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Seattle U President Stephen Sundborg, S.J. told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last week the university's endowment suffered a 10 percent loss but that the university will continue to pursue all of its strategic plans.
The university's endowment now sits at $200 million. As of June, it totaled $216 million, so the majority of the 10 percent loss has occurred in the past few months as a result of the economic crisis.
The impacts of the economy on Seattle U's financial stability were further discussed at the panel lecture "Economy in Crisis: How did we get here? What lies ahead?" Tues., Oct. 14.
Monday, the university had difficulty accessing one of its short-term fund accounts said panelist Ron Smith, VP for Finance and Business Affairs.
Wachovia, one of the institutes used by the university, was taken over by another institute and the account was frozen. The university was set to receive a $3 million. The money from this account will be sent out on a periodic basis of 10 percent installments.
"We had just issued our payroll for $6 million, so we kind of had to scramble and get money from other sources," said Smith.
Some individuals were taken aback when Smith made this statement. He later explained the university had the resources to cover payroll, but it was access to these resources that was lacking.
Two other panelists-Rick Riccobono, president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle and Chris Weber, professor of economics--provided different insight into the state of the economy.
While Smith focused on how market conditions effect the university, Riccobono covered housing and finance markets and Weber discussed the impact of financial fallouts on the economy.
The university is keeping watch for any ripple effect in the economy that may cause financial difficulty. Everything from insurance rates to utilities is being monitored.
Smith declared the situation is not yet "doom and gloom." He said the event with payroll taught the university about the importance of diversification as well as the need to ensure an adequate amount of asset liquidity.
Despite burgeoning concerns, the university's endowment is expected to stay strong. Projects will proceed as planned, including the renovations of the library, and the construction of the 12th Avenue and Cherry Street multi-use building, projected to be available for occupancy fall of 2010.
Jim White, associate provost for enrollment management, noted the fluxuating economy may cause changes in enrollment, but it's difficult to foretell.
"The economy may impact student college choice," he said. "It is too hard to predict at this time how this will impact the enrollment number."
One of the more pressing issues for students hinges on the ability to obtain loans.
"We have to prepare ourselves to help those students out, or some students may have to quit school for a while until they save some money," Smith said.
White suggested the use of university resources to alleviate some of the current economical strains.
"Students should take advantage of working through our State Work Study program [...] I would also encourage students to investigate scholarship opportunities," said White, going on to note that involvement in university organizations can sometimes be a means of accessing scholarship aid.
He also said it would be prudent to exercise caution.
"Try to put off big expenditures," Smith said.
The most important point he sought to get across was that this is not the time for panic, merely the time to exercise caution and conservation, with these methods, all members of the university should be able to weather the current economic storm.
Some students expressed concern regarding whether or not they would be able to find employment post graduation.
Noori Kim, junior psychology major, offered this piece of advice, "I went to the lecture and it was really surprising for me because we were already in crisis about a year ago [...] I think as students we need to be more educated about what's going on right now."
The speakers tried to be as "user friendly" with their knowledge as possible. Riccobono started by giving a brief overview of how the current housing crisis developed, and how it began to influence other markets.
"There was generally a tremendous amount of wealth worldwide, and too many investment dollars chasing too few good investments," Riccobono said.
Talk of recession soon followed. Weber noted assessing the gross domestic product is not always a clear indicator of how hard times are.
"Going by the labor market, we've been in recession over one year," said Weber.
He went on to note that concern is beginning to shift toward the impact on production and consumption levels, as well as available credit, which could hinder students and young professionals from financing their education and young professionals from securing business loans.
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