Has your revenue stream declined?

Has your revenue stream declined this year? So have the income streams of many colleges and universities.

Reports The Wall Street Journal (9/11/2009): "While many private colleges are getting less help from their endowments, public universities are suffering because of state budget cuts."

WSJ specifically looked at the wealthiest of private schools: Harvard and Yale. And the report is not good. Each of the two schools reports a loss of 30% of their invested endowments. What does this mean for their plans this year?

For one, both Harvard and Yale have had to put a hold on construction and campus expansions that they had planned for the near future. In addition, both have laid off staff. Harvard has also delayed seeking additional faculty.

Other top colleges have reported similar losses: Stanford University, Princeton University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

What does this mean to the family planning to send a student to college soon?

Monies may be tight at home, but costs must be trimmed from the college and university budgets as well.

At a time when we parents feel the pinch and begin to rely more heavily on scholarship money being available, we begin to wonder if that will dry up, too.

Temporarily, good news:

Apparently, those at Yale who talked with the Wall Street Journal reporter understood the concern of parents like you and me. In the midst of reporting all this cutting of expenses, delaying expansion, and laying off personnel, they were careful to add the information we wanted to hear. The report includes that "the administrators [at Yale] pledged to preserve financial aid."

Phew! (At least for now!) Will such pledges continue? That remains to be seen. We hope that funds available to assist in paying for tuition will continue to flow.

One thing is sure: There's no time like the present to encourage high standards in our students currently in high school. If and when scholarship funds begin to dry up, competition will only grow stiffer. As more and more families suffer loss of income or savings, then more students will be turning their hopes and college dreams toward getting that coveted scholarship money.

Don't give up hope! I encourage you to take the bull by the horns and get your student ready by making him or her the best scholarship candidate you possibly can. Encourage your student daily! Help him find ways to grow both academically and in developing personal strengths which can him through the scholarship process.

There are yet many wonderful opportunities available at colleges across the country. When your time comes for scholarship applications, make sure you and your student are ready!

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Need some guidance in developing your student toward becoming that candidate colleges are pursuing? See what our scholarship preparation program can do for you.