DRC..NT,TWU scholarships cut.endowment

[OldTimer]

Scholarships cut as endowments shrink

UNT, TWU reducing number and amount of awards

05/26/2003

By Matthew Zabel / Staff Writer

Fewer incoming college students will receive scholarships next year, and the University of North Texas is working feverishly trying to raise extra money to pay for scholarships it has already awarded.

The university’s struggling endowment, the weak economy and a decline in charitable giving have all contributed to the absence of scholarship money.

"Now, we’re in crisis mode, just trying to keep students afloat," said Elida Tamez, development officer for UNT’s College of Music.

The value of the college’s endowments has decreased from about $6 million to about $4 million in the past few years, she said. And as long as the endowments aren’t earning interest, they can’t pay scholarships.

The College of Music is trying to raise another $40,000 to pay for scholarships it has already awarded, Ms. Tamez said.

And the problem is not confined to the College of Music or to UNT.

"It’s a nationwide problem because most institutions like us are invested in the market," said Doug Chadwick, executive director of the UNT Foundation, which manages UNT’s endowments. "With the market being down for last the last three and a half years, it’s hard to earn money which can be distributed to the university."

Dr. Bonita Jacobs, UNT’s vice president for student development, said every corner of the campus has struggled to fund scholarships in light of the poor economy and a decline in giving.

For example, she said, last year, UNT offered about 20 full-tuition scholarships for National Merit Scholar finalists. For the coming fall, it offered three.

Likewise, UNT has given automatic scholarships for incoming students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class as long as money is available. UNT stopped awarding those scholarships in mid-February, she said; normally, they would still be available.

"I’ve yet to hear of a single campus that hasn’t been hit hard," Dr. Jacobs said. "They’re all trying to be creative and do new and different things in order to get immediate money."

For UNT students like senior Adam Poncy, who are going to college on a scholarship, the money has been a saving grace.

Mr. Poncy said he would rather take a semester off from school to save money than borrow money.

That’s why he’s so thankful for the scholarship he’s enjoyed.

Mr. Poncy, who plans to graduate in December with a psychology degree, said he had planned to work about 30 hours a week, but because of his scholarship, he can work about 20 hours and still go to school full time.

"I just try to go to school during the week and work as many hours as possible on Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Mr. Poncy said.

Texas Woman’s University reports its endowment has yielded more than 5 percent since September and is worth about $7.3 million. It earned nearly 13 percent the previous year.

Governor Jackson, TWU’s director of financial aid, said most of TWU’s scholarships are funded by cash gifts from individuals, corporations and foundations.

TWU awards between $5 million and $6 million in scholarships annually to about 1,100 students, Mr. Jackson said.

This year, it will award about the same number of scholarships but some will be smaller amounts, he said. He expects the loss of interest income will mean $150,000 less scholarship money for this year.

In addition to the struggling investments, UNT’s College of Music faces another challenge of working hard to pay scholarships for out-of-state students and international students.

Before 1996, universities could waive out-of-state tuition for students who received a $200 institutional scholarship. That allowed UNT to easily recruit quality students from anywhere, and helped build the college’s national reputation, Dr. Scott said. But in 1996, the state legislature made that threshold $1,000, he said.

Charn Uswachoke, a native of Thailand who received his master of business administration degree from UNT in 1973, donated $1 million to help fund the scholarships until the College of Music could raise more money.

But now that money is spent, and the college hasn’t raised enough to replenish it, Dr. Scott said. That hurts the college’s ability to recruit a well-balanced variety of instrumentalists for its many ensembles.

"Students now are shopping around," Dr. Jacobs said. "They are shopping around for a scholarship package, and the amount of the scholarship can matter. When one school can offer them a much bigger scholarship, they feel better about that school. Recruiting is very competitive."

MATTHEW ZABEL can be reached at 940-566-6884.

UNT endowment

The market value of the University of North Texas endowment is calculated each September. Following are the fund’s values for the past five years. The fund has declined in value since 2000.

2002 $24.7 million

2001 $31.9 million

2000 $35.2 million

1999 $27.4 million

1998 $23.9 million

SOURCE: University of North Texas Foundation

[PlummMeanGreen]

Does UNT now need to employ Wall Street experts perhaps? I know even in my 401K, my investments are spread out and extremely diversified.

What is the UNT Foundation doing to lose so much of its investment? A 90/10 or something?

UNT too many times is its own worst enemy; that is, with some of the people it hires, retains and just can't get rid of. Too many staff people in Denton we've seen, UNT will be the largest school they will ever be employed and UNT is too big for some of them; plus some of this group are not being overwhelmed by (legitimate) job offers by higher profile universities than UNT or we'd see some of them moving up by now. When that happens, it means they have done a commendable and good job at UNT (most of the time) to be in demand by higher profile schools.

Same thing has happened in UNT athletics in past years. Anyone wonder why that dept. has been so impotent most of the last 30 years? The last 2 years IMHO have saved UNT football as for as the level we all want it to maintain and continue. Can you imagine if the last 2 years in football had been like most of the last quarter of a century's what a mess we'd be in today in Mean Green Country? Hell, the Sun Belt would be trying to do a "Temple University" on us or something.

BUT BACK TO $$$$$$$$: Most of the last 30 years, most of the fundraisers I've seen UNT hire could not raise their own salaries. Hopefully, those days have changed. For the sake of the school where we all received our education and for where our Chancelor and President want our school to go, they better have changed.