<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2LHz8N_0vjq0wAe00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2LHz8N_0vjq0wAe00" width="1467" height="1413" ><figcaption>Courtesy of Howard Ash</figcaption></figure>Chancellor James T. Minor addressed concerns and potential solutions for SIUE’s budget during the University Budget Update at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the Legacy Room of the MUC.Minor opened the address by emphasizing the university’s mission and its correlation to the budget.“The budget is in service to the mission of the institution,” Minor said. “It’s not in service to me, it’s not in service to you, it’s not in service to your particular department, it’s not in service to a particular collective bargaining agreement.”He displayed an image from the 1960 graduating class of SIUE and shared that the times have changed but the mission to educate has not.Minor said that SIUE is important to the St. Louis region. He displayed statistics showing that SIUE leads regional schools in students graduating with their bachelor’s degree. On his chart, SIUE ranked first with 2,151 graduates, St. Louis University ranked second with 2,082 graduates and Washington University in St. Louis ranked third with 1,868 graduates in fiscal year 2023.“Today, we are holding on as tightly as we can to the distinction of being the number one producers of bachelor’s degrees,” Minor said. “[It’s] about 69 bachelor’s degrees that we are ahead of SLU, so we want to work to maintain that distinction.”According to Minor, SIUE has made strides to leave a footprint in the greater St. Louis region with students entering and succeeding in the market.Minor then shifted the focus to the importance of enrollment. He said that tuition is the largest source of revenue for the university, and he emphasized that enrollment and retention are focal points to upping the university’s revenue.SIUE currently has a total headcount of 11,893 students enrolled at the university and 9,642 full-time enrolled students in the Fall 2024 semester. That number has dropped since Fall 2021, when the total headcount was 13,010 students and 10,407 full-time enrolled students.Minor said the 1,100-student decline in that timeframe is an estimated $10 million of revenue lost.Minor said recruiting students is as competitive as ever. He referenced concerns over the demographic cliff and how top universities are accepting students with lower standards, pulling them from more regional institutions.“Places like the University of Michigan, [University of] Texas at Austin, [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] only reach further down their applicant pool. So, students that would have gone to a regional public [university] are now being admitted to flagship institutions,” Minor said.Along with enrollment, the chancellor is focused on achieving retention goals.SIUE has a 75.7 percent retention of first-to-second year students. Minor said this is the toughest year to retain students.“If they survive their first year of college, the likelihood that they are going to complete their degree [here] goes way up,” Minor said.He referenced last year's 283 retention campaign and again stressed his goal to be one of the top Illinois universities in retention. Last year, SIUE’s total retention was around 71 percent.The 283 campaign tasked the university with hitting a 90 percent retention rate. According to the chancellor, with a 90 percent retention rate, SIUE would place second in the state and rival the University of Illinois for first, which has around 93 percent.According to Minor, a new calculation shows that for this year, SIUE would need to retain 216 students to hit 90 percent.Minor also said that hovering at 81 percent retention would still jump SIUE into second place behind the University of Illinois and shows strides to achieving the bigger picture. “When we reach 90 percent, I guarantee you we will have national media outlets on our campus asking, ‘How are you all doing this?’” Minor said.After addressing the university’s revenue concerns, Minor then shifted to analyzing SIUE’s spending. He explained that while tuition revenue declines, expenditures continue to rise, driving the university further into deficit.According to Minor, going into fiscal year 2025, the structural deficit is $10.3 million. “You gotta make some structural changes to accommodate this imbalance,” Minor said. To accommodate the 3 percent reduction, Minor said they are exploring various plans moving forward.He outlined three potential strategies for reducing the deficit, including a blanket 3 percent reduction strategy and a targeted 3 percent reduction strategy. He also said making structural adjustments, which could involve eliminating programs or positions, is an option.Lastly, Minor said that SIUE could manage the situation due to its cash reserves. He emphasized that these reserves are a positive aspect of the budget situation and could help the university navigate the deficit without implementing major changes.Nothing is currently an official strategy for the university, but Minor said these are options under consideration.His primary concern with the current budget process is its inefficiency. Minor said that he noticed budget officers were not meeting regularly, which led to a “lag” in the timely presentation of relevant information to him and others who needed budget updates.He also said that leaning into technology would decrease inefficiencies within the budgeting process. To correct this inefficiency, Minor announced a Budgeting Reporting Workgroup to more regularly meet and help operate SIUE’s budget as a whole. The team will be headed by newly appointed Interim Vice Chancellor Rich Hampton. Hampton assumed the role on Sept. 9 after an announcement from the chancellor that the university would be restructuring their Office of Administration. After his presentation, Minor took questions from the audience. Many asked and expressed concern about the loss of programs and the university’s current direction.Minor said that none of the suggested avenues to accommodate the deficit are officially enacted, but they are options on the table. Regarding the university’s direction, he acknowledged budgetary issues while emphasizing that dialogue and change can lead to solutions.“Based on my understanding, prior to my arrival, there were not university budget discussions like this [presentation]. Now, if I missed them, let me know. If there was a level of budget conversation and presentation prior to my arrival, I’d like to hear about it,” Minor said. “So, if you’re dissatisfied, I’ll apologize for that, but this [presentation] is an earnest attempt to provide budget information, budget discussion [and] to answer questions about where we are as an institution.”Minor was confronted by AFSCME Local #2887 President Amy Bodenstab, who said more money had been brought in than what was presented by the chancellor. Bodenstab said AFSCME’s partners brought in $5 million dollars for the university system and that the general student fees were increased.She said Minor did not present those numbers transparently.Minor said that the numbers she referenced were accounted for within his presentation.“I disagree with your presentation of the problem, because those numbers are there and they are accounted for,” Minor said.Bodenstab said that the university should provide an itemized budget to facilitate a more productive discussion about where the money is specifically being allocated.She left off on the importance of caring for the employees that power the university.“You can put a footprint over in St. Louis, but if you aren’t staffing us, it is not gonna do this university any good,” Bodenstab said. “If you don’t pay the people that work here, it will not matter because people will keep leaving, and we will not exist as a university.”</div></body>

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Minor opens budget discussions at University Budget Update amid deficit, inefficiency concerns

Chancellor James T. Minor addressed concerns and potential solutions for SIUE’s budget during the University Budget Update at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in the Legacy Room of the MUC. Minor opened the address by emphasizing the university’s mission and its correlation to the budget. “The budget is in...