State Universities Respond to Decreased Funding

By Rebecca Dell

In response to state budget cuts, public higher education institutions have to find creative ways like premium graduate programs to bolster their budgets while keeping the public education mission alive.

For example, George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., is working on specialized graduate-level programs that will bring in a profit to the university, said Provost Peter Stearns. These programs will be designed for professional enhancement.

Mason already opened an on-campus hotel in 2010, with two-fold benefits: the space for on-campus conferences and speaker hosting, and the opportunity to raise funds from outside of the student body.

These are examples of institutions reacting to budget cuts by acting more like a private schools, said Stearns. In fact, Georgetown and George Washington, said Stearns, are making similar strides toward behaving like businesses.

There is always the option of raising tuition to make up for a gap between costs and funds.

"Many institutions must shift the cost to the students.  If the costs have to be made up in the academic areas of the institution, it can lead to larger classes (and lower class availability), and lower support for faculty research," said Andrew Flagel, George Mason University Associate Vice President for Enrollment Development and Dean of Admissions.

The lack of funding can have devastating effects on schools. Virginia Commonwealth University faces larger reductions than any other 4-year Virginia state institution between now and 2012, according to VCU.

"VCU cannot sustain its core mission as a major research university focused on student learning at current revenue levels, let alone reduced levels. The consequences of not raising tuition, or even a small tuition increase, are profound," VCU says.

As schools turn increasingly to business solutions, complete privatization of state universities is not necessarily an option. For Mason, the cost would be too high.

"For an institution like Mason right now to go private would be foolish, because we don't have the philanthropy base," Stearns said. "We would lose 25% of our operating budget."

Stearns also said that if such a drastic change were to happen, some financial aid for in-state students would be lost. Another consequence would be the loss of building funding—academic buildings are largely funded by state bonds. For example, $60 million of Mason's new engineering building was paid for by the state.

Rebecca Dell can be reached at becca_2@myfairpoint.net

For more information:

George Mason University

State Council of Higher Educationfor Virginia

VCU Budget Update

Virginia's Restructuring Act 

The Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, located on George Mason University's Fairfax, Va., campus, offers space and revenue. As public universities suffer state funding cuts, they have to look for new sources of revenue. Photo by Rebecca Dell  

Out-of-State Students a Boon to Universities by Rebecca Dell

F.C. New York Players Reflect on Professional Play

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. – For every athlete who wants to play professionally, there are untold numbers who do not make it. Brent Brockman is not one of those. 

Brockman, a Pennsylvania native who majored in education and wants to eventually go into full-time coaching, graduated in December from George Mason University. He moved to Long Island in March to play defense for F.C. New York, a brand-new United Soccer Leagues PRO team.

While it is the same game, Brockman said that the professional style of play is more technical than the college style.

"Everything is so much cleaner," Brockman said. Professional players are more in control of the play and further developed in their athletic prowess. They also have to think faster to keep up with the game.

Playing professionally also means playing with more international "footballers," as much of the world calls soccer players. This exposes athletes to different styles of play and different game philosophies.

American players tend to focus more on fitness and nutrition, said Ben Algar, a British player for F.C. New York.

"In England, you do a lot more ball work," Algar said.

But the cultural glamour alone of playing professional sports is not enough to justify the work and adjustments involved.

"You really have to want it," said F.C. New York player Troy Cole. "It's a misconception that it is easy."

The USL PRO season runs from March to August, twice as long as the college season. Once their season ends, many players train with a Major League Soccer team until the end of that season in November. The physical and mental grind rises to a level that it never reached in college. It requires a new kind of discipline.

In addition to the physical and mental adjustments, Brockman has another hurdle to face: a torn right ACL that has sent him to the sidelines for the remainder of the 2011 season.

It is not a new situation for Brockman. As a freshman at Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, he tore his left ACL in a spring match against Mason, the school to which he would eventually transfer. He was forced to sit out his sophomore season.

In 2009, he transferred to Mason, a school with about 30,000 more students than Saint Francis and head coach Greg Andrulis, a former MLS coach.

Now Brockman hopes to spend his off-season working with his former team at Mason, recovering from surgery so he can play again in the spring.

Rebecca Dell can be reached at becca_2@myfairpoint.net

Brent Brockman looks on as his team, F.C. New York, practices on a foggy May morning. Brockman is out for the season with a torn ACL but hopes to be back on the pitch by next year. Photo by Rebecca Dell

The hour is early, but F.C. New York players remain focused during practice. Photo by Rebecca Dell

Brockman shares a house—dubbed "The Jungle"—with several of his teammates, and soccer gear fills the house and yard. Photo by Rebecca Dell

Professional Athletes Deal with Injuries by Rebecca Dell

Former math teacher succeeding in cake business

By Rebecca Dell

Decorated cakes wait for delivery at 

Sugar Flower Cake Shop in the Fashion District.

MANHATTAN – High school math teacher Amy DeGiulio was bored.

Her previous experience as an actuary helped her develop efficient work habits. So while many other teachers had to take work home at the end of the day, she took up hobbies, eventually starting her own business: Sugar Flower Cake Shop, a decorated-cake shop located in the Fashion District.

It all started in the early 2000s when she took a series of four baking classes that ended in a lesson on making sugar flowers.

"That's kind of where my eyes just opened up," DeGiulio said.

She bought books and kept practicing, learning by trial and error. In 2006, she started her own business. Her first customers were bakers and brides. DeGiulio explained that as the economy took a downturn, do-it-yourself projects became more popular. Young brides who wanted to save on a cake could have a friend make it and decorate it with DeGiulio's flowers.

Now DeGiulio bakes cakes and decorates them with buttercream frosting as well as rolled fondant, a clay-like sugar mixture. She carefully dusts colored powder on leaves and petals made out of sugar paste, gently blowing off extra powder to get the right hue. Intern Katie Bosch sits across the room cutting a playing card out of rolled fondant for an Alice in Wonderland-themed cake.   

Bosch, a former pastry student at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, is involved with everything from baking the cakes and making the buttercream to rolling fondant for the decorations.

"I like having a project," Bosch said. At a pastry shop, she might be cooking the same thing all day—what she described as "seven hours of chocolate chip cookies"—but at Sugar Flower Cake Shop the work is always evolving.

While DeGiulio isn't sure whether the business will expand into a store front, she is interested in working with television to produce a show. She's committed to providing a high level of service to customers and she's passionate about her commitment to local and sustainable cake ingredients.     

Rebecca Dell can be reached at becca_2@myfairpoint.net 

Sugar Flower Cake Shop intern Katie Bosch carefully paints a teapot decoration for an Alice in Wonderland-themed cake.

Sugar Flower Cake Shop intern Katie Bosch works at one of the shop's all-purpose counters.

Sugar Flower Cake Shop gives interns education in decoration by Rebecca Dell

ENGL 399 Feature REVISION

Next Time

Sometimes you can tell from the start that you're not going to win. As soon as you hit the top of the second escalator out of Stadium-Armory, you are accosted by vendors hawking fake D.C. United merchandise. Unless you want an official jersey, you can save about $105 by buying a rip-off t-shirt to show your fanhood. Elizabeth, one of the girls I was with (along with Chelsea, Piper and Nicole), bought her sports-minded brother a t-shirt. Chelsea bought one too, saying, "I'm cheap, and it's only five dollars, so I have to buy it!" (logic that may fall apart at some point). Since it was my first time at a D.C. game, I decided to start small.

I made a newbie mistake, though: I bought a t-shirt from one of the vendors who did not promise "front-and-back." Mine has a lonely screen-printed D.C. United emblem on the front, while the back is a large white blank. The hasty exchange taught me to take my time in the future; fortunately, a five-dollar mistake is not grave and by the time we passed a folding table covered with Costco packs of chips and candy for sale, I had forgotten about the t-shirt purchase and eagerly scoped the landscape for the swayed outline of RFK Stadium.