always make a small donation (I'm a teacher. These were small donations). In fact, I made these small donations with enough frequency to get put on a list to get contacted by someone from the Alumni Engagement Office, who sent someone out to meet me. We spoke for several hours about my thoughts about the College, the changing General Education Requirements, and how to get alumni more involved.

My interest in the cost of college has spiked recently, as I have a younger sister who is in high school, and went on a tour of colleges with my dad over her spring break. Upon their return, my dad spoke about the high cost of going to college. Some schools have estimated yearly costs nearing $70,000. Along with the conversations at home, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article, with a list of colleges that have had the biggest tuition increase in the past 10 years.

William and Mary came in at #19 out of 25 of colleges who had the largest percentage increase in tuition during the 2004-2014 time frame.

With these prompts, I decided to take a closer look at the published numbers from William and Mary. Fortunately for me, W&M is a public institution, and has their financial information available online. With an untrained eye, I didn't know where to start my search, but the documents are easy enough to navigate. The first place I looked was the general numbers. 

Several revenue numbers immediately stick out: 

1. Revenues from 2009 to 2015 have increased by $111 million, from $344 million to $455 million. This is an increase of 32%.
• The categories that experienced biggest increases in revenue are from tuition (an increase of $58 million (from $100 million to $158 million)), and from auxiliary enterprises (an increase of $34 million (from $68.5 million to $92.5 million). Auxiliary enterprises include revenue from housing, meal plans, and other services provided to students. These sources of revenue have increased by 50%. During this time frame, enrollment grew by less than 10%.
2. The value of the endowment has increased by $316 million, from $495 million to $811 million.
3. Between 2012 and 2015, William and Mary collected more than $100 million in gifts. According to the financial statements, this is the first time in school history that those numbers have been achieved.

While those numbers show that the College is collecting more money, there was a source of income that did decrease over the timeframe of study: State Appropriations, which decreased by $6 million (from $75 million to $69 million). This will be discussed more later.

For the expenses, here are some numbers of note:

1. Overall, expenses have increased by $80 million, from $333 million to $413 million. This is an increase of 24%.
2. Spending on instruction increased by $17 million, from $95 million to $112 million. This is an increase of roughly 18%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that outpaces inflation. This could be from an increase in the number of instructors, or an increase in salaries, or both.
3. Institutional Support spending increased by $11 million, from $26 million to $37 million. Why is this bolded? Because this is spending on administrative positions, not directly related to instruction. More on this later.
4. Student aid has more than tripled, from $10 million to more than $33 million. There are some questions about this as well, to be discussed below.
5. Funding for research has been stagnant- there has been almost no change in the amount of money spent on research. To me, this is one of the most disappointing line items to read in the statements. How can the college increase spending in almost all areas but not increase support of research?

So far, without much analysis, it is clear to see that the College is operating at a profit. In 2009, the College brought in $11 million more than it spent, and again in 2015, it brought in $43 million more than it spent. While there is nothing wrong with W&M being profitable, a debate should be had about how profitable the college should be, and at what expense to the students and those footing the bill.

A decrease in state appropriations is almost always given as a reason to increase tuition.  The current president of the College, President Reveley has said in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 that state appropriations were insufficient to meet current needs. As mentioned earlier, in 2009, W&M received $75 million in state appropriations. That made up 22.6% of all revenues, and covered 21.8% of expenses. For state appropriations to remain the same percentage of revenues and expenses, they would have to increase by 24%, to $93 million. This is asking the taxpayers in the state of Virginia to pay more, outpacing the rate of inflation by 140% (inflation from 2009 to 2015 was 10% according to the BLS).

The growth in "institutional support" spending is one of the fastest growing areas of spending at the College. From 2009 to 2015, spending on this line item increased by 42%, representing 14% of the total increase in expenses. Costs associated with institutional support are providing services to students, administrative positions, positions that are not directly tied to instruction, research, but may indirectly improve the college experience. The value added to the student is questionable, but conclusions can still be drawn from this data. 

Because institutional support is a difficult line item to pick apart, one way of looking at it is to examine the number of employees working. If more services are being provided, then it is likely that there will need to be more employees working to provide them, and then those employees will need their own set of support employees. For every new dean, there needs to be an assistant dean, secretary, etc.

Unfortunately, I could not find data for the two timeframes for which I am scrutinizing, but I did find data for 2012 and 2014. The Richmond Times Dispatch has collected data of the salaries of Virginia public employees. A quick glance at the data compiled from the newspaper provides some startling information: In 2012, there were 1614 employees working for the College. This includes everything from housekeepers to professors to deans. In 2014, that number had ballooned to more than 2100. In a two year period, with almost negligible growth in student population, William and Mary had increased the number of employees by 30%.

For those timeframes, the student to professor ratio has essentially remained the same (it actually increased from 11-1 to 12-1), which means that the positions being added are not professors/lecturers. In fact, only 624 of those positions are full time professors. Why did the College go from having ~900 non full time professor employees to having 1500 of them?

This growth in non teaching positions is administrative bloat. William and Mary is not unique with this phenomenon. In the last 25 years, the number of administrative positions has doubled. In some university systems, it has gone up six fold. Enrollment has only increased ~15%. Some opinion pieces on this same subject are calling it the real reason that cost of college has increased so much. Other state university systems have been audited and they have been found to be hiring in all the wrong places.

(On a side note, this administrative bloat is not limited to higher education, but has also been occurring at the K-12 level as well.)

William and Mary's published tuition (tuition only) in 2015 is $20,000 for in-state students, and $40,000 for out of state students. These numbers are comical because the typical student pays way, way less. By taking the total amount collected in tuition, and dividing it by the total number of students, you can find the average paid by students. In 2015, the College collected $158 million in tuition and fees. Dividing that amongst the 8,500 students enrolled, the average tuition paid is $18,600. 

Many questions arise with this information: 

1. How does the College come up with their published tuition number if the average is so much lower? 
2. Tuition currently makes up 51% of revenues, and in 2009, it made up 45% of revenues. Why the increase?
3. What impact does the published tuition have on prospective students? Does it discourage them from applying? While applicant numbers have increased consistently, it is difficult to say what they could have been.
4. What percentage of students pay full cost? And what is the median tuition paid?

There are many possible answers to these questions, and few that would be satisfactory to all.

From the time that I graduated in 2009 to 2015, spending on scholarships has increased to $33 million from $10 million. This is a remarkable increase, but I question the purpose. If the College doesn't increase the cost of tuition by 50%, then there is less of a need to increase aid to students. But by increasing aid, they can make statements about the percentages of students receiving aid. It is a never ending cycle. 

Despite the increased revenue from students, auxiliary enterprises, gifts, and a huge increase in the value of their endowment, The College is constantly clamoring for more money. Most recently, William and Mary had the One Tribe One Day event, where they urged alumni to donate on one specific day. 

The fundraising efforts on this day encouraged more than 10,000 people to donate, and the College raised over $2 million. 

At the end of the day, I wonder if the question that William and Mary is asking its alumni, students and families is "How much can you give?", and if the only acceptable answer is "more, more, more."

Coaching Services

If you are interested in receiving coaching for triathlon or swimming, please don't hesitate to contact me. You can email me here.

A brief athletic resume:
Collegiate swimming for 2 years at the College of William and Mary
Triathlete since 2010
Multiple time USAT age group all american.
Competed in the ITU age group world championships in Edmonton, Canada
Member of Team Every Man Jack
Podium finisher at every distance competed in (sprint to half ironman distance).
Coaching experience in triathlon, swimming, cross country, and water polo.

Training plans available for sprint, olympic and half ironman distances. In person and online coaching services available. Contact me for rates.

The 37 Steps to Becoming an Adult

One of the perks of being a high school teacher is the opportunity to interact with students as they are undergoing dramatic changes in their awareness of what it means to be a functioning member of society. While at younger ages, they are learning vital lessons such as "no, don't kick the bouncy ball at Suzy" and "Yes, you must share the colored pencils with Mark", in high school, students realize that there is more to the world than the playground that surrounds them. With that added world comes added skills that need to be learned. As you learn more and more, the definition of what it means to be an adult changes.

There are numerous books and resources out there on what it means to be an adult. There are legal definitions, and those get murky too. A google search for "steps to being an adult" comes up with lists with 5, 9, 10 and 468 steps. I say that there is one true definitive step.

Despite what Napoleon Dynamite would have you believe, one of the steps of being an adult is not being able to bake a cake.

While cake baking is a good skill to have, it won't necessarily win the ladies over, and doesn't make you an adult.

In considering what it takes to be an adult, some lists would include being 18, having a driver's license, voting, moving out of your parents' place, having a kid, paying bills, and others.

In place of that list, I offer one thing that you need to do to be considered an adult: own furniture.

It doesn't matter where the furniture is from- it can be from your neighbor's garage sale, a high end retailer of fancy futons, or from a swedish superstore. 

As mentioned in the previous post, my roommate moved out, and he owned all the furniture. This meant that if I didn't want to sit on the floor while I watched the warriors games, I had to do some shopping.

Owning furniture gives the implication of possessing other qualities, possessions, and characteristics that can deem one to be an adult. These include, but are not limited to the list outlined below:

1) Having your own space. This allows some privacy. As a kid, you never knew when your parents would swoop in, demand that you clean your room and take out the trash. With your own space, you can have it be as messy or as clean as you want. And furnish it how you want.

2) Having a job. If you can afford to have your own space and possess furniture, then you probably have a job.

3) Having close friends.

While you could call upon professional movers to carry all of your stuff, your friends will work for less than what you would pay a mover. I called upon three of my friends to lift a heavy couch 15 feet of the ground onto my porch to fit it into my apartment because it wasn't going to fit through the front door. It took us three hours to move it from San Francisco to Oakland. As my friend put it after I thanked him for his help, "we did epic shit. I should be thanking you."  I am very grateful to have friends like this. 

So while you may be 18, have voted, had an alcoholic beverage, you've done nothing until you have owned a coffee table.

After a few trips around the bay area to various stores, and buying items off of craigslist, my apartment now looks like this:

And that is Mr. John Savage to you.

On a side note, if you know anyone that needs a roommate, send them my way.

3 years, a domestic partnership, and the law

In sharing the saga of my time spent with my roommate of three years, some of my friends suggested that I write a post about it. With their prompting, below is my experience.

Brief synopsis: lived with a guy for three years, he tried to add his boyfriend to the lease without my knowledge, I said no, landlord sided with me, they moved out.

For the full story:
After moving back to California, I lived at home with my parents for a few months while I coached the high school water polo team. After the season when I had more time to look for a place and had saved a little bit of money, I put an ad out on Craigslist looking for a roommate. Quite conveniently, someone I knew found me. Dave (name changed) was the manager at the pool where I coached the team, and was also in need of a roommate. Through a quick exchange of emails, we agreed to look together.

We checked out a few places, and then found a place that was five minutes from both of our workplaces. We walked in with the deposit checks and first month's rent in hand, and signed the papers that day. And despite the warnings of living with someone you met on craigslist, things worked out.

As I had been a nomad up to this point, moving every year from house to house, I didn't own any furniture (or silverware, or really anything besides clothes, books, plateware, and bikes). Fortunately for me, Dave had everything- tv stands, couches, tables. I guess that is what being a real adult is all about. We moved in together, and life was good.

Well, things worked out for almost three years. About halfway through the third year, he started dating somebody, and his boyfriend (fictional name of Scott) started spending more and more time at the apartment. At first, I didn't have a problem with it, but it slowly progressed to Scott living in the apartment-he moved clothes and other possessions into the apartment, Dave gave Scott a key, and access to the parking spot.

An image search for "roommate from hell" brings up an image of Buffy. If I was a vampire, then yes, she would definitely be a roommate from hell.

I didn't say anything until Christmas, when they received a card addressed to both of them at the apartment. While I had been a push over up until this point, the arrival of the card with both of their names on it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I sent Dave an email saying that his boyfriend couldn't live there any more, and we would need to discuss living arrangements if he anticipated Scott staying over.

Dave and Scott were out of town celebrating the holiday together, so Dave replied that we would talk when he got back. Not a problem- I was heading out of town too, so it would be about a week. All texts/emails up to this point were cordial.

While out of town, I tried to set up my DVR on my phone to record the bowl games and Warriors games, because it was expected that my attention be elsewhere while on vacation with my girlfriend.

After attempting to a few times to set up the recordings, I realized that my roommate had canceled the cable in retaliation (cable and internet was in his name)! AH I WAS SO ANGRY. Not really, but I was displeased. It meant that I could not waste 10-15 hours on the couch watching the games that I already knew the results of!

How I wanted to spend the following days after vacation. Without a functioning DVR, how was I going waste so much time on the couch!

When we both returned from our respective vacations, Dave and I sat down, and I asked some questions- what is Scott's living situation? Is he or has he been paying rent?

On the inside, I was fuming about the cancellation of cable and the other issues outlined above, but I forced myself to put on a calm face and be cordial. 

Dave avoided the questions, and said that he and Scott had entered a domestic partnership, and had contacted the landlord, who had approved an addition to the lease, so Scott's name was going to be added to lease. I congratulated him on the partnership, but in my mind, the wheels started turning about what to do. The conversation ended with Dave agreeing to ask Scott to pay rent, and then a further discussion would take place.

After we talked, I emailed the landlord, and then my legal counsel (my parents). My parents gave me more advice (both legal and otherwise) than I knew what to do with. Apparently Dave and Scott may have broken the law by having the landlord change the lease without my permission. A lease is a legally binding document, and can't be altered without permission of all parties. Terms like "intentional interference with contractual relations", "failure to act in good faith", and "liability for future damages" got thrown around, and various tracks to pursue were discussed.

Before pursuing some of the messier tracks, emails were exchanged between Dave, the landlord, and myself. Through emails with the landlord, he was under the impression that I had moved out since I wasn't cc'd on any of the emails asking for the addition to the lease, and for this reason, had approved of the subtenancy of Scott. When the landlord found out that I was still living there, he said he would not approve the change. Dave, when he got wind of this, countered with he was in a domestic partnership with Scott, so the landlord must approve the changes to the lease. The landlord initially capitulated, but when I prompted him to provide the legal reasoning for the change, the landlord came back with this:

Your lease calls for 2 people. But marriage and partnership is a state law that supersedes the lease. 

Only SF has adopted an ordinance to allow for more than those named on the lease to become sub occupants. Oakland still upholds the lease as the deciding factor in "occupancy". 

Boom. Winner winner chicken dinner. In the absence of any ordinance allowing for the change of the lease, the only people allowed to live in the apartment are those named on the lease, namely (pun intended) Dave and I. While I had enjoyed living with Dave, and Scott for that matter, I did not sign up to live with both of them. I wasn't going to move out because I couldn't afford to move out. If you haven't heard, rents are stupidly expensive in the bay area, but the apartment is locked in at the rate at which we moved in. The rent controlled apartment is an asset that both Dave and I wanted, and without being able to add Scott to the lease, Dave had one less piece to try to push me out.

I let Dave know that I had no intention of moving out, and that Scott couldn't be living in the apartment. Within three weeks, Dave told me he was moving out with Scott.

WOOOO! I had the place to myself! So much room for activities! Especially since I don't own any furniture!

Over this whole saga, I learned a lot- what the law states about domestic partnership (there are two different types in California), tenancy law, and human behavior. The biggest takeaways were:

1. If possible, have the lease only be in your name- it allows you to control the apartment. If one of the roommates starts to be annoying, you can kick them out. This can be complicated for a variety of reasons, and may harm your roommates if you move out and the lease is under rent control.
2. If you have to live with someone else, have everything be in your name. It gives you leverage and control over the situation, and allows you to stake a claim to the place.
3. Always know what your nuclear option is, and make sure you understand all the cards that you have to play. If you go into an argument and you don't know your breaking point, you can get dragged out. But if you are aware of how hard you are willing to push, it makes things easier. I never had to reach that point here, but from advice from my counsel and friends, I had a plan.

While annoyed, I came out in a better situation, and now Dave and Scott can live together without being bothered by a spandex wearing beer drinking sports watching couch sitter.

Now, I have the place to myself, and an empty apartment with no furniture that I am in the process of acquiring. More on that in a future blog post.

Framing the Question

The inspiration for this post comes from the books Science Left Behind: Feel-Good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left and The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way. The books both discuss issues within education, and attempt to provide insight into how education can be "fixed".

Is this a false premise?

It is difficult to go a month without hearing about the latest invention or pedagogical style that will help students learn. During the past ~15 years, we have gone from a bipartisan bill to pass No Child Left Behind (with a vote of 91-8 in the US Senate and 381-45 in the House) to a near universal denunciation and condemnation of it, to Common Core and the Next Generation of Science Standards and the controversy these changes are bringing. In addition to managing the changes that are coming with the new legislation, many school districts are implementing major changes themselves by purchasing laptops, ipads, and chromebooks for their students. (For an interesting scandal happening currently, see this article about the Los Angeles USD wasting money on iPads.)

Didn't kids use books to learn about this before? 

But why the constant changing of curriculum and demand that teachers use different pedagogical skills? If you follow education, one of the rationales for this constant shifting is framed as this: When comparing scores on an international standardized test known as the PISA (The Program for International Student Assessment), the United States ranks below average. For this reason, we need to change to become more like higher performing countries. We are told that if we want to compete in the international market, we need to be more like South Korea. Or Finland, or Hong Kong, or somewhere else, where they do things differently.

This is a picture from a hagwon in Korea, where students spend hours after school studying more. 

When considering this rationale, and the desire/demand for the US to become more like higher scoring countries, several questions arise:

What are these countries doing differently within their schools?

Do these differences actually result in different educational outcomes for their students?

There are obviously other topics to discuss. But what if the fundamental reasoning is flawed to begin with? What if the framing of the question inhibits an appropriate understanding of the test scores themselves?  Are students in the US really performing worse than students in other countries?

Consider the following headline from the Wall Street Journal: US High School Students Slip in Global Rankings. Then consider the following headline: Majority of US public school students are in poverty.

Whoa. Could those two headlines be related? Are the educational outcomes of students dependent upon their socioeconomic status? According to the American Psychological Association, lower SES correlates with lower levels of literacy, chronic stress, health issues, increased dropout rates, and more. Notice the use of the word correlation. Students obviously can succeed under many conditions, and there are other factors related to student success beyond their current or previous economic conditions.

With that line of thinking, a further analysis of data is warranted. When comparing different SES groups within the US with countries that are made up of similar SES groups, how does the US stack up? Mel Riddle, of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, provides some analysis here. 

Here is some selected data taken from Mel's page, who is using data from the 2009 administration of the PISA:

Country	Poverty Rate	PISA Score
United States	<10%	551
Korea	<10%	539
Finland	3.4%	536
Norway	3.6%	503
United States	10-24.9%	527
Canada	13.6%	524
Australia	11.6%	515
United States	25-49%	502
Switzerland	6.9%	501
Poland	17%	500

This data is obviously incomplete, but the trends are obvious. When comparing school districts in the US with countries that have similar SES makeups, the US consistently outperforms these other countries.

So are our schools as a whole really failing? It really depends on how you frame the question. For school districts that have low poverty levels, the answer is clearly no (if the basis for failing is rated by success on an international standardized test). Whatever these school districts are doing (or what is happening outside of the schools in the homes) is working. For districts that have higher rates of poverty, are they failing? Maybe. Will changing what happens within the school by implementing Common Core and other changes improve the outcomes for these students? For all students? That is a more difficult question to answer.

For higher poverty school districts to perform at the same level as other school districts, research suggests that school districts may need to take on non-traditional roles. Changes in pedagogy and resources may help, but as noted earlier, outside factors such as socioeconomic status and level of parent education play large roles in the success of students. Many of the reasons that students struggle are not directly related to what is happening in the classroom, but are related to stress from a variety of sources, poor nutrition/health, family issues, etc). Research suggests that these outside factors may have four to eight times the impact on student achievement than what occurs in the classroom. So what role can school districts play in ameliorating the condition of their students?

Before getting into a list of actions schools can take that are outside of their traditional roles, here are things that they can do now:

1) Keep experienced, talented teachers, and remove ineffective ones. A good teacher can improve a student significantly, providing percentile gains of 29-45 points.

2) Encourage teachers and administrators to continue with professional development.

3) Allow for time for teachers and administrators to collaborate and EVALUATE each other. Teachers need time to learn from each other, and receive feedback to improve.

4) Support teachers with needed supplies.

Related side note: Programs such as TFA are a bandaid, and may contribute to further problems within a school for a variety of reasons: teachers improve as time goes on, TFA teachers leave the profession at a higher rate than traditional teachers, and with them leaving, it creates further instability within the schools and for the students.

And a list of actions that are outside of the traditional role:

1) Identify students who are in need of mental health services. It is estimated that only 20% of students with mental health issues are identified and receive treatment. The numbers are lower at higher needs school districts. The behavior of a few students can impact a whole class and disrupt a learning environment. Identifying and helping these students will improve the classrooms of all the students.

2) Actively promote a consistent, positive, rule enforced environment. Students in these schools may be lacking an environment that supports healthy social development, but can gain it at school.

These lists are obviously incomplete and could go on and on. A safe environment, where students have access to everything they need would be ideal. But notice how none of the suggestions have anything to do with implementing new curriculum, buying ipads, or changing standards and new standardized tests. Some of the changes require increased funding (such as resources for teachers, helping identify students with particular needs and providing those services), and others are within the normal budget of hiring and firing teachers, promoting a positive environment, etc.

I am not saying that improving education is an end game. What I am suggesting is that maybe, just maybe, people need to chill out. Students have been learning, and teachers have been teaching for a long time. Education has improved. But there is no need to hit the panic button.