Dive Brief:
- Calvin College’s capital campaign for paying down its $115 million debt has proven successful thus far, Insider Higher Ed reports.
- Within eight months, donors have given $25 million to the cause, and the Michigan college’s president says the school will have its debt down to a manageable level by 2017, thanks to donations and real estate sales.
- Before President Michael Le Roy arrived at Calvin in 2012, the college had been setting aside less than 1% of its budget to pay down debt — but Le Roy convinced donors he had a plan to bring the debt under control.
Dive Insight:
The success of the capital campaign apparently comes from Le Roy earning donors’ trust with his debt management plan and the public admission of the the debt problems, Inside Higher Ed reports. As part of Le Roy’s five-year plan, the college has cut $9 million from its budget and plans to sell $15 million in commercial real estate deemed not core to its academic mission.
