Office of the President

Follow the Money: How Student Loans Derailed American Higher Education

Every student who takes Economics 101 learns the concept of supply and demand—specifically, how a decrease in the supply of a good or resource drives up its cost. We see—even today—how labor shortages and international conflict are decreasing supply and thereby increasing the price of everything from energy to food.

Can supply-and-demand theory also explain the rising cost of attending college?

The National Center for Education Statistics notes that the cost of a single year of college (at a four-year private institution) is 24 times higher today ($35,830) than it was when early baby boomers graduated in 1969 ($1,487).

Let’s consider whether this was caused by simple supply and demand challenges:

Are there too few professors?
Are universities producing fewer PhD graduates?
Are too many students trying to squeeze into small-sized classrooms, with no alternative such as distance education?

The answer to each of the questions, of course, is no.

Neither cost-push inflation, nor demand-pull inflation, explains a 24-fold increase in the price of higher education over just two generations.

Neither cost-push inflation, nor demand-pull inflation, explains a 24-fold increase in the price of higher education over just two generations.

WHAT PAID FOR A YEAR OF COLLEGE IN 1969 NOW JUST BUYS BOOKS

The College Board estimates that the annual cost of college textbooks averages $1,240/year. That amount would have paid for an entire year of tuition in 1969.

If supply and demand fail to explain the price increase of higher education, can quality explain it? In other words, if the price of education is 24 times higher, did it get 24 times better?

If we follow the money, we find the answer.

“Follow the money,” is the most well-known line in 1976’s All the President’s Men, which put the Watergate scandal on the silver screen.

“Follow the money” is an exercise worth doing when it comes to pricing higher education. Nationally, only about 30 cents of every dollar of tuition is tied to academic instruction (i.e., faculty compensation, classroom expenses, etc.). If that seems low, it’s because it is low. Most of the tuition dollars don’t actually support classroom instruction.

KEEP FOLLOWING THE MONEY

Lenders are in the business of making money, and it’s important to remember that the U.S. federal government makes money through its Plus student-loan programs. In a country where change is always difficult to effect, reforming government programs that actually produce positive returns remains—unfortunately—unlikely.

The federal government isn’t the only beneficiary, however.

The widespread availability of student loans is what has enabled universities to increase the sticker price of tuition year after year (after year). Essentially, universities exercised free rein to charge whatever they could and, after distributing merit- and need-based aid, simply directed students toward government loan programs to cover the difference.

THE PRICE OF TUITION, ALONG WITH THE PROCESS OF PAYING FOR IT, IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN

People holding Hope Forward arrows on campus

The writing is on the wall for higher education: colleges and universities are on the path to losing a generation (or more) of future students due to decades of tuition increases that failed to produce better outcomes.

In a previous piece, I wrote that “what’s at stake is nothing less than the competitiveness of the American economy and the broader American Dream.” What’s also on the line, however, is the continued relevance of a college education.

One spin on a common saying is that “If there’s no solution, there’s no problem.” A real problem exists in the affordability of American colleges, and there ought to be no neutrality in the matter. At Hope College, we started Hope Forward with the goal of changing how students pay for a Hope education. Neither pay-as-you-go nor pay-it-back, Hope Forward aims to fund 100% of a student’s education at Hope College in exchange for giving back to the college after graduation—essentially paying it forward to future students.

With 22 students in our inaugural cohort, Hope Forward aims to eliminate the financial barriers to attending our college, and enable students to choose the major that interests them most rather than the one they expect to deliver the highest returns relative to their investment. Our primary criterion for selection into the program was neither need nor merit, but rather a desire—stated and specific—to make a positive impact. In turn, we believe this desire for transformative impact creates a higher-quality learning environment.

However, the opportunity for transformation change is much bigger than Hope Forward or even Hope College itself. My deeply-held view is that Hope Forward ought not to be “competitive” from the standpoint of winning student enrollments from other institutions. Rather, my hope is that other colleges and universities will follow our model.

Why the Four-Year Degree is Still the Best “Pathway Program”

Going to college was never in doubt for me. I grew up in a family that believed in the value of education. My mom had a master’s degree (and was a middle school science teacher by trade) and my dad had a Ph.D. in chemistry.

A picture of Matt and his family as a college student When it came time to select a college, I knew I was going somewhere, but the question I couldn’t answer at that time was how a middle-income family such as my own could afford it. Four years later, I understood—my dad had taken a second mortgage on our home, but even that wasn’t enough. I took on a significant amount of student loan debt in order to graduate from the college I now lead.

Today, the average sticker price of an undergraduate degree is more than double what it was when I was a student.

FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS, THE EFFECTS OF RISING TUITION COSTS HAVE BEEN CLEAR

Graph showing tuition at Hope College going up time Enrollments at 4-year institutions have declined 1-2% annually since 2000 (and even higher since the start of the pandemic). The principal reason? Cost—and the inevitable erosion of ROI as the sticker price climbs higher and higher.

But as more students thumb their nose at undergraduate degrees, the obvious question becomes, “Where are they going instead?” In addition to taking gap years—a choice that increased during COVID-19—the question has several answers:

Bootcamps: Focused on digital skills, bootcamps across North America have graduated more than 100,000 students since 2013.
Career and Technical Colleges: According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, more than 3.5 million adults are enrolled in career-oriented training programs.

Given that more than 30 million U.S. jobs do not require an undergraduate degree, it’s not difficult to see the appeal of pathway programs such as these that accelerate one’s entry into high-demand careers.

ARE WE THROWING OUT THE BABY WITH THE BATH WATER?

Criticisms of the 4-year degree program have many dimensions—that they cost too much, take too long, and don’t sufficiently prepare graduates to enter the workforce. To be clear, many such criticisms are justified, albeit short-sighted.

But why is some of the criticism unjustified? Because while other types of post-secondary education help students land their first job, the 4-year degree program remains the best path to a career that includes advancement and professional growth. Essentially, colleges and universities play the “long game,” whereby they prepare graduates to become leaders in the workforce and society rather than focusing on the first place of employment.

The importance of playing the long game is rooted in several key facts. First, according to The Atlantic, 60% of millennials leave their first job within three years of starting. In addition, 65% of kindergartners, according to the World Economic Forum, will go on to work in jobs that don’t yet exist today.

Jobs, and skills required to perform them successfully, will continue to evolve over time, but what will never change is the need for workers who can think broadly, distinguish good data from bad data, lead and mentor teams, and who can chart the path from A to Z, not just A to B.

It’s this A-to-Z path for which the 4-year degree program is best suited, but administrators of colleges and universities must focus on reducing financial barriers so that high school students once again see college as the most viable path to a better future.

THE “HIGHER” IN HIGHER EDUCATION SHOULDN’T REFER TO SOARING COSTS

Nonetheless, the value of the 4-year degree must be considered alongside its cost. Most students take on debilitating debt to finance their education, and it’s a nearly $2 trillion national crisis.

Hope Forward boxes near the Anchor outdoors

That’s why, in July 2021, we announced Hope Forward, which aims to be a new model of financing college education—one that turns the current funding structure of higher ed on its head and bases on generosity and gratitude rather than merit or need. Our rationale for a mission-driven model was simple. Because the high cost of education is such a big problem, tackling it requires big thinking (and big action) from everyone in the Hope College community.

For these reasons, we felt compelled to pilot this initiative around a small cohort of 22 students whose passions are to:

Tackle racial inequality in our healthcare system
Leverage social media as a platform to discuss mental health
Teach suicide prevention strategies in high schools
Support the emotional well being of students in foster care
Break the school-to-prison pipeline among inner-city and immigrant students
Reduce homelessness through the creation of more affordable housing

I can think of no other path to achieving such big goals than one that passes through a college or university, which is why the 4-year degree remains the best “pathway program” for graduating high schoolers. No competing credential exposes students to the same degree of broad thinking, creative problem-solving, and intellectual rigor.

I can think of no other path to achieving such big goals than one that passes through a college or university, which is why the 4-year degree remains the best “pathway program” for graduating high schoolers.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL OR PRIVILEGE FOR A FEW?

Most readers will be familiar with the saying, “College isn’t for everyone,” with its pejorative undertones and misplaced sense of superiority. Increasingly, however, graduating high school students are pursuing alternative paths due to nothing other than cost.

In my first article, I asked the question, “How hard are we willing to work to be a land of opportunity for all versus a land of privilege for the few?” To accept the high cost of higher education is to accept that fewer Americans will have the opportunity to be leaders and impact makers than their peers around the world.

Although the Hope Forward program remains limited to our part of the world in Holland, Michigan, the vision that it represents is so much bigger. My own hope is that others will join us on this path of making college more affordable to all.

Rethinking the Economic Model of Higher Education

The discussion around improving access to higher education —specifically due to the decades-long price increase of a four-year degree — is typically framed as whether or not college should be free.

The question is more complex than political debates allow for, but let’s start with some facts:

College is unaffordable to the vast majority of American families
20% of high school students are considering delaying college—or skipping it altogether
30% have considered taking a gap year between high school and college
73% of high schoolers are eliminating certain colleges from consideration because of the sticker price

Nonetheless, free-vs-not-free is a false dichotomy. And it oversimplifies the issues surrounding who pays for American higher education (and how much).

Student Price Sensitivity Chart showing an increase in percentage of students who eliminated colleges because of published cost, each year from 2017-2021

Here in the United States, rising income inequality has led us to a place where the wealthiest 1% hold more wealth — 15x more — than the bottom 50% combined. Yet, income inequality is a downstream problem. It’s the result of education inequality in which all but the wealthiest families are priced out from obtaining high-quality instruction at an affordable price.

Nonetheless, free-vs-not-free is a false dichotomy. And it oversimplifies the issues surrounding who pays for American higher education (and how much).

FOR MOST AMERICANS, ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION IS GAINED THROUGH DEBT

The problem, however, with debt-driven financing is that it forces students to take on a daunting financial obligation at a time when many can barely afford gas and insurance for their cars. Moreover, loan repayments begin when a graduate’s earning potential is at its lowest, making it difficult for newly-minted graduates to buy homes or start families — two things that used to be more common among young adults.

But the implications of financing a college education through debt involve more than just the dollars and cents.

First, students are increasingly comparing debt-to-potential-earnings when choosing a college major. But while the country undoubtedly needs more engineers, it also needs artists, writers, philosophers, social workers, and musicians.
Second, in many instances, it is parents who are incurring college debt on behalf of their children. The result is that students have less skin in the game when it comes to accelerating academically, and are less likely to forge their own personal (and lifelong) relationship with the institution.

IT’S TIME TO STOP THINKING ABOUT DEBT AS THE SOLUTION

The proliferation of student loan programs has done little to improve access to affordable higher education.

Triangle chart showing the price of tuition and numbe rof students and that students paying more than $20,000 are paying for their own education and some else's.

That’s because college access remains tightly linked to family wealth. For example, family wealth has a direct relationship with SAT scores which, in turn, leads to the wealthiest students receiving the most merit scholarship money.

Yet, at the same time, the sticker price of tuition isn’t fair to wealthy families either.

That’s because at many places the sticker price of a college education is at least double the average tuition rate. In effect, wealthy families pay twice-over – paying for their own education AND subsidizing scholarships for other students. While we can debate the ethics of such a model, one thing is clear: it isn’t sustainable.

CAN A MISSION-BASED FINANCING MODEL SUCCEED WHERE DEBT-BASED MODELS FAILED?

For the 2021-22 academic year, Hope College is piloting a new model of financing a college education called Hope Forward. Hope Forward is a mission-based model where students are selected not on merit, need or ability to pay, but rather their appetite for impact. We are looking for students who want to bring hope to hopelessness.

Under Hope Forward, we do not ask students to pay upfront for their education before they’ve realized any economic benefit. Hope Forward is neither a loan, nor an Income Sharing Agreement (ISA), nor a free education. Rather, it replaces the “pay-it-back” model of college financing (i.e., where money flows to lenders) with one that is based on paying the benefit forward to future students.

Hope Forward arrows held in the Pine Grove in summer

As part of Hope Forward, the student makes a lifelong commitment of donating to the college so that subsequent students can receive the same high-quality education at no upfront cost. Hope Forward fundamentally challenges norms around who pays for higher education — and when they pay it.

Reactions to Hope Forward have ranged from outright praise to guarded skepticism. It is without doubt, however, that we’ve devised a new model that’s putting an end to student debt, and to all of the problems that student debt causes.

I invite you to comment and share your experiences with student debt. What sacrifices did you (or your parents, or your children) make to attend college in America? How might your life be different if you never had incurred student debt?

The overarching theme of all articles in this series is the importance of eliminating student debt as a means of accessing quality education. In my next article, I’ll look at the value and importance of the four-year degree program in the context of “pathway programs” that help young adults land their first jobs in a shorter (and less expensive) timeframe.

To Preserve the American Dream, Improve Access to Higher Ed

The whole world is asking why American colleges and universities have gotten so expensive.

And—it’s an increasingly urgent problem to solve. Since I went to college, the average sticker price of attending a private, four-year college or university has more than doubled. And if the current trajectory continues, my 13-year-old daughter will pay double today’s sticker price by the time she’s a senior in college. Higher education is priceless, but too expensive.

AS STICKER PRICES INCREASE, ENROLLMENTS CONTINUE TO DECLINE

College costs have outpaced inflation by 3.5x

Since 2000, enrollment at four-year institutions has declined 1-2% per year, declining by 5% after the COVID-19 pandemic. A multitude of reasons are behind the drop in enrollment, including declining U.S. birth rates. It’s beyond all doubt, however, that the biggest factor driving lower enrollments is the ever-increasing cost of accessing higher education.

Critics might point out that most students pay less than the sticker price, but 73% of high schoolers will eliminate certain colleges from consideration because of the sticker price alone, and 20% are considering delaying college—or skipping it altogether.

These facts aren’t exactly a ringing endorsement of higher education and its perceived ROI, but if declining enrollments persist, what’s at stake is nothing less than the competitiveness of the American economy and the broader American Dream.

STUDENT LOANS VERSUS TREEHOUSE HOMES

Fans of the American music duo, Twenty One Pilots, will undoubtedly be familiar with the hit song, Stressed Out—having been streamed on Spotify more than 1.5 billion times. The song broadly addresses the generational concerns of America’s youth, with one notable lyric stating:

Out of student loans and treehouse homes,
we all would take the latter/ladder.

The words require little interpretation: student loans aren’t a desirable means to a desirable end.

It’s a lesson that not enough university administrators fully comprehend. Shorter, less expensive, “just in time” credentials are becoming increasingly popular at the expense of the more thorough, well-rounded degree. Consider the following about coding bootcamps, as reported in Course Report:

The typical cost of a coding bootcamp is $14,000 and takes 3-6 months to complete
Coding bootcamps are operating in 85 cities across North America (and many are fully remote and accessible from anywhere)
These programs typically graduate 25,000 students per year, accounting for $350 million in tuition revenue

As alternative credentials, such as boot camps, continue to grow in popularity, what’s at stake is much more than just the viability of traditional four-year degree programs.

THE ROAD TO THE AMERICAN DREAM STILL PASSES THROUGH COLLEGE

In 2019, I assumed the office of President of Hope College. Although I had graduated from Hope nearly two decades prior, the path that led me back to Holland, Michigan, passed through both the public and private sectors. I saw first-hand how economic and financial systems worked differently for different people.

I realized that income inequality is a symptom of the problem of education inequality. Income is the outcome. Increasing costs erodes access to a college education, which increases inequality of the outcome. And, where access is possible, increasing numbers of students (and their parents) are “purchasing” it by taking on insurmountable amounts of debt.

It was these years of work in both government and financial services that forced me to confront a question that is central to our national moment: how hard are we willing to work to be a land of opportunity for all versus a land of privilege for the few?

How hard are we willing to work to be a land of opportunity for all versus a land of privilege for the few?

DECLINING COLLEGE ENROLLMENTS POSE CRITICAL RISKS TO THE U.S.

Globally, obtaining a college degree remains exceptionally uncommon—just 6.7% of the world has done so. And although that percentage averages 45% in the United States, it is a downward trend in enrollments that poses three critical risks for our country.

National Competitiveness: Thriving economies depend on a division of labor that enables workers to specialize in different job functions. With fewer Americans pursuing higher education, we risk losing those skills that are needed to run companies, manage large teams, improve complex processes, and more.
Career Growth Potential: Alternatives to the four-year degree program exist in the form of bootcamps and technical colleges. Although we must acknowledge the value and importance of such options, the overarching tendency of such programs is to get graduates on the fastest path to their first job, not a path to long-term career growth. In other words, the four-year degree remains the most predictable path to upward mobility.
Creativity and Broad Thinking: Jobs, and the skills required to be successful in them, will constantly change as technologies evolve. What will not change, however, is the need for good thinking, creativity, the ability to analyze, and the ability to lead and mentor other human beings. Those abilities are gained most often in the very degree programs that fewer students now pursue.

STUDENTS DESERVE HOPE

For me, the American Dream is not how an average person can acquire wealth, but rather how an average person can make a transformative impact on others. It was with this thought in mind that, in 2018, I applied for the position of President of Hope College. My North Star was—and remains—a desire to change how students access higher education.

This article is the first in a series in which I’ll be exploring the ways that the economics of higher education influence the decisions students make about their education—and what we (as a country) can do to improve access to higher education.

Solving the challenge of access will require the work of many along with the formation of a movement that believes in the cause and has a desire for transformative impact. I invite you to comment and share your own thoughts, insights, and experiences as we go.

Launching Hope Forward

A college education is priceless, but way too expensive.

Given our Christian mission and our name – HOPE! – we aim to lead the charge toward a new college funding model.

Today Hope College is launching one of the boldest endeavors in higher education. Ever.

Our goal is to provide a transformative Hope education for all students who come through our doors, with tuition fully funded by the generous gifts of others. This, in turn, will free up our graduates to pursue impact, working to make the world a better place rather than working to pay off student loan bills. These alumni will then commit to “pay it forward,” investing in the generations of students who follow them. This is aligned with the core of the Christian gospel — you are covered; now go and live differently.

This is Hope Forward! It’s a college funding model based on the biblical principles of generosity and gratitude. It could change everything.

Hear more about how it works:

To do this in a financially sustainable way, we need to raise a significant amount of money in the endowment. So far, we have raised more than $30 million toward this vision. In addition, this fall our first pilot group of Hope Forward students will join our campus. These 22 students have big hearts, open minds and a God-given passion to bring hope to the world.

We need your help to accelerate this momentum.

Spread the word! Share this message with your friends, family and colleagues on your social media accounts!

Learn more about how you can participate in this bold initiative at hope.edu/forward.

Campus Resources for these heavy times

Campus Community,

As we enter the last few weeks of this Spring 2021 semester, we acknowledge that the past year has been mixed with much pain, division, and hurt. As many of us were planning on the details of summer research and Fall 2020 details, we were also grieving the brutal murder and killings of many. Of these, the murder of George Floyd gripped and shook the world–causing many to pause, lament, and wrestle with systems and practices that have subjugated too many based on the physical form God put his divine breathe in.

While we may not know the precise end of the current Chauvin trial, we do want to remind our campus community of our Mission, Christian Aspirations, and Virtues of Discourse. We are living in very challenging times–grieving a pre-pandemic life and dealing with the ramifications of racist sins.

We know there are many different challenges that distinct individuals and groups have weathered during this season–often in disparate manners. This note both acknowledges the building emotional load we are all trying to carry and shares some resources we continue to provide students, faculty, and staff in light of these challenges.

CDI Resources
CDI will host several virtual townhall meetings targeting students, faculty and staff respectively. CDI staff will be available to assist individual students, as identified, with other supporting departments as appropriate.

CAPS Resources
CAPS has same-day scheduling for appointments – just call the CAPS office at (616-395-7945) to arrange an appointment. There is also an after-hours crisis on-call service available for times when the CAPS office is closed. This service can be reached by calling the CAPS number and following the recorded prompts.

Faculty & Staff Resources
Our Employee Assistance Program has a 24/7/365 hotline available. Just call 1-800-448-8326 to immediately connect with someone for support. Here is a newsletter (1Hope login required) focused on identifying resources and methods to help heal in the midst of national and global tragedies.

Spiritual Resources
I. Personal Support: Hope’s Chaplains are available for prayer, conversation, and support for any and all students struggling in this season. Feel free to reach out to Trygve Johnson ([email protected]), Jennifer Ryden ([email protected]), Jill Nelson ([email protected]), Paul Boersma ([email protected]), Bruce Benedict ([email protected]), Nancy Smith ([email protected]), and Matt Margaron ([email protected]).

II. Pray the Psalms. Scriptures to pray in times of Lament: The psalms is the prayer book of the Bible, and within the 150 prayers, there are 42 psalms of lament, and thirty of which are individuals psalms of lament, and the rest are communal. In times of deep grief, uncertainty, anger, frustration, these psalms have been a guide for the people of God. It is also a reminder that God can handle our anger and cries of lament for justice. If you are looking for help to know how to pray I encourage you to use these Psalms as a guide for to pray – both individually and with your friends or community corporately.

These Psalms are often helpful for communal prayers of lament: Psalm 12, Psalm 44, Psalm 58, Psalm 60, Psalm 74, Psalm 79, Psalm 80, Psalm 83, Psalm 85, Psalm 86, Psalm 90, Psalm 94, Psalm 123, Psalm 126, Psalm 129.

For individual Laments these are recommended Psalms to guide you in prayer: Psalm 3, Psalm 4, Psalm 5, Psalm7, Psalm 9-10, Psalm 13, Psalm 14, Psalm 17, Psalm 22, Psalm 25, Psalm 26, Psalm 27, Psalm 28, Psalm, 31, Psalm 36, Psalm 39.

III. Create. In times of pain, anger, and personal and communal trial it is often helpful to write your own prayer of lament to God. Following the form of the psalmists, here is a guide for you to use for your own prayer of laments.

Invocation – The initial cry to God to take notice
Complaint – the description of the psalmist suffering against God or some enemy/ies.
Request – the psalmist petitions God to act on the Psalmists behalf.
Expression of Confidence – often a recital of God’s trustworthy characteristics or acts in history.
Vow of Praise – assurance of praise that will follow deliverance.

IV. The Harvey Prayer Chapel is available for you to go and pray individually, or with a Chaplain, or with friends. In the Harvey Prayer Chapel there are resources available, such as journals, Bibles, the Book of Common Prayer and guides for prayers of lament, as well as a prayer wall where you can place your handwritten prayers.

V. Chapel and Worship. Chapels on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays are open for all students. One of the ways we respond as a community in times of trial is we go to God to worship. To focus on God, his character that inspires faith, hope, and love, and our communal virtues of Hope is a resource for you.

Together, we come as servants of the Lord. We come with a spirit to listen and allow space for the multitudes of ways of grieving and lamenting. We are dedicated to not retraumatize. While we are in unknown seas, our hope is in our anchor–the Lord God Almighty.

On behalf of the following offices:
Office of the President
Provost’s Office
Center for Diversity and Inclusion
Campus Ministry
Counseling And Psychological Services
Public Affairs & Marketing

Easter Message

Dear Hope Community,

A colleague recently focused me on the side of the Easter story I am usually too quick to skip over: Jesus’ suffering. The injustice He faced. His death.

Emotionally, it’s easy to jump to resurrection Sunday and the joy of Easter morning. But the suffering Jesus endured is a vital part of the story.

Perhaps the suffering side of Easter should take on new meaning for all of us this year. The suffering our world has endured over the last twelve months has been undeniable. And Easter tells a story of the God we serve who suffers with us.

On Good Friday, we see a God who suffers first-hand from the grief of losing a loved one – His only son. Many of us have lost loved ones during the last twelve months. Hope College has lost two of our own colleagues: Dianna Machiela in Human Resources and Dr. Jenny Hampton in the Physics Department. Easter depicts a God who knows the pain of loss and endured it Himself.

The Easter Story also shows a God who is the victim of injustice and oppression. The Old Testament says that God identifies with the poor and oppressed (Proverbs 14:31). The New Testament — especially on Good Friday — goes a step further: God becomes poor and oppressed.

Jesus, the King of Heaven, was born to a poor family in a dirty stall. He was ridiculed, beaten, endured a trial that was a miscarriage of justice, put to death, and buried in a borrowed grave.

Our nation is wrestling with legacies and stories of oppression and marginalization. As the body of Christ, we stand together and lament together. What’s more, Easter reminds us that no other religion in the world worships a God who Himself was the victim of oppression and marginalization.

So this year, as we celebrate the joy of resurrection Sunday, let’s not forget the suffering of Good Friday. And let’s remember that we serve a God who suffers with us.

Spera in Deo.

Looking Ahead to the Fall

Hope College - Hope students pictured on Hope campus

President Scogin — President Matthew A. Scogin

One year ago today, March 12, 2020, we cancelled classes to give faculty a chance to prepare for remote learning and provide students an extra day to pack their things. Little did we know that we were embarking on a journey requiring extraordinary patience, perseverance and resilience.

Today, with one year behind us, we look ahead. We are preparing now for the 2021-22 academic year, and our plan is to return to a normal campus environment.

We know from experience circumstances can change, but assuming vaccinations progress as expected and state guidelines allow, we will resume regular campus operations and policies by August 1. This will include the removal of restrictions on campus gatherings, residential life and dining as well as requirements such as mask-wearing. In the months leading up to August, staff and faculty will return to standard on-campus work and operations, so that when the academic year begins, our community will be fully together.

Over the course of the last year, we’ve been at our best when we have shown bold leadership. Hope was one of the first small institutions to go remote last March, and last summer, we made an early commitment to resume in-person learning in the fall — even reimagining the academic schedule to make it happen.

As we look to the next academic year, let’s embrace this recalibration for the fall as another bold step forward. Resuming normal operations isn’t about “going back to the old way of doing things.” It’s about moving ahead, building upon all the innovation, creativity and expertise we generated during the pandemic.

Let’s also use this light at the end of the tunnel as a chance to renew our commitments today. We are surely closer to the end of the pandemic than the beginning. Yet currently, the virus remains a real threat to our community.

Therefore, while we will do our best to incrementally provide a more normal experience this semester, most current restrictions will remain in place through the end of this term, as well as May/June terms. Our mitigation strategy of masking up, distancing, wastewater surveillance testing, and quarantine/isolation is working to maintain a strong and healthy learning environment. Thank you for your efforts!

We are stronger than we were a year ago. And we look to the future with HOPE — a confident and joyful expectation that something good is going to happen!

Philanthropy: Love of Humanity

Today is Hope’s annual Day of Giving.

The word “philanthropy” is a high-sounding word typically associated with wealthy people giving money to “good causes.” That only scratches the surface.

In its purest form, “philanthropy” means love of humanity. “Philos” means love (think: Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love); “Anthropos” (think: anthropology) means mankind or humanity. A philanthropist is one who acts out of love for mankind.

That – philanthropos – is at the center of what we do at Hope College. We raise money for scholarships out of love for students, current & future, making the opportunity for a college education more affordable and accessible for students & their families.

But we also do more than that. We don’t just offer a high-quality Christian education. We spread hope.

So did the first “philanthropist.” The word philanthropos was first used in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, a Greek myth written 2,500 years ago. In the story, a primitive humanity, living brutish lives in dark caves, aroused the anger of the god Zeus. To prevent Zeus from destroying mankind, the titan Prometheus, out of his philanthropos tropos (“humanity-loving character”), gave humanity two redeeming gifts.

The first gift was fire: enabling not just the ability to cook food and keep warm, but craftmanship, technology, and ultimately, knowledge and civilization.

The second gift was hope.

These gifts go hand-in-hand: with fire – their new abilities – hope is justified. With hope, they can use their abilities to improve the human condition.

Prometheus is a 1934 gilded, cast bronze sculpture by Paul Manship, located above the lower plaza at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.

That’s what philanthropists do: give the hope and tools necessary to better the human condition.

That’s Hope College: out of a Christ-like love of mankind, we offer the tools and hope necessary to transform lives.

Through Day of Giving this year, we’re asking you to join us in our philanthropic endeavor. More important than ever due to the economic challenges of the pandemic, scholarship dollars make this transformative Christian education even more accessible and affordable for our students.

To be a philanthropist, you don’t have to be wealthy or influential. All you need is a love for humanity – for these students at Hope – and a heart to give the gift of hope.

Partner with us: hope.edu/give2hope

People of Hope

Dear Hope Community,

I’m sure many of you found it hard to concentrate today. I certainly did.

This morning, after watching events unfold in our nation’s capital yesterday, I did my best to take solace in Psalm 30:5: “His joy comes in the morning.”

Yet today, as we stand in the shadow of yesterday’s attack, it is natural to feel more discouraged, threatened or angry than joyful.

Last night I felt personally worried. I spent part of my career working in Washington, D.C. and have been to countless meetings inside the Capitol Building. I know people who work there, and Hope College has many alumni who work in and around the Capitol complex.

As I reflected on what happened yesterday, I found myself asking (probably along with many other Americans) whether we are witnessing the erosion of our democracy. This comes after a year of fighting the sin of racism, the intentional marginalization and unequal treatment of people who bear God’s image, and the scourge of white supremacy — all of which we saw manifested yesterday.

It is rumored that after the Constitutional Convention concluded, a passerby saw Benjamin Franklin and asked, “What do we have, a monarchy or a republic?” His supposed response, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Today our republic feels particularly fragile.

The question is, what can we do? At Hope we say we exist, in part, to “pursue truth so as to renew the mind, enrich the disciplines and transform the culture.” What does that look like now?

It, of course, means that we should condemn violence, racism and white supremacy. We’ve done so before and repeat it again now. But condemning things that are obviously wrong and antithetical to the values of Christianity isn’t a bold action.

So what can we do?

First, we should pray. This might feel like inaction to some, but could there ever be anything more powerful than seeking intervention from the one whose very name makes evil tremble?

Second, we should actively engage in discourse with love and listening. Following Jesus comes down to two things: a radical devotion to God and radical love for each other. If we enter into all aspects of our lives — not just political discourse — looking for ways to love each other, that will change the nature of our division. We need devotion, not division.

Third, as we prepare to come back together in a couple weeks, let’s look for ways to actively live into our aspired campus culture characterized by grace, understanding and belonging. Here’s what these mean in short:

Grace: We extend our best to each other and we believe the best of one another. We strive to foster a culture of trust and accountability. Our culture is free from threat, intimidation, gossip and retaliation. People always have someone they can turn to for help.
Understanding: Even when we don’t agree, we work to understand each other better and move forward. We disagree well.
Belonging: Everyone here feels it’s their Hope. We share in this together. Let’s each ask ourselves what we can do to foster a culture of belonging.

We talked about this before the election, and put in place some measures that we will continue in the spring.

If we actually did all these things, we could be different than the culture around us.

We have a new year ahead of us — an opportunity to come together in a broken world, to heal wounds, to seek the face of God in others. We often talk about being agents of Hope in the world. Today, there is more urgency to our need for HOPE. Please continue to pray with me, and be a light in the darkness.

It may feel difficult to feel God’s “joy in the morning.” And yet, we are a People of Hope.

Spera in Deo,
Matthew A. Scogin