WSU enrollment figures still on the wane

University faces drop of $16.5M in fees from tuition and revenue.

Wright State University will see a bigger decline in enrollment this fall than initially expected, which could lead to around a $16.5 million drop in tuition and fee revenue.

A preliminary budget for fiscal year 2020 originally projected WSU would see an estimated $9 million decline in tuition revenue. But an updated forecast presented to the board of trustees Thursday showed that decline is now estimated at $16.5 million.

Wright State is projected to have fewer students to campus next month than it has had in more than 37 years, the preliminary budget showed.

The projections also reduced the number of students expected to enroll this fall; estimates released Thursday showed the enrollment is projected at around 13,380.

The enrollment drop amounts to a 14% decrease in total students from last fall, documents show.

The change from last month is due to a decline in the number of graduate students that is larger than previously projected. The university expects the number of grad students will decline by 23% this fall from last year at this time, according to budget documents.

Tuition and fees are the uni

continued from B1 versity’s biggest sources of revenue, as they are at most other colleges. Wright State’s success is “dependent on enrolling and graduating more students,” President Cheryl Schrader told the board.

At Thursday’s budget hearing the trustees did not vote to approve the school’s financial framework for the fiscal year, even though it started July 1.

Trustees declined to approve the budget Thursday. Several board members asked the administration to present them with a more conservative budget proposal that is based on the possibility that enrollment could end up being even lower than the most recent projections.

“It seems like we’re chasing our tail every year because we miss our enrollment targets by a little bit and it just causes chaos on the expense side,” said Dough Fecher, trustee and former chairman of the board.

To make up the decline in revenue, Wright State plans to reduce spending in several areas: $4.7 million less on scholarships and fellowships, $1.7 million on “other expenses,” almost $1.2 million less on contracted labor, $1 million less on debt payments and nearly $600,000 less on maintenance and repairs, according to the budget. It’s unlikely staff or faculty will need to be laid off in order for Wright State to stay on budget next year, said Walt Branson, vice president for finance and chief business officer.

Schrader called this coming year’s budget a “challenging one.” The university projected on Thursday that it would break even in fiscal year 2020 after two years of running a surplus.

If any expenses need to be scaled back, those cuts should be made now to avoid deeper ones later on in the year, said trustees Michael Bridges and Bill Montgomery. If the projections don’t pan out, Montgomery said the administration should be willing to pay the price instead of forcing it on other areas of the university.

“Would you be willing as a leadership team...to furlough yourselves for two days?” Montgomery said. “I think that sends a strong message to the community.”

The university added around $6.2 million to the university’s reserve fund at the end of June, according to the budget. The money increases the university’s cash reserves to more than $60 million after years of overspending drained it to $31 million in fiscal year 2017.

In 2018 the university reduced its spending by around $53 million to $280 million.

Despite anticipated enrollment reductions, Schrader expressed optimism Thursday when speaking about