Hoping in Hard Times

Abstract

Colleges and universities are destined to endure at least a short-term future of economic stress. Endowment spending models ensure minimal to no returns for at least one, if not two, more years. Public institutions will have absorbed so many budget cuts that it will take years before revenues approach recent levels, and deferred maintenance of buildings will limit most facility enhancements on campuses for quite some time. The most immediate consequences on students are just now being understood. Hopes and fears operate in a delicate and harmonious interplay. stimulating feelings of optimism and pessimism as the world turns.