As Syracuse University continues to roll out Invest Syracuse, the university’s $100 million academic investment plan, it remains unclear whether the plan fully aligns with the priorities identified in the Academic Strategic Plan.

Other than a few particular initiatives — such as the creation of a scholarship for valedictorians and salutatorians — the university has so far provided few specific details regarding how the $100 million will be used to advance the ASP. But based on what is known publicly, it appears Invest Syracuse could be at odds with the Academic Strategic Plan’s goals of internationalization and of attracting a more diverse student population.

On Tuesday, administrators will host the third of three information sessions for Invest Syracuse in Goldstein Auditorium. There, those administrators will provide a summary of the plan, namely that the university will raise the $100 million by fundraising, making administrative cuts and instituting a $3,300 tuition premium beginning next academic year.

SU officials have said financial aid will be increased to help balance out that tuition premium, but that won’t be possible for one group: international students. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid.

And though one of the goals of the Academic Strategic Plan is to “better cultivate, welcome, support, and value the contributions of our international student community,” it is not clear how Invest Syracuse will advance that goal. Of the plans for Invest Syracuse listed on the initiative’s website, none specifically address the international student population.

That’s despite a feeling among many on campus that the Slutzker Center for International Services needs more resources as the international student population continues to increase. That sentiment dates back to at least January 2014, when a University Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Affairs report recommended increased staffing and a more lucrative budget for the center.

The university has since created an Internationalization Council, but funding for the center has not increased.

At a special University Senate meeting held last month to discuss Invest Syracuse, Deborah Pellow, a professor of anthropology who has previously criticized SU’s handling of international student issues, said the center still lacks adequate resources, such as a staff member who speaks Chinese.

“This is not a minor thing,” said Pellow, who is currently a University Senator. “These are students who come from places that have no relation whatsoever to the United States. And that particular office simply has to be better funded. And it hasn’t been. It just hasn’t been.”

SU Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly, whose office oversees the Internationalization Council, said members of the council spent most of the 2016-17 academic year “listening to the concerns of international students and faculty.”

“We are very aware of some of the special needs that they have,” she said.

The Academic Strategic Plan also calls for a more diverse student body, and Invest Syracuse is meant to result in increased student diversity across the socioeconomic spectrum.

The $3,300 tuition premium could make it difficult to do that.

A report published earlier this year by the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that higher education remains unaffordable for most Americans, and that students from low- and moderate-income backgrounds can only afford 1 to 5 percent of colleges.

To help counteract that trend, the report called on colleges to “contain costs” and “manage tuition increases.” Under Invest Syracuse, the tuition premium will add onto tuition rates that rise at about 3.9 percent annually.

At the special University Senate meeting on Invest Syracuse, multiple faculty members expressed skepticism about the planned tuition premium and the effects it will have.

“I realize that the majority of our students get financial aid, but it seems to me that we really need to think about the connection between that figure and the desire to attract students across socioeconomic spectrum, including those who may want to study things that don’t necessarily fit into the fields that get a lot of outside funding,” said Margaret Thompson, an associate professor of history and political science and current University Senator, at the meeting. “So I’m curious as to how this is going to work in a practical sense.”

Dolan Evanovich, SU’s senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, said in an interview with The Daily Orange Editorial Board that SU’s sticker price is generally not important to prospective students. Evanovich wasn’t able to provide data to support that claim, but said it was based on conversations with students who visit campus and students at high schools SU officials visit.

According to the Invest Syracuse website, the university plans to expand its socioeconomic diversity by increasing need-based financial aid programs, rebalancing student loans and increasing support for the Office of Financial Literacy.

It’s not clear how much of Invest Syracuse’s $100 million will go toward those initiatives, however, as the plan does not specify exactly how the Invest Syracuse funds will be allocated.

That lack of specificity is a trend across many aspects of the plan, making it difficult to assess how the plan will affect the university. For example, 100 new faculty will be hired under the plan, but SU officials say they’re unsure what the priorities will be in choosing those hires. There will also be $30 million made in administrative cuts, but officials have declined to provide a full breakdown of those cuts.

“It’s as if someone said they were going to sell you an iPhone for $1,000, but they didn’t tell you what it does,” said Craig Dudczak, an associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies and a former chair of the University Senate’s budget committee. “That’s sort of where we’ve placed ourselves.”

Published on October 2, 2017 at 11:25 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu