Matthew Copple, a College of Wooster junior, paints a railing at John P. Papp Stadium. Wooster is offering students minimum-wage jobs on campus this summer.

Source: nytimes.com

The recession has forced colleges to take dramatic steps to cut costs, from layoffs to halting major construction projects. But as our colleague, Tamar Lewin, reports today, colleges have found other ways to reduce expenses.

For example, the University of Washington’s communications department has eliminated most of its landlines (at a savings of about $1,100 a month), while the University of North Carolina canceled its tour of the state for new faculty members.

Moreover, the cuts are having an impact on campus cleanliness.

Campus life is getting a bit dirtier as housekeeping standards are relaxed. Oberlin College in Ohio saved $22,300 by scaling back on window washing, and Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., is power washing its sidewalks and windows once a year instead of twice. Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., is having office trash picked up weekly instead of daily, a change that eliminated three custodian jobs.

And in a move that directly involves academics, Carleton, which recently eased teachers’ course loads to five per teacher from six, now plans to return to six courses to save money.

Colleges are also saving money, Ms. Lewin reports, by having students do work that used to be done by college employees.

Rhodes College in Memphis economizes — and gives students work experience — by hiring students in 25 professional staff positions, saving $725,000 a year. And the College of Wooster in Ohio is trying to hold on to financially struggling students, and their tuition dollars, by offering minimum-wage summer jobs in its “WooCorps,” which has almost 200 students painting rooms, landscaping and growing vegetables this summer. WooCorps students will get an extra $1,000 in their financial aid packages — and help the college complete more maintenance projects than usual.