Budget and Enrollment Numbers Call for Optimism
Ryan Simonovich
The mood around campus is one of cautious optimism in response to this year’s budget and enrollment numbers.
The Fort Lewis College General Fund budget for fiscal year 2018-19 is $51.9 million, Michele Peterson, associate vice president of finance and administration, said. That’s compared to $54 million in 2017-18.
In April, FLC announced a $4.2 million budget reduction, which included laying off 11 faculty, Peterson said.
The budget cut was made based on the prediction that enrollment for Fall 2018 would drop by 9.6 percent, Peterson said. However, the enrollment drop was not as drastic as expected, dropping only 0.5 percent.
One reason for this was because many students confirmed their enrollment later in the process than expected, Peterson said. There was also more outreach to potential students.
This allowed FLC to reinvest $850,000 back into the budget, specifically for admissions and marketing, she said.
Peterson said she is optimistic about the college’s future finances.
“I don’t think people need to be looking for new jobs,” Peterson said. “I don’t see us having to go through issues like we’ve had to go through in the last few years. I don’t think students need to worry that we’re going to close the doors. I don’t see any of that happening.”
Total enrollment for Fall 2018 is 3,317 students, according to the Office of Institutional Research. In Fall 2017, total enrollment was 3,356 students.
Across the institution, about 90 percent of total revenue is enrollment dependent, Peterson said, underscoring the connection between enrollment numbers and budget numbers.
Tension between students, faculty and the administration rose over the past two years because of falling enrollment and budgets.
In February 2017, then faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, Michael Valdez, noted in a report to the board that faculty had concerns about the accountability and transparency of FLC administration concerning the budget and enrollment issues.
Current faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, Gary Gianniny, said that the mood on campus has become more positive. Gianniny attributes this shift, in part to the leadership of President Tom Stritikus, who took office in August.
“President Stritikus has done a superb job being really transparent,” Gianniny said.
One area the college is focusing on is student retention, Gianniny said. There is no point in spending time and resources attracting students to FLC if they do not stay here and graduate, he said.
An initiative to increase retention of incoming freshman classes is a new first year experience program, which is still being created, he said. People leave a college for a variety of reasons, Gianniny said. One of the reasons the new initiative has been created is to help students feel at home at FLC.
Gianniny said he is also pleased with Stritikus’ transparency toward the campus community. The new president began his tenure with a listening tour, where he sought input from various groups on campus.
“The climate on campus is much more positive, and there’s an absolute excitement in the faculty about working hard to help students be more successful,” Gianniny said.