President Mark McCoy will be facing a $2.3 million deficit next year after the class of 2020 turned out to be smaller and financially needier than the DePauw University administration anticipated. The revenue shortfall was announced through an email to faculty and staff on June 3rd.
At the time of publication, the class of 2020 had 597 members. When classes began last fall, the class of 2019 had 619 students.
Compounding reduced numbers, the incoming class has many students who have larger amounts of financial need. The office of admissions estimates that 22 percent of the class of 2020 will be first generation students and 23 percent will be domestic students of color. In the class of 2019, DePauw had 18 percent domestic students of color and 19 percent first generation college students.
This smaller and financially needier class is the direct cause of the shortfall. “I wish I could say enrollment challenges have no impact,” said McCoy in the email.
In the same email, McCoy announced his plan to reduce expenditures in four main ways. The first includes canceling all raises for presidential cabinet members. In addition, planned raises for employees have been reduced by various degrees. Employees making a salary under $35,000 will receive a 3 percent raise, those making between $35,000 and $75,000 will earn a 2 percent raise and those making over a $100,000 will be given a 1 percent raise.
The administration has also postponed the purchase of a vent hood for a year and has found an alternative source of funding for an air conditioning project.
A hiring slowdown has also been instituted until the University has a better understanding of its financial situation.
Though raises have been slashed, employee benefits managed to avoid the chopping block. Instead of increasing employee healthcare premiums with to compensate for a cost jump, the administration has decided to keep rates at current levels and pay the difference. “The cabinet and I will work together to find the 2.9% in incremental savings over the year,” said McCoy in an email to The DePauw.
The official size of the class of 2020 was not available at the time of publication.
