Dive Brief:
- University of Akron leadership signaled that workforce reductions are on the horizon for the Ohio public institution as it grapples with rising operating costs.
- “In the coming years, we will incrementally reduce the number of positions so we can better invest in our people and chart strategic growth moving forward,” President R.J. Nemer said in an Oct. 24 email to faculty and staff published Friday by Signal Akron, a local news outlet. “This will be a challenging but necessary change.”
- Nemer added that the university must “engage in cost reductions at all levels to stabilize and ultimately refine UA for the future.” The process began with a recent $800,000 reduction to the president’s office budget, he said.
Dive Insight:
The University of Akron is facing several sources of financial pressure that Nemer outlined in his email.
Inflation spikes, for one, hit the university’s budget as has happened at many other colleges in the U.S.
Nemer, who started at Akron in May, also pointed to continuing enrollment declines, which have triggered lower state subsidies.
Federal data shows steep enrollment declines just in recent years at the institution. Between 2021 and 2022, fall head count at the university’s main campus fell by 7.2% to 13,465 students. And that figure is down 23.5% compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Recent years have also brought deepening operating losses, which increased from $90.8 million in fiscal 2021 to $149.2 million in 2023, according the university’s most recently released financials.
During that same period, state appropriations declined by $7.5 million, federal grants fell by $30.3 million and tuition revenue dropped $18.4 million. Meanwhile, expenses rose by $50.9 million to $306.9 million in 2023. Nemer’s email noted recent overall increases to revenue, though it didn’t provide details.
“We must pivot out of some of our past operational practices toward a more focused and effective mode of meeting our mission,” Nemer said, arguing for the necessity of workforce cuts.
Nemer requested that University of Akron Provost John Wiencek assess revenue and expenses in the institution’s various academic areas. As part of that process, Wiencek was set to meet with department heads the last week of October, according to Nemer’s Oct. 24 email.
Based on that process, Nemer plans to make budget recommendations to the university’s board of trustees early in the spring semester, he said.
