Many of these schools are also involving the students and rewarding them for their contributions in helping the college save money. I would not be surprised if some of these budget improving exercises were thought up by the students themselves. I think these colleges are setting a good example of financial responsibility. If they can eliminate even more expenses maybe in the future this can even help make college more affordable.

Here are some of the ways that these colleges cut their expenses without directly affecting faculty jobs:

1. Got rid of unnecessary landlines. $1100/month
2. Held virtual athletics events and saved travel expenses. $900 on bus travel
3. No new faculty bus tour.
4. Less window washing. $22,300/year
5. Less sidewalk power washing.
6. Weekly trash pickup instead of daily trash pickup.
7. Made professors teach 6 classes instead of only 5.
8. Cutting back on FREE student laundry service. $150,000/year
9. Eliminating FREE ESPN and HBO in student rooms. $75,000/year
10. Eliminating one day of new-student orientation. $50,000/year
11. Putting a cap on student FREE printing per semester to $50/semester.
12. Turning down thermostats.
13. Getting rid of trays in the cafeteria. $30,000/semester
14. Reducing paper based brochures and directories and moving to digital.
15. Low flow shower head.
16. Energy-saving light bulbs.
17. Holding dorm contest to see who can reduce energy costs by the most.
18. Switching from bottled water to tap water. $10,000+
19. Rebuilding old computers instead of buying new ones.
20. Limiting vehicle purchasing.
21. Scheduling more video-conferencing creating less travel.
22. Eliminating voicemail systems and equipment now that most students and faculty use cell phones.
23. Staffing students in the summer in professional positions to give them work experience while paying them less. $725,000/year
24. Hiring students to renovate dorm rooms at minimum wage giving them a summer job.

If all colleges could implement multiple combinations of similar expense cuts, college could become even more affordable. We need to encourage colleges to be smart and follow the examples of these schools.

If you want to read the original article I pulled this information from, it’s titled “For Colleges, Small Cuts Add Up to Big Savings”. It’s a well written article and goes into details on what schools did what and how much they saved. I’d like to thank Tamar Lewin for such a great article.

I’m one of those Generation Y college students who has always enjoyed the benefits of the internet throughout my scholastic career.  Let me cite a few examples for you:

-Second Grade: My Dad used to let me get on the internet for a half an hour a day to look at pictures of the Spice Girls.  While this was not technically school-related I did master some navigation skills.  (Picture me clicking on sparkly pop-ups offering free lip gloss).

-Sixth Grade: When I was assigned to do a report on the planet Venus, I cleverly used up half of the required posterboard space with photos of the planet I downloaded online.

-Seventh Grade: I clearly remember the sheer moment of terror I experienced as  I was printing out my science project report and realized I had misused the words, “effect,” and “affect.”  A quick visit to dictionary.com cleared things right up.

-Ninth Grade: For our unit on the Holocaust we were able to view images of the concentration camps and museums during computer class.  I remember how much those images jolted me and what a sense of reverence I gained for those people.

-Tenth Grade: The dreaded “Term Research Paper,” was made much easier through the use of internet research resources.  Going to the library and checking out all those dusty books about Ernest Hemingway would have taken FOREVER.

-Twelfth Grade: As college application dates loomed in on me, I was able to check out schools and send in my application materials via the web.

College: I have never used the web more in my life.   I’m constantly researching things for papers, tests and assignments through my school’s portal and through the plain old Google search.  My professors often post assignments and guides on the Blackboard.com system and you can even check your grades online there as well. In group projects, we regularly use Google Docs to edit and collaborate.   Also, because I am a communications major, I have spent a good deal of time studying the way  the internet and social networking have changed marketing and advertising.   It is simply something I can’t ignore in this industry.

College has brought on more recreational uses of the web as well.   Facebook breaks are the perfect reprieve during long study sessions and ratemyprofessor.com has saved me from more than one awful professor.

I expect that the internet and its powerful tools will only become more important and useful for me as I continue my career. Or as my friends at BadBoySodas would say, “The innanet’s blowin up.”

Carrie Underwood

Before this blue-eyed blonde took the American Idol circuit by storm, she took writing classes.  After graduating from Checotah High School she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis on Journalism. It wasn’t all work and no play though, she was also a member of the Alpha Iota sorority.

Tina Fey

Fey has earned her way into the hearts and Tivo queues of millions of many Americans with her deadpan comedic delivery and nice-girl appeal.  She sharpened her acting chops at the University of Virginia where she studied drama.

Eva Longoria

She might play one on TV but Eva Longoria is no desperate housewife.  This Texas A&M grad earned a bachelors of Science degree in Kinesiology, the study of body movement.  After  college, she entered a talent contest that brought her to Los Angeles, and she has been acting ever since.

Rahm Emmanuel

Mr. Emmanuel was one of the first people appointed to Barack Obama’s administration and he has the educational pedigree to back it up.  He is known for a take-no-prisoners attitude and is often referred to as Rahmbo but we learn that he has a softer side from his ballet studies as an adolescent.   He was offered a ballet scholarship to Joffrey Ballet school but turned it down to attend Sarah Lawrence College. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University.

Michelle Obama

Mrs. Obama may answer to “first lady,” but she has what it takes to hold her own in the male-dominated world of US government.  Michelle studied at Princeton before obtaining her Juris Doctrorate from Harvard in 1988.  Mrs. Obama is one select few first ladies with a post-graduate degree alongside Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush.

Rashida Jones

Office fans know Rashida Jones as Jim’s old girlfriend, but Harvard’s class of 1997 knew her as just another classmate.  Jones had a penchant for reading from a young age and her father, musician Quincy Jones, recalls finding her reading books by flashlight under the covers at age 5.  At Harvard, Rashida toyed with the idea of becoming an attorney but later settled on a degree in religion and philosophy.

Jimmy Fallon

SNL veteran Jimmy Fallon is a proponent of the 17 year bachelor plan.  Fallon attended the College of St. Rose in in New York and left one semester short of graduating with a degree in communications.  He felt the need to finish what he started and presented his final portfolio last month and deemed worthy to receive a bachelors degree in communications.  “Finally, I convinced them that I’ve done enough communicating to get my communications degree — and it only took me 17 years do to it. All I can say is, Thank God I didn’t want to be a doctor. That would have taken 65 years,” said Jimmy.