Editorial

Our Money Is In Good Hands

We should be thankful. In an email sent to faculty and staff on academy financial updates, Barbara Chase, Head of School, announced that our endowment, once valued at $803.5 million during its highest point in June 2007, has declined to its present value of $641.8 million. This decline may seem drastic. But, in comparison to our peer schools, Andover is well-off. PA’s endowment investment fell 15 percent, a pleasant suprise after the administration’s initial estimates of a 22 percent decline last winter. Meanwhile, The Phillipian reports the average endowment investment loss of our peer schools to be 19.1 percent, according to the Association of Business Officers of Private Schools. Most Ivy League schools report endowment losses above 20 percent. Chase emphasized the goals that have shaped the school’s handling of this situation in the closing of her email. First and foremost, PA hopes to maintain the “central aspects of the educational program.” While we may struggle to adjust to these economic challenges, the repercussions of budget cuts should have a minimal effect on students. The voluntary retirement plan, although the administration will more accurately determine its success on October 15, has been instrumental in avoiding big-scale layoffs. Andover has only fired two staff members, both project managers in OPP. Faculty members with administrative duties have taken on larger teaching roles. John Rogers and Patricia Russell, for example, both have worked as advisors to the school on sustainability issues, but they have now relinquished some of those reponsibilities to allocate more of their time back into the classroom. Our greatest reason for gratitude should concern our Financial Aid Program. Most importantly, the school has been able to maintain its need-blind program. Yes, the school has had to make some sacrifices. Summer programs will receive less financial aid, and annual Model UN trip to Washington D.C. might be cancelled, as the school may not provide financial aid for the trip. But these resources have been shifted towards a more important task, meeting family tuition needs. According to Jim Ventre, Director of Financial Aid, the school is reassessing the increasing financial aid needs of families on the margin line. Ventre believes financial aid students prefer that the school add more money towards these new tuition needs rather than towards summer programs. Anecdotal evidence confirms his assertion A $161.7 million loss still has a far-reaching effect on PA’s operations, and we are already witnessing these changes. The PA campus will never see a hardcopy Directory of the 2009-2010 school year. Faculty and staff begin the year with fewer full-time equivalent employees. The school still needs to find $900,000 to cut out of the budget, and these changes don’t appear to be ending anytime soon. Hopefully we can continue to weather the storm.