Colleges nationwide have found small ways to adjust their budgets in the context of a slow national economy, from eliminating landline phones to getting rid of premium cable. At Tufts, incoming freshman may not have even noticed that the Orientation 2009 budget was significantly lower.
In March of the past academic year, Tufts President Lawrence Bacow sent a letter to the Tufts community informing members about the university's budget. Written in the context of the summer's negative economic outlook, the letter focused largely on the recession's past and future repercussions for Tufts.
In the letter, Bacow predicted that the endowment would continue to decline by 30 percent, and explained that faculty and staff members earning more than $50,000 would have their salaries frozen, while those earning less would receive only humble increases. Tuition would, again, increase and small-scale layoffs would persist.
On Sept. 15, however, Bacow welcomed the community back to campus with a second, more hopeful letter. Over the summer the endowment declined at a rate of 25 percent instead of 30 percent, and Tufts' annual fund unexpectedly rose by six percent.
In addition, Bernard M. Gordon, Trustee Emeritus, announced his plans to donate $40 million to the School of Engineering. Construction over the summer, including work on Cousens Gym, the Rez, Packard Hall, Carmichael Hall, the Loj and various sites on the Boston and Grafton campuses, was completed as planned. Tufts has also managed not to cut any financial aid and escaped the need for extensive layoffs.
Still, Bacow emphasized that his optimism does not come without caution. This academic year's budget will still be tighter than it has been in the past, and the university will refrain from spending lavishly simply to attract new students.
"We must resist the temptation to add glitz for glitz' sake," Bacow said in his September letter.
Freshman Orientation was one aspect of the university's programing where budget cuts were taken to heart. Significant changes were made to the program, saving the school many thousands of dollars.
"It's not like we were told 'we have to save this much money.' We were just told, 'let's look at ways we can save money without hurting programming,'" said Joseph Golia, Director of the Office for Campus Life and Co-Director of Undergraduate Orientation. "The message we were given was everyone's got to look at ways to cut."
To save money, organizers of this year's orientation arranged as many cost-free events as possible and lowered the budget of the traditionally expensive events. As opposed to handing out numerous university-sponsored gift bags and freebies, as they have in the past, they made deals with local businesses that were willing to provide free or cheap entertainment for freshmen in return for the promotional opportunity.
One such event, the Target Extravaganza, has been a part of Freshman Orientation for a number of years. Traditionally, Target opens exclusively to Tufts freshmen during one of the nights of Orientation and provides buses to shuttle freshmen to and from its Cambridge location.
This year, however, Target was even more involved. The store sponsored a disc jockey and plenty of free gifts at the "Jumbolicious" event held outside the Campus Center. Vendors had the chance to woo freshmen with free handouts and activities, and the event gave freshmen an opportunity to bond
Local businesses again relieved Tufts of its usual Orientation costs with the "Discover Davis" event. For two days of Orientation, local restaurants in Davis Square offered special deals for Tufts freshmen upon presentation of coupons given out by the university.
Because advertising is so important to local businesses, soliciting restaurants to participate took basically no effort on Tufts' part, Golia said. He called it a "win-win situation," noting that Orientation Leaders and their freshman groups got the chance to discover Davis Square, the university was able to transfer the cost of food to restaurants in Davis, and local restaurants had a magnificent opportunity to win over new customers. Photocopying the coupons was the only cost paid by the university.
According to Golia, the most successful change was moving the traditional Gantcher Center dinner to the President's Lawn.
"We were able to save a huge amount of money on the opening night dinner and show, and we feel like nothing was sacrificed," he said.
By moving the event, the university was able to forgo the costs of powering, decorating and reserving Gantcher Center. There was no need to pay for screens to border the stage or the banners that have been hung, year after year, in the gym. Event organizers were also able to save by making use of the tables and tents that were already in place on the President's Lawn for the Welcome Picnic that morning.
"Gantcher was just ... so much," Golia said. "Those banners on the left and right of the stage, just those cost thousands of dollars each year. And do you think anybody really missed them?"
In all, the cuts made to Freshman Orientation saved approximately $50,000.
Although freshmen were unable to compare their experience to past Orientation events, older Orientation Leaders and Resident Assistants who had experienced the Gantcher dinner in prior years agreed the new event was a success.
"In the past, Gantcher was extremely crowded and stuffy the entire time; the President's Lawn seemed to have a nicer ambiance," junior Royi Gavrielov, an Orientation Leader said. "I can't say I noticed any huge changes, and my group seemed to have a solid time on the President's Lawn."
