Mars Hill's Future?

[Ethel Kay]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

But, did you know
*That Tusculum maintains a small museum to honor the only former president elected to the US Senate?
*That Tusculum is the oldest University in the Volunteer State?
*That Tusculum is named after the home of Dr. John Witherspoon one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence
*That the first African American to graduate from college in TN did so at Tusculum in 1806
*That Tusculum's Niswonger Athletic Complex includes an indoor football practice field of over 44,450 square feet
*That Maryleigh Adams, a Tusculum graduate, went to China as a Presbyterian missionary and later served as a UN Translator

[Eagle74]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

Nope, never knew those tidbits of their history. I do know that they have a nice football stadium.

Just saw this, and things aren't sounding very good at all for this small private college: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H99GlebAJL4

[Chuck Bitner]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

Good things are happening at Mars Hill. Construction on the new football field house is progressing and they landed a pretty decent looking recruiting class, including a transfer QB that could be a difference maker. They're program isn't going away any time soon.

Comments about Tusculum and outdated facilities are way off base, in my opinion.

[Eagle74]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

Good things are happening at Mars Hill. Construction on the new football field house is progressing and they landed a pretty decent looking recruiting class, including a transfer QB that could be a difference maker. They're program isn't going away any time soon.

Comments about Tusculum and outdated facilities are way off base, in my opinion.

I'm trying to find where anyone posted anything about Tusculum's outdated facilities. In fact, they have pretty impressive facilities.

The focus should be on declining enrollment and financial sustainability, and how to turn things around. I've seen some schools with great facilities / dorms etc that end up with half empty classes, and a lot of empty beds. These facilities need ongoing funding through enrollment tuition etc to simply maintain, it's simple financial economics.

For schools who are facing declining enrollments (some with rapid declines), they need to address these declines before it starts negatively effecting their capabilities of maintaining or keeping programs of all types.

Mars Hill (as brought to my attention) is in pretty good shape to weather and address their declines (which may be temporary) due to the fact that that they are in much better financial shape than other private institutions. I agree (based on their present financial situation) they're football program shouldn't be going away any time soon.

[canadarican]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

Mars Hill (as brought to my attention) is in pretty good shape to weather and address their declines (which may be temporary) due to the fact that that they are in much better financial shape than other private institutions. I agree (based on their present financial situation) they're football program shouldn't be going away any time soon.

Very true. Mars Hill is in better shape (financially) than some of the schools within their own league, including C-N.

[Eagle74]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

Private universities or colleges rely heavily on a healthy endowment to help ensure and sustain the capability to maintain the institutions financial stability, along with opportunities for potential future growth.

Endowments represent money or other financial assets that are donated to private universities or colleges and are meant to be invested to grow the principal and provide additional income for future investing and expenditures. Most endowments have guidelines stating how much of each year's investment income can be spent. For many private colleges, this amount is about 5% of the endowment's total asset value."


Lenoir Rhyne Endowment = 106 million

Wingate = 90 million

Catawba = 55 million

Mars Hill Endowment = 50 million

Carson Newman Endowment = 49 million

Newberry = Endowment = 23 million

Limestone = 17 million

Tusculum Endowment = 15.7 million

[UNALions]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

I'm noticing some (mostly larger) schools have Athletics Endowments in addition to University-wide endowments.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/At...ments-vs/47396

[canadarican]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

I heard from a fellow alum and athletics donor that Tusculum is supposed to be receiving a huge donation at dinner Wednesday.

Here's a question...does what a school have in its endowment a necessarily fair way of evaluating the financial health of a college or university? You can have a decent endowment and the schools still have quite a bit in debt.

I don't fully understand all the mumbo jumbo when it comes to all that so I'd be interested to hear what folks think.

[Eagle74]

Re: Mars Hill's Future?

On a side note, the new kid on the block UVA-Wise being a state supported school, and falling under the UVA umbrella, is not as dependent on their tuition dollars or endowment to maintain financial stability. New construction, programs, etc are basically funded annually by the state of VA. So their football program should be around for a long time.