"Amid pandemic, Mass. community colleges, state universities face financial challenge" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff, June 23, 2020
More than half a dozen Massachusetts community colleges and state universities could rapidly burn through their cash in the worst-case financial scenario for the next academic year, leaving them on shaky footing, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The state’s community colleges and four-year institutions, which serve primarily low-income and minority students, will be able to make it through the upcoming fiscal year by drawing on reserves, making budget cuts, and restructuring debt, Massachusetts higher education officials said, but they are likely to have significantly reduced their financial cushions and face much more difficulty in the years ahead, according to a $250,000 report from EY-Parthenon, a consulting firm, commissioned by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.
The 2021 fiscal year, which starts July 1, “will cause a substantial reduction in liquidity,” said Haven Ladd, a managing director of EY-Parthenon, but the Massachusetts higher education department declined to identify the public campuses most at risk due to the financial pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.
Higher education officials said that while regulators have a responsibility to inform students, parents, and the public if the future of these campuses is at risk, it is too early and the institutions are working to develop plans to stabilize their finances.
Higher education experts believe that COVID-19 could worsen financial problems for many colleges and universities. Institutions have been forced to invest more money in online technology and coronavirus testing capability, while likely having to reduce the numbers of students on campus to maintain social distance requirements, reducing tuition and room and board revenue, but much of the attention has focused on private colleges. Public institutions in Massachusetts are facing similar financial strains with less money coming from the state government due to reduced tax revenue.
Looks like school will be out forever!
In the worst case scenario, if the institutions saw a 20 percent decline in state funding and an additional 15 percent drop in tuition and fee revenue from declining enrollments, four community colleges and four state colleges wouldn’t have enough cash next spring to cover one month of expenses. Traditionally, community colleges and four-year public universities in Massachusetts have enough cash to cover on average between four to six months of expenses, but the state is trying to restructure its construction-related debt, which should help the universities significantly reduce their payments for the next two years by pushing out more of the costs into the future, said Chris Gabrieli, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
Yeah, that will fix everything!
Community colleges don’t have as simple a solution and higher education officials are working with the ones most at risk to ensure they remain stable. The public institutions are discussing furloughs and other cuts to save money, he said. “We are facing a very challenging and sobering climate,” said James Peyser, the Massachusetts secretary of education, “but it’s not a crisis.”
(Blog editor stares at that dissembling babble in apoplectic speechlessness)
Then I get a STILL to lead of the next paragraph!
Still, public higher education officials said that institutions need to prepare for much tighter budgets and find ways to reduce their costs, especially with state funding likely to decline and uncertainty about student enrollment. The campuses, which often operate independently, need to consider whether they can share services to save money, similar to the UMass system which makes large purchases as a group. “We are in survival mode,” said Martin Meehan, president of the UMass system. “We have to find the most efficient way to deliver a high quality, affordable education.”
Of course, he is surviving in his million-dollar riverside condo, and as for the efficiencies of education:
"Amid an unprecedented financial crisis, the university has hired at least seven people with connections to state government and politics as administrators with salaries between $81,000 and $222,000 in the past year and a half, records show. The hires include the former head of the state Democratic Party, a former legislative aide, and a former state commissioner of environmental protection. Together, the seven people earn nearly $1 million. A UMass campus spokesman said in a statement that hiring is based on merit, and the hires underscore UMass’s reputation as a place where the politically connected of Beacon Hill can land a job with a single phone call. It’s an attractive place to work in part because the UMass system is part of the state retirement system, so state employees can continue to earn toward their pensions, which are based on their three highest years of pay and their number of years of service, and the campus’s location is for many more appealing than traveling to the other campuses in Lowell, Dartmouth, Worcester, or Amherst."
You kids are on an island now.
The community colleges and state universities will likely will have to make cuts in services and employees, public higher education officials said. “We can’t rely entirely on reserves. We can’t think of FY21, but have to think of FY22 and FY23,” said Paul Mattera, a member of the state higher education board and the chairman of the Salem State University Board of Trustees. “There are tough decisions that are being made. . . . Balancing the budget is going to be terribly difficult and have some human toll.”
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The first thing they tell you at college is do not plagiarize like her. The second is to not use the words but, still, et al, in a report and certainly not to begin a sentence -- and yet it is that kind of slop I must sift through every day from trained "journali$ts."
I guess nursing school is out, and remember the red state teachers strikes where they got what they wanted?
"More than 2,000 Massachusetts educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices; The vast majority are teachers, says the Massachusetts Teachers Association" by Meghan E. Irons Globe Staff, June 23, 2020
More than 2,000 educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices for the fall, the state’s largest teachers union said Tuesday. The “vast majority” are teachers, though the list also includes teaching aides, coaches, and behavioral therapists, the Massachusetts Teachers Association said, a blow to an education system reeling from a global pandemic.
The figure is based on reports from the organization’s membership in 47 of the state’s more than 400 school districts. It includes only those school systems where local associations have reported 10 or more educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices that have not been rescinded. (It was unclear late Tuesday afternoon how many other districts issued pink slips.)
The association’s leaders said some nonrenewal notices are issued every year for a variety of reasons, such as declining enrollment or the elimination of programs, and many positions are restored in the fall, when state funding to the school districts is finalized, but with the state budget process delayed because of the pandemic this year, the MTA leaders said they have seen a spike in pink slips because the federal and state governments have failed to approve adequate funding for local school districts in time for them to budget for the fall.
They haven't learned that yet?
“The state must live up to its constitutional obligation to provide the funding needed for schools to operate effectively and safely during the COVID-19 pandemic,‘' Merrie Najimy, president of the teachers association, said in a press release.
Unless they want to take away the freedom and liberty they no longer teach.
It's once again all about the $$$$$$!!!!!!!!
That is your le$$on for the day!
Before the pandemic hit, Massachusetts schools had expected a significant new investment in state education spending; the pink slip figures show how difficult it will be for them to just maintain the status quo, but even as Beacon Hill lawmakers grapple with billions of dollars in lost revenue, city officials across Massachusetts are calling on top leaders to preserve a long-fought-for increase in school funding. Postponing that commitment, the local officials argue, could have a catastrophic impact on the state’s most vulnerable students.
State lawmakers have said it is highly unlikely that a full budget will be determined before the fiscal year ends June 30. Governor Charlie Baker recently filed a temporary $5.2 billion budget for July that keeps funding at same level as the last fiscal year, according to state Representative Aaron Michlewitz, cochair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. He said lawmakers are waiting to see how the economy reemerges from the shutdown, and whether the federal government provides additional help, before giving guidance to local communities.....
Wait and $ee, huh?
They have doled out billions and trillions without a look, so WTF?
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Related:
“COVID-19 is affecting people differently,” said David Paleologos, the director of Suffolk University’s Political Research Center, which conducted the poll. “You’ve got rural (residents) and Republicans responding that things should go back to normal, and then you’ve got people who are part of a different America: Black, Hispanic and urban respondents … are being impacted in a different way and are afraid,” yet overall, Massachusetts residents of all racial groups are somewhat split on the question of whether schools can reopen safely and a slim majority doubted whether schools can reopen and keep students and adults from contracting the virus....."
Also see:
"The COVID-19 crisis has devastated the Berkshires, where tourists flock for theater, art, music, and dance, as well as yoga, spa treatments, and hiking and biking amid wooded hills. One after another this spring, world-renowned organizations canceled their seasons or shut their doors, some for the entire year — crippling the Berkshires’ tourism industry and the more than 8,000 people working in it, but for people with money, the woodsy, wide-open Berkshires has become even more desirable, as the global pandemic stokes fears of crowds and opens up opportunities to work remotely. City dwellers looking for second homes, or hoping to relocate altogether, are snapping up high-end homes, some without physically visiting the property. The pandemic is shining a glaring spotlight on economic inequality in America, and perhaps nowhere is it more evident than in tourist destinations such as the Berkshires....."
You stay the f**k out of our area, and look who is coming to the re$cue:
NEH Announces $40 million in CARES Act Grants
Setting the world up for a richer paradise after the great cull of 2020-21.
It's all a bu$ine$$, of course:
"The Boston Licensing Board is holding a mandatory emergency meeting this week with North End restaurant and bar operators to address concerns that have been raised with officials regarding the neighborhood’s new outdoor dining services. According to a public notice posted by the Licensing Board to the city’s website, the al fresco experience has led to problems in one of the city’s most popular dining spots. Those issues have included a lack of social distancing, people smoking, pets on the outdoor extensions, and loud music, officials said....."
The f**ing intolerant Bo$tonians can't stand life used to be when it was normal and people were having fun. Bunch of whiners over there, and I want NOISE NOW! It's a SIGN of LIFE!
Time to get back to work:
"From Apple to Facebook, tech’s new diversity pledges follow years of failure" by Shelly Banjo, Ian King and Alistair Barr Bloomberg News, June 23, 2020
Spurred by nationwide protests and calls to end systemic racism after the police killing of George Floyd, Google and Facebook Inc. recently vowed to increase the diversity of their workforce. If this sounds depressingly familiar, that’s because it is. The industry has been making similar pledges for years, with little progress.
The world’s most valuable tech companies are still predominantly white and male, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of diversity reports published by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon. Photos of Black workers feature prominently in these reports but remain mostly absent from management ranks and are underrepresented in technical roles. Photos of leadership ranks pictured here are based on named executive officers listed in the companies’ latest annual proxy statements.
Related:
"The net worth of Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., has jumped to $64.5 billion, making him the only Asian tycoon among the world’s top 10 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He holds the number nine spot. Ambani has benefited from a flurry of investment in the company’s digital unit, Jio Platforms Ltd. Shares of the Indian conglomerate have doubled from a low in March, just as other billionaires on the list have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The rise of the 63-year-old as India heads for its worst-ever recession is a reminder of the nation’s deep economic divide: The top 10 percent hold more than three-quarters of total wealth. Ambani lives in a 27-story mansion in Mumbai that has three helipads, a 50-seat movie theater, three floors of hanging gardens, and a health spa and fitness center. Reliance last year surpassed state-owned Indian Oil Corp. to become the country’s largest company by revenue. Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, heads the top 10 list, with $160 billion, followed by Bill Gates (Microsoft, $112 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, 90.6 billion)."
NOT a Black man among them!
If tech companies really want to increase representation, they must do more, Black employees and corporate diversity experts say. That means hiring diverse talent into higher levels of management and creating a workplace that is inclusive enough to retain people of color after they join, said Tina Shah Paikeday, an executive at consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates who helps companies hire executives to run diversity and inclusion programs.
“Tech values the notion that innovation comes from a diverse perspective, but it’s been more of an academic thought,” she said.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook launched a $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative this month. “To create change, we have to reexamine our own views and actions in light of a pain that is deeply felt but too often ignored,” Cook wrote in a letter to employees.
The percentage of Black employees in technical roles at Apple in the United States remained unchanged in 2018 from 2014 at 6 percent, according to the company’s most recent diversity report. Apple is the only tech company among the big five not to release 2019 diversity figures yet. Half of Apple’s overall US workforce was white, while Asian and Hispanic employees made up 23 percent and 14 percent of total employees, respectively. Black workers were 9 percent of the total. Last week, Apple’s chief of diversity and inclusion, Christie Smith, left the company.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said last week that the company will improve Black representation at senior levels and increase leadership representation of all underrepresented groups by 30 percent by 2025. He committed to post all jobs externally and ramp up investment in cities outside the Bay Area, while creating a talent liaison within each product and functional area to retain workers from underrepresented groups.
What if there are not enough qualified Blacks?
Just give them the job?
Just 2.4 percent of tech employees at the company were Black in the United States , according to Google’s latest data, up from 1.5 percent six years earlier. Statistics on the company’s total workforce paint a similar picture. David Drummond, a veteran Black executive, retired from Google parent Alphabet Inc. earlier this year.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to Instagram this month to defend Amazon’s decision to place a Black Lives Matter banner on the company’s homepage. He also pledged $10 million for racial and social justice organizations. “We stand in solidarity with our Black employees, customers, and partners, and are committed to helping build a country and a world where everyone can live with dignity and free from fear,” the e-commerce company said in a blog post.
Had enough of his gaseous spew yet?
Just 8 percent of Amazon’s US managers were Black last year, while 59 percent were white, according to the company. Unlike its big tech rivals, Amazon includes all managers in its leadership diversity data.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would give $10 million to social justice organizations in a June 1 post. “The violence Black people in America live with today is part of a long history of racism and injustice,” he said. “I know that $10 million can’t fix this. It needs sustained, long term effort.” Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg also said the company would pledge $200 million for Black-owned businesses and committed to have 30 percent more Black people in Facebook leadership positions by 2025.
Just 1.5 percent of Facebook employees in technical roles in the United States were Black in 2019, up from 1 percent in 2014, according to the social media company’s diversity report. Among senior leadership, 3.1 percent is Black.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to “do the work” in a blog post earlier this month. He said Microsoft would invest in talent pipelines broadly, expand connections with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and donate $1.5 million to social justice organizations. “Seeing injustice in the world calls us all to take action, as individuals and as a company,” he said. “We cannot episodically wake up when a new tragedy occurs. A systemic problem requires a holistic response.”
According to Microsoft’s 2019 diversity report, 3.3 percent of its tech employees were Black in the United States, up from 2.4 percent in 2016. More than 70 percent of its overall workforce was male, down slightly from 2016.
It makes sense that a genocidal eugenicist like Bill Gates would also be a racist.
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Related:
"Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Tuesday, extending the market’s recent winning streak after another strong showing by technology companies. The Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, climbed to an all-time high for the second day in a row. Health care stocks and companies that rely on consumer spending were also among the big gainers, while typical safe-play sectors like real estate and utilities fell. The Commerce Department said sales of new homes jumped 16.6 percent in May to an annual rate of 676,000, exceeding Wall Street’s forecasts. Further updates on the US economy are expected this week. The rally followed solid gains in Europe, where indexes marched higher after some encouraging economic data. Investors have been focused on the prospects for an economic recovery as more businesses reopen. Encouraging economic data, including on retail sales and hiring, have helped stoke optimism that the recession will be relatively short-lived, plus, Wall Street has grown confident the Federal Reserve and Congress are prepared to continue providing a historic amount of support to markets and the economy, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “All of the negative news has basically been built into share prices,” Stovall said. “If we are to stumble, then the Fed and Congress are likely to step in to put a fiscal and monetary floor underneath the economy and the markets, and now, with the likelihood that the economy will not be shutting down entirely should we end up with a second wave, the market is basically saying it’s ‘onward and upward.’ ”
The economy never did shut down entirely; people were divided into the offensive "e$$ential" and "non-essential" category.
The market has continued to climb, despite bouts of volatility, even as a rise in new coronvairus cases in the United States and other countries clouds the prospects for an economic recovery. The World Health Organization said over the weekend that the pandemic is still in its ascendancy. The United States, which is seeing rapid increases in cases across the South and West, has the most infections and deaths by far in the world, with 2.3 million cases and over 120,000 confirmed virus-related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. On Tuesday, Federal health officials told Congress to brace for a second wave of coronavirus infections in the fall and winter.
F**k you evil f**ks!!!!!
Thanks for the warning, though.
While the virus remains a concern as businesses reopen, new cases aren’t yet that concerning, said Jason Draho, head of Americas asset allocation at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Right now, that’s something to monitor, but when you look at the underlying data, it’s all still at levels that are not too concerning as opposed to where we were back in March and April,” he said. Investors have been placing more weight on economic data releases that suggest economies that have reopened are making strides to emerge from a deep recession....."
The f**king double talk makes one sick, and I'm so glad Zuck, BG, and Bezos got even richer yesterday, aren't you?
Of course, we are ALL GETTING RICH so cla$$ di$mi$$ed!!
