SLU joins group of colleges to cut costs

CANTON — St. Lawrence University has joined a group of six upstate liberal arts colleges in an effort to share services and cut costs.

The New York Six Consortium will consist of Hamilton College, Clinton; Colgate University, Hamilton; Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva; Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs; Union College, Schenectady, and SLU.

The six colleges hope that by teaming up, they will be able to save money by making purchases in bulk as large public university systems such as State University of New York are able to do. They also see an opportunity for educational collaboration.

"We'll be looking to see where the colleges can not only save money, but also get more streamlined and more efficient," St. Lawrence University spokeswoman Macreena A. Doyle said.

The consortium will be funded initially through a $100,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Joseph R. Urgo, dean of faculty and acting president at Hamilton, spearheaded the project.

He said the six colleges are working together to hire a special assistant by July 1 to conduct a study for the next year on how the partnerships would work. The consortium will be run from the centrally located Hamilton campus.

"We are all liberal arts institutions with similar philosophies. None of us are giant universities. We are all private colleges in the same region of the country, so we face similar situations," Mr. Urgo said. "We're seeking to capitalize on areas where we are more alike."

The six campuses want to see if there's a cost advantage in banding together to pay for insurance, dining services, energy, printing, technology and other items.

"For example, we all buy lots of paper, so can we jointly — the six of us — contract with a supplier to save money?" Mr. Urgo said. "We're all essentially in the same business. We also compete, of course, so this would be for things that don't affect us strategically."

The special assistant will spend this year working with representatives from all of the colleges to compile figures and check with vendors to see where the schools could cut costs by working together.

The consortium colleges also could collaborate on writing grant applications, Mr. Urgo said.

Ms. Doyle said the consortium might have a place in helping the colleges reach their environmental goals.

"With all of these schools, obviously something we have in common is that we are looking into sustainability practices. If one of our colleagues, say, Hobart and William Smith, determines a new market for recyclables, that might benefit us also," Ms. Doyle said.

The New York Six Consortium also may provide a framework for professors and students from the various institutions to partner or even "swap" campuses for a semester.

"Faculty are often invigorated by spending a semester at another college, and we can have students doing things on other campuses," Mr. Urgo said. "There are models in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country of colleges doing this, and the point is to either save money or add value to what we do."