| Subject: Canisius looking to cut $15M due to decline in students. |
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Date Posted: Wednesday, October 09, 05:34:41pm
Author Host/IP: syn-074-070-140-050.res.spectrum.com/74.70.140.50
Like many colleges and universities around the country, Canisius University has been operating under a structural deficit after years of seeing enrollment decline faster than it could reduce expenses.
Canisius President Stoute
Canisius University President Steve K. Stoute took over in 2022 and immediately inherited a $20 million deficit. He's announced plans to reduce that by around $7 million by trimming $15 million from the institution's budget.
Derek Gee, Buffalo News
On Wednesday, Canisius President Steve Stoute used his annual State of the University address to announce a plan to erase its estimated $7 million deficit by trimming $15 million from its budget while still “reinvesting” at least $4.25 million in new programs to serve adult learners.
“Over the first two years of my presidency, we have made great strides to reduce our operating deficit,” Stoute said. “But we are at a moment when we need to double down on our commitment to financial sustainability. Today we will begin doing that from a point of relative financial stability – which not all colleges and universities can say.”
Canisius’ deficit was about $20 million when Stoute took over in 2022 and immediately began devising a four-phase strategic plan that the university launched last year.
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Stoute said Canisius is on track with its plans for boosting its academic programs – Pillar I – and building student success with support services and plans for a new Student Success Center in 2026 – Pillar II.
Canisius U aerial (copy) (copy) (copy)
Canisius University is executing a number of expansion and improvement projects like a new Student Success Center in the school’s Bouwhuis Library, and a free-standing building to house the Wehle School of Business.
Derek Gee, Buffalo News
Pillar III is “Institutional Sustainability,” and Stoute plans to pursue it by forming a task force of trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students to devise a plan to reduce the university’s operating budget of about $104 million by 14% for the fiscal year starting in July 2025.
Stoute said he intends to form a task force to conduct “a serious review of all our options” to cut costs by $15 million and to “issue recommendations by next March or April to incorporate into our 2025-26 budget and our multiyear projections.”
Cutting that amount would wipe out the structural deficit and allow the university to reinvest close to $5 million in “building toward the future” with new initiatives to serve the fastest growing sector of higher education: adult learners, Stoute said.
“We have the opportunity to rebuild Canisius University to reflect changing demographics,” Stoute said. “The number of 17- and 18-year-olds graduating high school is declining significantly – it’s projected to decline 15 to 20% and we are already seeing that effect in Western New York the last couple of years."
“At the same time, the number of adults with some college credit but no degree or credential is 22 million nationally and 2 million in New York state,” he said. “Today, adult students make up 40 percent of the higher education market, so the time is now to re-envision how we operate and who we serve.”
Canisius is among several Western New York schools seeking to reduce structural deficits, some – including SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State University – by cutting low-enrolled programs and associated faculty and staff.
Stoute said he will not point the task force in a certain direction or advise any actions to cut Canisius' budget.
“My commitment is to start the process and allow it to unfold,” he said. “I don’t want to bias or limit people in their thinking. We are committed to shared governance and will provide any information the task force needs to make sound recommendations for our future financials.”
Stoute said he envisions a task force that includes “a number of trustees, a couple of our vice presidents” and other stakeholders from the faculty, staff, student body and community.
“It needs to be fairly manageable,” he said. “It can’t be 20 or 30 people to perform the task efficiently and on time.”
Once the university has a plan for getting back in the black, Stoute said he wants to reinvest at least $4.25 million to serve “our Canisius students for 2030 and beyond.”
“How do we support our state, our city and our communities succeed? By helping more adults tap into higher education in ways that drive economic growth and upward mobility,” Stoute said. “And that means delivering a Canisius education at night, on weekend and online to fuel growth in that regard.”
“Part two” of investing in students means “solidifying our undergraduate population” by supporting undergraduate students, he said. “People who look to Canisius for the undergraduate experience will always be a percentage of our student body, although it’s unlikely they will be the majority of our students for 2030 and beyond.”
The fourth "pillar" of Canisius' Strategic Plan is investing in the surrounding community, which means Buffalo's historically underfunded East Side. Stoute said he will announce a new initiative to support local students soon.
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