ONEONTA — Hartwick College will examine its faculty costs, academic programs, athletic programs, student services and other expenditures to form strategies to bring spending in line with comparable colleges, officials said.

A report with 20 recommendations to maximize college strengths and cope with budget constraints that led to layoffs in August was compiled by Hartwick's Planning Committee earlier this month.

Hartwick, a private, liberal arts college, enrolls about 1,400 students. Tuition for 2001-02 was $25,715, according its website.

The report recommends keeping tuition stable and using 5 percent of endowment earnings instead of the 8 percent it puts toward the annual budget.

Hartwick President Richard Detweiler recently distributed the report to the campus community for feedback.

"We will follow up on literally every recommendation in the report," he said Monday night.

The college is due for routine self-analysis, he said, adding that the last examination was about eight years ago.

Spending endowment money and poor investment returns added up to financial trouble and layoffs in August, college officials said. Defaults on student loans and an economic downturn in the wake of Sept. 11 increased the budget problems, they said.

The report also recommended evaluating the necessity of all athletic programs and forming a long-term plan to attain an 85 percent retention rate of freshman students.

"This is an opportunity to bring the community together and look at everything we do and really redefine the mission of the college," said committee member Peter G. Wallace, who is chair of Hartwick's history department.

It is unlikely further positions will be cut in the restructuring of the college, officials said.

Tuition for the 2002 incoming class will be raised 1.45 percent to about $25,900, as decided by the board of trustees at its meetings last week.

"We feel good we are able to go up such a small percent," Detweiler said. "We are a college that has a long tradition of making college affordable to people who don't have much money."

Hartwick provides larger financial aid packages that comparable schools, Hartwick officials said. A Hartwick student's average family income is lower than a student's who is enrolled in a state college, Detweiler said.

Tuition for returning students will remain the same for the first time in recent memory, Detweiler said. Last year, it was raised 3.9 percent, he said.

Detweiler said the committee's recommendations will be researched and discussed by faculty and student groups and many will be implemented in October.

One strategy already planned for fall implementation calls for greater interaction between the financial aid department and students and their families so that the best and most affordable choice in a loan package will be made.

Ensuring students and families are making an informed choice should ultimately decrease student loan default, Detweiler said.

Detweiler said the college is preparing for a tight budget next year and a freeze will be put on financial aid funds.

Another suggestion of the committee was the pin-pointing and promotion of Hartwick's "flagship" academic programs, those of particular strength and attractiveness.

"We want to be able to highlight what we do well," Wallace said.

Another recommendation called for the divestment of some college properties.

Sale of the Stonehouse in Colliersville and TeleCenter in Oneonta could aid budget relief, while sale of select Yager Museum pieces and income from logging at the Pine Lake campus could go toward student programs, the report said.

Faculty workload should also be evaluated and a system should be formed for tracking and crediting professors for their responsibilities, the report said.

Many faculty members have added responsibilities such as advising and overseeing student projects that take a tremendous amount of time, Wallace said.

Crediting professors for their work aims to satisfy "a morale issue," Wallace said.

Committee member Reid M. Golden, Hartwick's dean of student life, said the committee met regularly since October to compile the recommendations.

The report "looks inward to maximize the potential of the college," he said, and shows "a profound optimism for the future."

———

Laura Alys Ward can be reached at (607) 441-7213 or laward@thedailystar.com.