New year, new deficit

Blurb: With a deficit hanging over LSC, how will students be affected?

Section: Campus News
9/12/08

By Rachel Keller
Critic Staff


The start of the school year means a lot of new things: people, classes, and friends, to name a few.
For Lyndon State College this fall, it means a new deficit. Funding provided to LSC by the state has been cut two and half percent, meaning the school’s budget is between $100,000-$200,000 less than last year. President Carol Moore is in collaboration with others in efforts to balance the school’s budget by figuring out which programs can be cut.
“[Lyndon’s] bottom line is based on the number of students who stay,” Dean of admissions, Patricia Krahnke said. Krahnke is carefully reviewing the number of students enrolled. The budget will be balanced once the number of enrolled students is stable, and that should be by the end of the second week of classes.
“Vermont has the highest number of colleges per capita in the United States and also the lowest population,” said Krahnke. “Do the math.”
Krahnke believes that the problem lies within the retention rate for Lyndon State students, which from Fall 2007 to Spring 2008 was at a high 72%. From Fall 2007 to Fall 2008 the retention rate was at 57%.
“72%, excellent. 57%, not excellent,” states Krahnke, “That’s just the tip of the iceberg, getting them here. It’s after that, keeping them here, that is the issue.”
Organizations like Project Compass, a grant from the Nellie Mae organization, are working to help make college affordable for students, and Lyndon is in the running for this grant. As a school with little private funding, scholarships and financial aid Lyndon can only do so much.
“We do what we can,” Krahnke sympathizes, as she recognizes the fact that some students just cannot afford the ticket price. For what seems like a shortage of money due to a state funding decrease, the deficit that Lyndon is experiencing goes deeper into the realm of student enrollment.
“We do not have a luxurious amount of funds,” said Moore, “making cuts are always difficult.” While the budget is continually trying to be balanced, and admissions continues to work to solve the problem of retention, students at Lyndon State should not be concerned that the financial cuts to certain programs will have a negative effect on them. “We try to hold the students harmless when it comes to lack of revenue from tuition fees,” Moore said.