The Board of
Trustees for Adams State University today authorized the university
administration to formulate a contingency plan to right-size staff in the event
on-campus enrollment continues to decline.
The board
approved a motion that authorizes "the administration of Adams State University to
prepare a contingency plan to right-size the campus, in a manner which supports
the board’s long-term priorities as embodied in the ASU 2020 Plan, and which is
complimentary with other parallel strategies to ensure ASU’s financial
stability, which may include a reduction in workforce, and directs the
administration to communicate openly and deliberately with ASU faculty,
administration and students to minimize concerns to this end."
"We do not
anticipate layoffs. We intend to address this as much as possible through retirements
and attrition," said Adams State President Beverlee J. McClure. Currently,
enrollment in on-campus undergraduate, semester-based credit courses is down
approximately 6 percent from last fall. Total enrollment, including distance
courses, is down 3 percent. "We hope to decrease this gap by our census date,
September 6." She added the contingency plan would be developed based on data
and enrollment trends and by working with campus constituent groups.
Trustee Cleave
Simpson, chair of the board’s Finance Committee, said the operating budget for
fiscal year 2017-18 is balanced, with $700,000 in savings from vacant
positions. In addition, the university recently restructured its debt,
resulting in a reserve of $1 million.
"We anticipated
achieving this savings through attrition and continued restructuring and
realignment of personnel and services. We were comfortable with this
projection, as we had the $1 million that could serve as a buffer if we did not
achieve the full $700,000 in vacancy savings," he said. Noting that each 1% of
enrollment equates to $171,000, Simpson explained a 3 percent enrollment drop
would decrease tuition revenue by $513,000.
"As the Board of
Trustees, our top responsibility is fiduciary. A contingency plan will equip us
to respond to further enrollment decreases in a manner that makes sense and
assures a stable financial foundation for Adams State," Simpson said.
McClure added the
enrollment decrease would have been greater, had Adams State not recently made
changes to its Extended Studies program. All Extended Studies courses are now
semester based, as opposed to the previous "open enrollment" format, which
allotted one year to complete certain courses.
The university’s enrollment has declined since
reaching a historic high in 2010.
