Increasing revenues and cutting costs were the themes of the most recent budget forum on Oct. 16, as Vice President for Administration and Finance, Michele Halstead, urged SUNY New Paltz faculty to come together to shrink the predicted $8.9 million budget deficit.
The budget forum recapped the end of the SUNY New Paltz 2023/24 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, and updated faculty and students on how the 2024/25 fiscal year, which started on July 1, is developing. Key changes between the previous year’s budget and this one were noted, specifically the $350,000 increase in the predicted deficit from last year, caused by pay raises and one-time longevity payments.
The university intends to tackle the predicted gap between revenues and expenditures with the financial stability plan. In the previous year’s budget, the $8.6 million deficit was cut to only $3.7 million by the time the fiscal year ended.
The stability plan relies heavily on finding new means of revenue generation and innovative ways to cut costs. The university’s main strategy of increasing revenue is through substantial enrollment increases. According to SUNY New Paltz President Darrell P. Wheeler, over 70% of the school’s $100 million budget is derived from tuition costs. Currently, enrollment in both graduate and undergraduate programs is up 2.7% combined.
Through the university’s strategic enrollment management plan – a comprehensive guide to attracting new students to campus and keeping current students enrolled through graduate school – SUNY New Paltz hopes to increase the number of enrolled students even more. According to Halstead, “All of that enrollment activity increases our revenue and increases our bottom line.”
Within the strategic enrollment management plan, there are various strategies targeted towards current and potential students to increase enrollment. Halstead stated this “includes new program generation.” One example is the university’s application to re-open the Bachelors of Science nursing degree program that the university phased out in 2011. Other programs in development include the “prisoner education program and deaf studies.” This program generation is not just to “increase yield and attract new students to SUNY New Paltz” but also to attract “funders who want to open up their checkbooks and give [SUNY New Paltz] their money,” Halstead said.
In addition to the new programs, Halstead stated micro-credentials will also increase the university’s revenues. In September 2023, the school launched the Science of Learning micro-credential, which has, as stated by Halstead, gotten off to a great start. “We need to increase those revenues, and we need to develop, if we can, some more programs that have micro-credential opportunities.” According to Executive Director of Communication Andrew Bruso, these micro-credentials will be online and asynchronous.
In a Q&A following the forum, various ideas to increase revenue were proposed, ranging from starting a regenerative farm on campus to adjusting the tuition given to potential students in border states and hosting sports leagues, concerts and conferences.
Wheeler responded to these ideas. “In a climate where higher ed has changed, the model for higher ed requires innovation and entrepreneurial thinking. We have to think of this in more business terms for the revenue side,” he said. “The ability to be nimble right now is critical.”
The university’s tuition revenues peaked in 2008 and have been in decline ever since, taking a major dip during the pandemic. However, with the increase in enrollment this year, that declining trend is starting to shift in a positive direction.
This change in student enrollment is important. “The difference between where we stand today in the budget scenario and what would bring us to annual stability is 1,000 students,” said Wheeler. “Now, probably 1,000 students would be too many to introduce at one time … but graduated over a four-year period, 1,000 students either new or retained … What is the cumulative effect?”
Increasing the student body so dramatically over a short period of time brings concerns about student housing. According to Halstead, student housing is already “bursting at the seams right now,” and the job of the administration when it comes to dorms is “keeping those butts in the residence halls,” all of which are full this semester. This plan to increase enrollment is still in effect, even with major renovations planned for the dining hall and various residence halls throughout the upcoming semesters.
Bruso was asked how the school plans to deal with this situation. “The residence hall capacity certainly creates additional challenges. The campus is investigating other forms of off-campus housing that we hope will complement the college experience. One such avenue we are exploring is a partnership with College Pads – a way to connect students with available housing near campus.” Bruso also stated that the 1,000 student goal may include graduate and non-traditional students who have not historically needed campus housing.
As for cutting costs, the plan focuses on reducing staff costs, which make up 8% of the operating budget. “Right now, we’re targeting about eight or 12 positions for the year to remove from the budget,” Halstead said. These cuts would come from recently vacated positions which the school would seek to either not replace or to replace with entry-level personnel. When asked if this would include the replacing of tenured faculty with non-tenured employees, Halstead stated that, “there’s been no mention of that” and that the level changing of faculty was mainly limited to “administrative areas.” However, when asked by The Oracle, Bruso stated, “The reduction of positions on campus will be campus-wide and achieved through attrition. We will look for ways to better align instructional personnel with course demand and administrative personnel with workflow need.”
Personnel cost cutting is the largest expenditure reduction in the financial stability plan. However, less impactful strategies included utility cost mitigation, which is the analysis of the university’s current utility and software contracts to see what can be cut or consolidated. Halstead stated that, as of now, expenditures are under control.
To pull off the financial stability plan, Halstead stated that all faculty, even those who do not operate in financial roles, must come together to make the university a financial success. “Everything you do, everything you touch, should be with an eye towards making the campus successful, making the world a better place here at SUNY New Paltz.”
Halstead believes the university, which currently has $40 million in cash reserves, is in a good place. According to projections shown at the budget forum, the university should be financially sustainable by the 2027/28 fiscal year.
“We are on the road to fiscal sustainability, and we are headed in the right direction. But, it’s going to be a long and challenging move. So, we all need to walk the walk together and support each other along the way,” said Halstead.