Rochester College inquiry

[Hypestyles]

who is familar with this school-- either attended, graduated, knowing people who have.. what is your take on this school? In particular, is it accommodating to adult, working students re-entering college?

[Patrick]

I attended RC through Macomb Community College's University Center. I transferred from WSU for undergrad and the difference between the schools, at least for undergrad, was like night and day. RC professors were so much more demanding…almost Quaker-like with their demand for hard-work and dedication. Keep in mind that it is a “Christian” school and some teachers will start class with a prayer but they don’t try to indoctrinate you. I didn’t attend for the churchy stuff….I wanted to finish the program in a certain amount of time and WSU couldn’t offer that option.

[Irvine Laird]

I got my associate's degree from what was then Michigan Christian College in 1996. The school changed its name to Rochester College in 1997 to broaden its marketing appeal [[especially to adult / nontraditional students). I was on staff from 2001 to 2004.

Since people like history trivia on this forum:

• Original name of the college of North Central Christian Junior College [[1959 - 1960)
• Board that formed to establish the school held its original meetings at the YMCA on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.
• Fundraising rallies to establish the school took place at Ford Auditorium from 1956 to 1960.
• Campus in Rochester was the country "cottage" estate of Grosse Pointe advertising bigshot Lou Maxon.
• Pat Boone was a major fundraiser for the school in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• The school was the second Church of Christ affiliated school in America [[first was Pepperdine) to enroll African Americans [[1959).
• Otis Gatewood, the school's first president, was a former missionary to Germany who was shadowed by the KGB for years because the Soviet Union thought he was an American spy.
• Original night classes that evolved into the school were held at the Hamilton and Tuxedo Church of Christ in Highland Park.

[choralmike]

Rochester College has fallen on hard times. It's rumored that it may close soon because of financial instability. Many of the faculty and staff have left. It's a lovely campus in a nice location with some nice history. But I'd investigate further than a message board before going there as a student.

[Patrick]

I have also heard about the financial hardships at RC. It's a shame too, sicne they were just starting to build it up in the early 2000s.

[Irvine Laird]

Three things contributed to the financial hardships at Rochester [[apart from the fact that its legacy donor base of Church of Christ congregations in Michigan was [[and is) dying):

1. The economy
2. Some very, very poor financial decisions from 2004 - 2006 [[i.e. spending millions of dollars the college didn't have on faith that it would somehow turn up from donations)
3. A major donor who promised to fund a new building, but turned out to be broke when the bill came due [[again, very poor decision by the college administration to not bother with due diligence).

Last year, the college named Rubel Shelly, a man with fantastic connections with very wealthy people in the Bible Belt, to be the college's eighth president. In his first summer on the job, Shelly managed to raise $1 million in less than three months and he's been on a tear ever since. Enrollment has set records the last couple of years, too, boosting revenue from federal student loans and tuition. Shelly is arguably the best-connected, most influential, most innovative leader the college has ever had in its 50+ year history.

Another major development [[that is sure to be controversial) is negotiations to sell the college to a for-profit education corporation out of Virginia. The company would infuse the home campus with several millions in capital improvements and would take the brand worldwide through global and online programs. This would effectively take care of the college's debt. The present leadership team would remain in place, as well as the faculty and staff.

[professorscott]

Another major development [[that is sure to be controversial) is negotiations to sell the college to a for-profit education corporation out of Virginia. The company would infuse the home campus with several millions in capital improvements and would take the brand worldwide through global and online programs. This would effectively take care of the college's debt. The present leadership team would remain in place, as well as the faculty and staff.

That would be controversial indeed, since reading between the lines it seems the for-profit company intends to create the next University of Phoenix. Now, there's nothing inherently with UoP; it is what it is. But RC exists for a specific reason and carries with it a set of values; it seems we might be on the verge here of selling our soul to save our skin, does it not? Or am I reading too much into this?

[Onthe405]

But RC exists for a specific reason and carries with it a set of values; it seems we might be on the verge here of selling our soul to save our skin, does it not? Or am I reading too much into this?

No, you are not "reading too much into it" at all. Quite the contrary, this is an issue facing universities throughout the country, particularly as endowments & grants dwindle in the tough economy. There are some strong arguments both for and against for-profit universities. A couple of the biggest moral questions involve the high-pressure and potentially misleading sales techniques used by UoP [[and alike), since the reps are paid a commission by # of enrollees, and whether or not these institutions are actually bilking the Feds [[a la Medicare).

PBS' Frontline recently did an informative story on this topic called "College, Inc". and it features a Dean from a small struggling Christian college near Oakland, CA who is experiencing the ambivalence you are concerned about as he faces the reality that he must sell out to [[IMO) sleazebag Michael Clifford, himself a self-professed "born again Christian".

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...llegeinc/view/

[Irvine Laird]

Perhaps the crux of the matter for small colleges like Rochester seems to be a choice between three options: 1) Maintain the status quo and go out of business; 2) Follow the market [[and the money); or 3) Create a new market. Colleges that follow the first option run out of options very quickly. The real question, then, is can Rochester College create a new market that is strong enough to pay the bills?