So that’s that.

Maybe it’s just the way it’s hitting right now but ‘we never took our foot off the gas’ sounds like they went down burning money all the way, which is a good picture of what happened (Got a problem? Hire a consultant!). A colleague forwarded an email from the president of Russell Sage (one of our local competitors and possibly future home to many of our students). I found this paragraph illustrative:

Third, we should all be absolutely clear that while Russell Sage grapples with a tough enrollment market and the difficult overall environment for private colleges, we are in a solid financial position that is not comparable to Saint Rose’s situation at all.  With an endowment size similar to ours and an annual budget only slightly bigger, Saint Rose has been struggling with $50 million in debt and annual deficits exceeding $14 million. In light of the closure of Saint Rose, people may well ask you about Russell Sage’s fiscal health.  I encourage you to share the basics: that we have had five consecutive years of budget surpluses and reduced our debt to $8 million, and that we have a fresh student recruitment strategy and are launching six new online graduate programs.