Kent State Suspends MSFE Program

[MathFinCS]

This is the email I got from Kent State University Graduate School of Management



On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 10:53 AM, GSM Program Assistant 3 <gsmprogramassistant3@kent.edu> wrote:

Dear student,

Thank you for your interest in the Master’s of Science in Financial Engineering (MSFE) program at Kent State University. Unfortunately, the College of Business Administration has decided to suspend applications to the MSFE program for the term beginning in fall of 2012 and therefore we will no longer be accepting applications. We apologize for the ways in which this decision impacts you. We wanted to send this email that explains the reason for the decision and your other options at Kent State University.

This was not an easy decision for the college to make. As you know, the MSFE program is a specialized degree that requires very rigorous prerequisites that few students possess. Following an exhaustive assessment, the college determined that it can better serve its mission to the state of Ohio and the region in a cost-effective manner by exploring other degree options that allow us to serve a broader student body. While decisions have not yet been made regarding future degree offerings, we continue to accept applications for the full-time MBA, which has a concentration in finance, the Master’s program in Economics, which has a financial economics track and the Master’s of Science in Accounting. We hope one of these programs will be of interest to you.

I wish you well in pursuit of your higher education goals. If you have questions or need additional information please feel free to contact Dr. Frederick W. Schroath the Dean’s office in the College of Business Administration. He can be contacted at fschroat@kent.edu.

Sincerely,



Jake

Kent State University|Graduate School of Management
gsmprogramassistant3@kent.edu
330.672.2282

NOT a good news for me!
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[Andy Nguyen]

Wow. That's all I can say.
It is confirmed on their website as well http://www.kent.edu/business/Grad/msfe/

 

[DominiConnor]

Thanks for sharing that Andy, any idea what's going on ?

Given the notice periods that I'd expect for the staff, my guess is that they lost some critical staff, but I've no inside info at all.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

MFE/Quant Finance programs rarely shut down. The other case that I'm aware of is when New School University closed its Global Finance program because its director, Dr. Salih Neftci passed away.

 

[MrBucks]

Andy, I know the reasons, but I don't know if they are publicly available. I found out last week directly from the program administrator. I'll email him and let him know that you are looking for some kind of response.

 

[purplyboy]

Maybe the bubble popped.

 

[andyxuanpo]

I also got this email.
not a good news

 

[Cary Ferguson]

Hi everyone. Things are really bad in Ohio regarding masters programs. It's not just the Kent MSFE that's coming to a halt. Also no longer accepting applications are Case Western for the master in stats and Miami of Ohio for a masters in economics or an accelerated MBA.

These are good schools closing programs. I think Ohio has made severe budget cuts and as a result, programs are closing. It's a very sad time for Kent.

 

[bigbadwolf]

Hi everyone. Things are really bad in Ohio regarding masters programs. It's not just the Kent MSFE that's coming to a halt. Also no longer accepting applications are Case Western for the master in stats and Miami of Ohio for a masters in economics or an accelerated MBA.

These are good schools closing programs. I think Ohio has made severe budget cuts and as a result, programs are closing. It's a very sad time for Kent.

That may be true in general but invariably the MBA and MFE programs are self-financing and tend to be nice little earners for the universities and for the departments hosting them. One plausible explanation might be that enrollments fell dramatically(?).

 

[Cary Ferguson]

That may be true in general but invariably the MBA and MFE programs are self-financing and tend to be nice little earners for the universities and for the departments hosting them. One plausible explanation might be that enrollments fell dramatically(?).

Well I know the Kent MSFE is capped every year at 50 students. I guess I assumed that universities pick up some of the expense for programs like these.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I feel bad for alumni and students of the Kent State MFE program.
When buggets are on the chopping block, small and niche programs are the first to go. Notice that the mainstream programs like MBA, Economics, Accounting are not affected.
When you are the state of Ohio and realize that many graduates of this MFE program would like to work in financial capital like NYC if they can and not work and pay tax in Ohio, it only makes sense to them. Are there financial employers in Ohio that attractive enough for these graduates?
Would you do the same if you are the state of Ohio? If you run the MFE program, how would you make a case for your program?

 

[Cary Ferguson]

I feel bad for alumni and students of the Kent State MFE program.
When buggets are on the chopping block, small and niche programs are the first to go. Notice that the mainstream programs like MBA, Economics, Accounting are not affected.
When you are the state of Ohio and realize that many graduates of this MFE program would like to work in financial capital like NYC if they can and not work and pay tax in Ohio, it only makes sense to them. Are there financial employers in Ohio that attractive enough for these graduates?
Would you do the same if you are the state of Ohio? If you run the MFE program, how would you make a case for your program?

That’s a valid observation. I think Ohio companies do hire MSFE students. Regional banks like Key Corp, First Merit, Huntington and 5/3 all hire Kent MSFEs. There are also some energy companies like First Energy that use Kent MSFEs on their trading floors to price and trade commodities. But I know that Kent ships grads off to Chicago, China and NYC as well. Or at least it used to…

 

[DominiConnor]

I'm a classical liberal (not in the US sense) so I see the role of the state as to serve it's people, not to serve itself.
The justification for any state supported program is whether it is a sensible allocation of resources to help students get good careers, where they have them is none of its business.

 

[MrBucks]

I'm a classical liberal (not in the US sense) so I see the role of the state as to serve it's people, not to serve itself.
The justification for any state supported program is whether it is a sensible allocation of resources to help students get good careers, where they have them is none of its business.

I have to agree with you on this point. I went back to school to improve my job prospects. It cost much more than it should have considering Kent State is a public school. I paid in-state tuition, and it was still expensive. I found Ohio schools are relatively expensive compared to some other states. I did my undergrad degree at the University of Florida (also at in-state rates), and tuition was about 25% of what I paid here in Ohio.

 

[Cary Ferguson]

I'm a classical liberal (not in the US sense) so I see the role of the state as to serve it's people, not to serve itself.
The justification for any state supported program is whether it is a sensible allocation of resources to help students get good careers, where they have them is none of its business.

You know... The biggest problem for my situation is that I applied to Kent for undergrad economics just to get to know the faculty in the MSFE program. I feel lost now because I've been "mathing up" and doing networking at Kent for a while now. I knew the faculty and also knew that networking could help in placement. What now? How do you get into programs where everyone has a 3.9 and comes from Ivy schools? Any pointers? I just hope the Kent degree doesn't kill my chances of a career in quant finance.

 

[Yike Lu]

You know... The biggest problem for my situation is that I applied to Kent for undergrad economics just to get to know the faculty in the MSFE program. I feel lost now because I've been "mathing up" and doing networking at Kent for a while now. I knew the faculty and also knew that networking could help in placement. What now? How do you get into programs where everyone has a 3.9 and comes from Ivy schools? Any pointers? I just hope the Kent degree doesn't kill my chances of a career in quant finance.

Just because your program died doesn't mean your networking contacts did....

 

[euroazn]

Just because your program died doesn't mean your networking contacts did....

Yep, ask them. I'm sure they'll help you out.