Credit Crunch Hits Universities
Posted by Carol Coletta on October 02, 2008
Boston University President Robert A. Brown has called for an immediate hiring freeze and a moratorium on all construction projects that are not already underway in a clear sign that the nation's credit and banking crisis has penetrated the walls of academia.
He said these "precautionary steps" were being taken due to the "uncertainties created by the upheavals in the financial markets and the nation's poor economic outlook," and not because of the university's fiscal health.
The Boston Globe reported that the BU president plans to shore up the university's coffers in case it needs to make more money available to meet an anticipated growth in the need for financial aid - in light of rising unemployment and frozen capital markets affecting families' ability to secure college loans. BU's annual tuition and housing costs about $48,000.