On Feb. 20, Calvin faculty received an email from Andrew George, vice president of human resources, announcing benefit cuts as Calvin looks for savings in the academic division.
The benefit cuts include an end to the university’s program to give financial aid to faculty and staff who send their children to Christian K-12 schools. Children who are currently enrolled in Christian K-12 schools remain eligible, but children of new faculty and staff — as well as younger children of current faculty — will not receive aid.
At faculty senate, the administration projected that this decision would save the university $45,000 for this year and $200,000-$250,000 over the next five years; however, “final numbers may vary slightly each year,” said George. These savings are likely only a first step towards approximately $700,000 in savings the university needs to find in the academic division this year.
“This specific change was chosen because it affects a smaller segment of employees rather than requiring cuts across the broader employee benefits package,” George told Chimes via email.
The decision received pushback from faculty — many of whom arrived at Calvin when faculty were still required to send their children to Christian K-12 schools.
Marjorie Gunnoe, a professor of psychology who’s taught at Calvin since 1996, recognized that if the money didn’t come from tuition assistance benefits, it was “going to have to be taken out elsewhere.”
However, Gunnoe worried that this move unfairly places the burden of cost savings on young faculty. “Younger faculty are a particularly vulnerable group; they are struggling more financially, and they are the future,” Gunnoe said.
When Sam Smartt, professor of communication, arrived at Calvin in 2013, Calvin still required its professors to send their children to Christian K-12 schools. To offset the cost, they offered a 20% tuition payment as well as an income-based grant-in-aid program.
“We have seen our benefits as faculty change sometimes, whether that’s a cost of living increase or a step raise that doesn’t happen, for one year,” Smartt said.
Smartt told Chimes “the K-12 tuition benefit is different” from other benefit reductions, noting that it only affects some faculty, but not all.
“I find that to be pretty deeply inequitable,” Smartt said. He’s also “upset from a principle standpoint” due to the “missional” value this particular benefit represents.
The tuition assistance policy and the associated financial assistance was part of a long-standing emphasis within the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) on the importance of Christian education.
In some ways, according to Gunnoe, this requirement was rather “intrusive” since it asked faculty to “give up what is a fundamental right of every parent: to determine how they educate their children.”
At the same time, Gunnoe told Chimes some faculty were attracted by Calvin’s emphasis on — and financial support for — Christian education. From a family dynamics perspective, Gunnoe told Chimes that tuition assistance benefits helped offset the sacrifice of full choice over where children were educated.
In May 2020, Calvin’s Board of Trustees (BOT) approved the faculty senate’s move to get rid of the Christian education requirement for children of faculty. Financial assistance was still available for those who continued to send their children to Christian schools, and according to previous reporting in Chimes, many continued to do so.
As the university looks to slow spending in order to make its targeted budget for fiscal year 2024-2025, the administration is looking for ways to save money in the academic division. Because a large proportion of expenses in the academic division are personnel costs, like salaries and benefits, making cuts can be difficult.
Gunnoe told Chimes she was hoping to meet with various university administrators to discuss more equitable ways for the necessary spending cuts to be distributed. Gunnoe no longer has children in K-12 schooling, so the benefit reduction as it stands now doesn’t harm her directly.
“I’m arguing against my own self-interest because my insurance is probably going to get cut as opposed to these people losing their benefits, if I’m effective,” Gunnoe said.
“I have memories of older faculty standing up for me,” said Gunnoe, who sees this posture as particularly important, especially as the faculty senate representative for her department. “This is not the first time Christian schooling costs have been a big issue, but I remember people now retired saying: ‘Don’t hurt the young faculty who are struggling,’” Gunnoe said.
Smartt also pointed out that the faculty likely to be affected are also newer, younger and therefore less likely to have tenure. Because of that, they’re also “not in a good position to advocate for themselves,” said Smartt.
Smartt, who has three children, said that his oldest started at a Christian school when it was still required; the middle also attends a Christian school, but the youngest isn’t old enough for kindergarten yet. For some families with similar age ranges, the lack of financial support for a younger child constrains their ability to send that child to a Christian school.
“You don’t ideally pull your kids in and out of schools if you don’t have to. And you don’t send your kids to different schools if you don’t have to, unless there’s a good reason for it,” said Smartt.
For some, the university’s reversal on support for Christian education might also affect family dynamics. “This could, in many families, create a huge amount of tension and conflict if the spouse didn’t even want to do it in the first place and now [they feel] they’ve been lied to by this employer,” said Gunnoe.
“This is out of line with what the denomination says it supports,” said Sam Smartt. “It’s not just a benefit. It’s a structural support to help faculty live into the mission that the school endorses.”
