Washington Monthly - September/October 2014 - 41

Matt Connolly

2003-04 graduated within four years from Ferrum or from
What's the meaning of these numbers? Ferrum is
any other public or private nonprofit institution in Virginia. Yet hardly a predatory institution. Many of its educators are
43.3 percent of their counterparts at all other private non- no doubt trying to do the right thing under increasingly
profit four-year institutions in the state graduated within
difficult financial circumstances. "A lot of private small
four years. Even ten years later, the 46 percent of students colleges are fighting for their lives," says Jeff Dalton, an
who started as seventeen- to nineteen-year-old freshmen at art professor who finished teaching at Ferrum this year.
Ferrum had still not graduated from any college in Virginia,
"We're fighting for our piece of the pie, trying to attract
compared to a ten-year in-state graduation rate of 62.3 for
students here."
students who previously attended Virginia's other private
According to Melanie Rooks, the senior president of
four-year colleges.
Ferrum's student government, the administration is also
Are there schools that do worse on this one metric than taking measures to persuade more students to stay. "They
Ferrum? Yes, there are a handful. Historically black Norfolk
try to instill a passion for learning within us, and they have
State University, for example. But what makes Ferrum real- programs targeted toward sophomores." Those programs inly stand out is the way that it scores consistently low across clude pep rallies and "Panther pride" pins, plus help for ousta broad range of performance measures. For example, Fered football players to find other activities on campus.
rum is a pricy place for what it offers. Even with grants and
As the testimony of Rooks attests, Ferrum is indeed
scholarships, the average net price to attend the college a source of "Panther pride" for many students. For othand live on camers such as Mipus still came to
chelle Farris, it
$19,324 in 2012.
is at least a good
Largely as a replace to gain the
sult, fully 91 pergrades and macent of Ferrum
turity needed to
graduates take on
get into a more
student debt. This
elite institution.
is far higher than
It's not at all clear
the average borthat the world,
rowing rate for
much less this
all private nonone little corner
profit four-year
of economically
institutions in
struggling southVirginia, which
west Virginia,
comes to 69 perwould be a better
cent. Multiplying
place should Ferthese borrowing
rum simply cease
rates by the ato exist.
mount of debt
But for stuincurred by each
dents considergraduate yields a
ing Ferrum, the
weighted debt avdata clearly shows
erage of $26,169
that they will run
Campus exodus: Barely half of the freshmen at Virginia's Ferrum College return for their
at Ferrum, coma substantially
sophomore year.
pared to an averhigher statistical
age $18,910 for all private nonprofit institutions in the state.
risk of educational failure and high indebtedness if they atPaying back that much money isn't easy, because even tend this school instead of many others that are likely within
those Ferrum students who manage to graduate tend to
their reach. And for taxpayers who are shouldering the costs
earn less than their counterparts at other comparable Virof the Pell Grants and subsidized student loans, and for poliginia schools. Its accounting grads, for example, earn a mecymakers trying to raise educational standards, the question
dian $32,331 per year, compared to $42,086 for those at other of how to hold schools like Ferrum accountable for their poor
Virginia colleges.
performance becomes increasingly urgent.
All of which leads many Ferrum students into default.
Of the 461 who began repaying their student loans in 2009, Matt Connolly's work has appeared in Mother Jones, the Washington
more than a fifth have defaulted. This compares with a na- Examiner, and the Washington Post, among many other periodicals,
tional average three-year default rate for private colleges of
and he reports on politics and culture for Mic. Phillip Longman is the
8.2 percent.
senior editor of the Washington Monthly.
Washington Monthly

41
Washington Monthly - September/October 2014

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