More on Evaluating Campus Finances

I’ve written here a couple of times about how important it is these days for job candidates to carefully evaluate the financial circumstances of potential employers. A recent article in the Des Moines Register on the indebtedness of various private colleges in Iowa highlights, once again, how important it is to consider an institution’s overall financial health as part of your deliberations about potential offers.

Currently one of the conversations occurring in the state (and I’m sure in other states as well) concerns cuts in institutions’ TIAA-CREF contributions. While I wouldn’t say in the current economy that such cuts are an automatic indicator of serious financial problems on a campus, candidates should certainly ask questions about what’s behind the cuts and about how the administration plans to get things back on track.

As a candidate, you need to understand an institution’s financial circumstances as thoroughly as possible. There is always the possibility (and, depending on discipline, the likelihood) that your first job will be your only job, and if you’re going to take that kind of risk (or, phrased more positively, make that kind of commitment), you need to go into it with as much knowledge as you can acquire.