NEW YORK, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Some colleges with small endowments say they will offer more financial aid during the recession to prevent top students from going elsewhere.
Losing even a few students can mean laying off teachers and eliminating courses, said Kathy Kurz, a enrollment consultant to colleges.
"Most of them recognize that their discount rates are going to go up, but they'd rather have a discounted person in the seat than no one in the seat," Kurz said.
By having staff teach classes usually handled by adjunct professors, Nichols College in Dudley, Mass., expects to save enough to discount tuition for 20 prospective students and help 40 current students who otherwise could not afford to return, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Ithaca College, in upstate New York, is laying off faculty but also is offering increased tuition discounts in the largest financial aid budget in its history.
Colleges offering similar discounts include Albright College, in Reading, Pa.; Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pa.; College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati and Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga.
