University of Dayton Cutting Faculty and Possibly Some Programs
“necessary steps to keep the university healthy and operating”
This school still has decent enrollment, so maybe this is just a precautionary measure.
Higher Ed Dive reports:
University of Dayton to shed faculty, weigh program cuts
In their message to campus, Dayton officials framed the coming cuts as necessary steps to keep the university healthy and operating “from a position of relative institutional strength” over the long term.
They invoked a litany of woes facing colleges around the country, particularly private institutions in regions including the Midwest.
“Today, there are fewer high school graduates; we face fierce price competition from flagship public universities; fewer people believe in the value of higher ed; international enrollment is down; and inflation, higher interest rates and other economic challenges negatively impact many families’ ability or willingness to pay private tuition,” they wrote.
But the officials — President Eric Spina, Provost Darlene Weaver and Andy Horner, executive vice president for business and administrative services — also noted that the university isn’t operating at a deficit, in contrast to the situation at many institutions cutting programs and employees this year.
For the fiscal year ending June 2023, Dayton ran a $35.9 million total operating surplus, down from $44.8 million the year before, according to its latest financials.
Also unlike many colleges paring back their faculty, programs and cost structures, including other religious institutions, Dayton’s enrollment grew in recent years, with fall headcount rising by nearly 800 to 11,674 students during the five years between 2017 and 2022.
Nonetheless, Dayton officials pointed to an “uncomfortably thin” operating margin and pressures on the university’s annual budget. “We must bring our expenses in line with the realities of the current market,” they said.
They noted that the institution has already reduced employee headcount through attrition and incentives, but said more action was necessary. “Deferring these decisions puts our mission at risk and only results in larger reductions later, impacting more faculty and staff,” they said. As of 2022, the institution had 674 faculty total, according to federal data.
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Comments
Please fix the headline.
I changed it to University of Dayton. Is that what you meant?
How many administrators are they going to cut?
This is a bit of healthy pruning. Higher ed needs to cut a lot of fringe, niche, and boutique programs that faculty, wanting to ride their Swiftian hobby-horses, convince administrators to open up.