President's Remarks

In a meeting with Board Leadership before the start of the academic year, I was charged with bringing a draft plan to the Board at the February meeting showing how we could get back to a balanced budget by FY ‘28. We have presented a deficit budget in each of the last three years and as you know, this is not sustainable.

Earlier this month, we retained the Huron Consulting Group to engage with us in an Administrative Analysis Study. This Budget Resource Planning Initiative will be an essential component of how we move forward from our Ithaca Forever strategic plan and through the Middle States reaccreditation process. It is important to note that the Ithaca Forever strategic plan was set to conclude in 2024. The Middle States Self-Study and The Re-Accreditation visit will serve as a bridge to our next strategic plan.

As you know well, we are not insulated from the challenges facing higher education. Our community has worked hard in recent years to take action when needed. This initiative will help identify opportunities to achieve short-term stability and long-term strategic and financial resilience.

Between now and next March, we will develop recommendations to improve institutional resilience, prepare a budgetary roadmap toward a balanced budget by Fiscal Year 2028, and align FY26 budget planning with that roadmap.

It is important to recognize that this work is not solely focused on cost reduction. The College cannot cut its way to success. We must also identify where we can invest in our community, where we can grow, and how we need to adapt to continue to provide valuable experiences for our students, faculty, and staff.

Huron will conduct interviews and focus groups with college leadership and work closely with a steering committee, which will receive their findings. In addition to myself, that committee includes Tim Downs, Melanie Stein, Rock Hall, Kirra Franzese, and Marc Israel.

Again, all of this work is necessary for us to present a draft plan to the Board at the February meeting showing how we will get back to a balanced budget by FY 28.

Please note that we will have a State of the College meeting on February 11, 2025, the week following the Board meeting, so that I can share with you what was shared with the Board.

This work is closely aligned with one of our institutional goals for this year: determining a sustainable and appropriate size for the College and doing so in ways that help us achieve our goals on student success, integration, and equity, inclusion and belonging.