Word: hiram
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...tell you how much the article on the death of Hiram Scott College [May 1] touched me. You see, I am one of the "ghosts...
Hand-to-Mouth. Hiram Scott's fate has struck 119 other small colleges and seminaries in the past three years, and another 254 may be broke by 1980, according to the American Association of Colleges. The problem: with few endowments or research grants, many survived hand-to-mouth on tuition fees. In recent years, the recession has driven students to cheaper public colleges. When the enrollment boom ended, financially weak colleges went bust...
...Hiram Scott had special problems of its own. It was one of five colleges founded by small-town businessmen on the model of Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa. All were inspired by Millard Roberts, the hard-sell Presbyterian minister who transformed Parsons during the early 1960s into a high-cost "second chance" for dropouts. Parsons eventually lost its accreditation and earned the nickname of "FlunkOut U." Four of the colleges modeled on it, including Hiram Scott, were destined for bankruptcy...
Henry D. Kosman, president of the Scottsbluff National Bank and a former trustee of Hiram Scott, now shakes his head as he recalls the town's rosy dreams: "We figured the economic impact of a college would be as big as any industry." With other local businessmen, Kosman raised $5,463,000 and hired a president who flew around the country to recruit students. When the college opened in 1965, one Chamber of Commerce official crowed, "We are not just a sugar-beet and cattle-raising town any more." But Kosman admits, "We were short of cash from...
...survive, Hiram Scott had to keep enrollment at capacity, but each semester 30% dropped out, dissatisfied with the school's limited curriculum. Instead of looking for ways to keep what students it had, Hiram Scott expanded its recruiting staff to the point that it cost $700 to corral a student who would pay $2,500 in yearly fees. In December 1970, the trustees declared bankruptcy, dividing the cash on hand to pay each employee $80 in Christmas week wages. Last August, the college had only 225 applicants for 1,500 places, and the trustees closed up shop for good...