Financial crisis sparks cut in Ada Comstock Scholars class size

On Feb. 19, President Carol Christ, Dean Maureen Mahoney, Dean of Enrollment Audrey Smith, Sid Dalby from the Admission office and Dean of the Junior and Ada Comstock Classes Erika Laquer met to discuss their plan to lower the target class size of the Ada Comstock Scholar program from around 55 students to 33. This decision came as a result of the decrease in the endowment used to help fund the college operating budget and financial aid. In her Jan. 28 memorandum on potential budget reduction strategies for discussion, President Christ stated, "The college may need to reduce its budget by 10-15 percent (or more) over the next three years" in order to make up for the loss of funds. This percent range is approximately equivalent to $20 to 30 million. While many "potential strategies for achieving cost reductions or revenue" were discussed in the letter, the plan of lowering the tuition discount rate directly impacts Ada Comstock Scholars.

According to Smith, 92 percent of the Ada Comstock Scholars received a total of over $4 million of financial aid.

According to President Christ, "While Ada Comstock Scholars represent about 6.5 percent of the student body, they receive 10.1 percent of the college's financial aid funds."

The president also noted the "dramatic change in Adas' financial need" over the last 10 years. "Ten years ago, 15 percent of Adas attended Smith without financial aid; recently, the figure has dropped by half, to 7 percent," she said.

While President Christ stated that Smith is committed to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of the students, she said that the college "could not likely sustain [the Ada Comstock program] at its current size given the extremely high discount rate."

However, the president firmly stated that "there was no intention to abolish the program" because the Ada Comstock Scholars are an important part of the Smith community.

The decision to lower the Ada Comstock target class size is partly due to the decrease in the number of applications to the program. Over the past two years, the number of applicants has decreased 23 percent. Meanwhile, the number of traditionally aged applicants has increased by 20 percent.

President Christ attributes this drop to the fact that "there are more educational options for non-traditional-aged students than there were when the Ada program began more than 30 years ago, including many more opportunities in the community college system."

At the meeting, President Christ and her colleagues stressed that they do not know if the reduction of the Ada Comstock class size will be permanent. They stated that the admission rates will be periodically reviewed. As the college's financial situation changes, they will work to make policy changes that make sense in the long term.

Throughout the meeting, Christ stressed that "in this economic climate, we must always be mindful of balancing that expense with the costs associated with providing the high-quality academic experience that students seek and for which Smith is known.