The Tower Summer 2018 - 3

From The
President's Desk
T

he cover of this issue is a photograph of our commencement. The cover story references the 1,300
employers with over 3,000 jobs seeking these graduates and the difference the College has made in
their lives. Considering the extremely difficult circumstances many of these students had to overcome
to be successful, this is a very compelling story, especially when considering the critical need they will
be filling in the Commonwealth's skills gap.

Dr. William E. Griscom
President

These graduates are our bottom line. In the private sector the bottom line is how much profit you
make. Our philosophy has been that we should operate as much like a business as possible but always
as it relates to our mission. To do this we created performance measures derived directly from our
mission. We review these measures regularly and identify areas of success and areas for improvement.
We try to standardize areas of success across the institution and do root cause analysis on areas that
offer opportunities for improvement and implement corrective actions. We monitor our expenses and
maintain control on the ratio of administration and staff to faculty and students. We do not fund
anything that we cannot tie directly back to our mission. Consequently we are fiscally very conservative
and have no debt and some reserves for unforeseen emergencies.
There is a very significant difference between us and a private sector company. If a private sector
company is successful and increases its profits it can expand and grow. In our case we have continually
improved our success but with no direct connection to our funding. Our funding is a direct result of
our governmental affairs efforts, headed by Mr. Alex Munro, who works directly with the Governor
and General Assembly to secure financial support. Fortunately we have received increasing funding
but much more is required if we are to meet the needs of the economy and provide the opportunity a
Stevens education provides to all of the students who applied but we did not have the capacity to admit.
Approximately ten years ago we made a proposal to the Governor for performance based funding.
Essentially the proposal took our total funding and divided it by the number of graduates who found
employment in their field, at a family sustaining wage. We proposed this as a baseline. If we produced
less, our funding would be reduced, accordingly and conversely, if we produced more, our funding
would increase. This was a way of directly linking performance to funding. A model similar to the
private sector. While the proposal was warmly received it was not implemented.
As Dr. Kevin Fleming has documented, today we live in a New Economy where the old models of
higher education do not apply. Based on the demand for admission and the demand for our graduates,
Thaddeus Stevens College should have an enrollment of 10,000 students producing 6,000 graduates per
year. Our model is easily scalable and would produce the same results of: an 80 percent progression
rate; 60 percent graduation rate; median student loan debt of $7,300; while the cost per student would
decrease. The only thing needed is the financial resources to expand. Changing historical funding
patterns in a political environment, where the funding pie is not getting any larger and other demands
such as infrastructure, health care, and K-12 education are applying increasing pressure, is very difficult.
Perhaps the solution is performance based funding, an idea whose time has come.

Summer 2018 3



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Tower Summer 2018

The Tower Summer 2018 - 1
The Tower Summer 2018 - 2
The Tower Summer 2018 - 3
The Tower Summer 2018 - 4
The Tower Summer 2018 - 5
The Tower Summer 2018 - 6
The Tower Summer 2018 - 7
The Tower Summer 2018 - 8
The Tower Summer 2018 - 9
The Tower Summer 2018 - 10
The Tower Summer 2018 - 11
The Tower Summer 2018 - 12
The Tower Summer 2018 - 13
The Tower Summer 2018 - 14
The Tower Summer 2018 - 15
The Tower Summer 2018 - 16
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/2022-annual-report
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/the-tower-annual-report
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Tower_Summer_2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Tower_Summer_2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Tower_Summer_2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Tower_Winter_2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/TheTowerSummer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/TheTowerWinter17
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/TowerFall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/Winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/stevenscollege/tower/fall2015
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com