They're taking more of our money...where, exactly, is it going?
Tuition at Bard College has gone up roughly $2000 starting this semester, and I'm not seeing my money anywhere. At the beginning of this year, Bard purchased Montgomery Place for $18M from a not-for-profit historic foundation. In a prepared statement, President Leon Botstein expressed his excitement: "The integration of the current campus with the Montgomery Place property will create a unified 1000-acre campus."
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The college is supposedly planning on using the buildings for public programs and to free space on campus for up to a hundred additional "student housing beds." A reason cited for this was that 500 of Bard's 1,900 undergraduate students live off campus.
As far as I've ever heard, nobody lives off campus because there aren't rooms available at Bard, or because it's somehow more convenient.
It very literally costs less to live elsewhere.
As stated in 2014: "Bard has enough cash on hand to cover two weeks of operations, $185 million in debt (about the same as its operating budget) and an unusual dependence on donations and lines of credit."
Montgomery Place seems to me (and I know nothing of investing or finances) one of Botstein's first real stabs at accumulating hard assets. Which is all fine and well, though if he's going to promise undergrad housing, I wish he'd be looking at better dorms instead of more dorms.
I can almost guarantee that those 500 students living off campus don't want to live on campus. Especially if they'll be living in the same quality dorms we are now. The need isn't for more dorms until there are students willing to fill them.
At room draw juniors pick last, essentially. I thought I was making good with what I had when I picked North Keene up in Cruger Village, a single on the second floor. It was better than Stone Row, I thought, since I could have AC at least.
Maybe not.
The rooms on either side of me and I have all found mold in our AC units (and, in the others' cases, in other places). Upon sending in a service request (with "URGENT" in all caps at the top because I get it: the beginning of the semester generates a lot of work for these people, but some things have to take priority) a couple of people came by, informed me there was no evidence of mold, and left. (I've taken to turning my unit off for a while each night and spraying it with all purpose cleaner. Fingers crossed.) Hounding, concerned emails, and calls from parents have produced slightly better, if delayed, responses for all involved.
In the laundry room upstairs there are three washers and three dryers. Only one dryer works. The microwave downstairs is broken; I believe they've been waiting a month for the new one to arrive. The shower closest to my room is painful. Given the choice, I'll always choose high water pressure, though that's not what this is. There's buildup on the shower head blocking half of the spouts, making it all funnel through just a few holes hard enough to bruise.
Bard, Botstein, I really am glad you don't take donations and squirrel them away, and I'm grateful for the wonderful classes and opportunities at this school, but something's got to give. If nothing else, I ask that you send someone through the dorms each summer, at least to check for mold. It's a tedious job, I know—I've actually done this job before at BHSU. But I also think it's a worthwhile investment, especially since it directly involves the safety of your students. B&G is busy right now, I know that too, but certain service requests shouldn't sit around.
