Dear Commons Community,

Enrollment figures are beginning to be announced at colleges and universities around the country.  Some schools have seen increases and some decreases.  Early estimates were that enrollments at private colleges and universities would see declines.  As reported by The GW Hatchet, George Washington University President Thomas LeBlanc said at a Faculty Senate meeting on Friday that undergraduate enrollment fell by about 7.2 percent this year based on preliminary estimates, and would require a “second phase” of budget cuts in the coming weeks.

LeBlanc estimated that  11,000 undergraduate students are enrolled this fall, which fell short of last year’s figure by roughly 1,000 students. The loss in tuition revenue from decreased enrollment is largely driving GW’s budget shortfall, which is now estimated to be $180 million on an annualized basis, LeBlanc said.

He added that estimates will continue to change until the “benchmark date” in early October, which is used for official enrollment data and revenue statistics.

“Given the fluid nature of the pandemic and its effects on the University, as we expected and repeatedly tried to remind folks, our estimate will always be evolving until we finally get to the benchmark,” LeBlanc said. “But as of now, we have a much better idea of fall enrollment and tuition revenue because we’ve actually passed the deadline for paying your bills.”

Financial impact
LeBlanc said the enrollment drop, based on current estimates, would reflect a nearly $76 million budget impact. He said officials are projecting a decrease of undergraduate and graduate tuition dollars by $46 million and $17 million, respectively, and about a $10 million increase in financial aid.

GW’s financial projections assume classes remain online for the entire academic year, which removes about $100 million in housing revenue, LeBlanc said.

He said officials are completing the first phase of budget cuts, which will reduce expenses by roughly $100 million and be completed within two weeks. The cuts include a suspension of most capital projects and hirings, salary freezes and staff layoffs.

LeBlanc added that officials have laid off about 250 staff members, who had an average salary of roughly $75,000. At the meeting, Provost Brian Blake confirmed the layoffs include some Center for Career Services employees.

Officials have repeatedly declined to answer The Hatchet’s questions about layoffs in specific offices. The layoffs include dozens of employees in IT offices, the career center, facilities and event departments.

“Even with our revised enrollment projections as positive as they are today, it’s clear that we need to take additional mitigation steps,” LeBlanc said at the meeting.

He said officials will likely make final decisions about the second phase of cuts in the next week. The phase already includes suspensions of the University’s base and matching retirement contributions for employees beginning Oct. 1.

“I anticipate things could get better,” he said. “We built in fairly conservative projections so I don’t see it getting much worse than this.”

LeBlanc added that there have been no discussions among administrators about laying off tenured or tenure-track faculty. Officials have discussed temporarily reducing faculty salaries, he said.

“We talked to the senate leadership and Board of Trustees, but no decision has been made,” LeBlanc said.

Enrollment drop
Provost Brian Blake said non-degree registration – which includes exchange students – decreased by 31 percent. About 400 more students requested deferrals for enrollment and leave of absences compared to last year, and “hundreds” more students are now attending GW part time, he said.

LeBlanc said more than 600 upperclassmen chose not to return this fall amid the pandemic. He said 175 international students were not able to or chose not to enroll, and the University enrolled 220 fewer new domestic students this year based on current estimates.

Blake said the graduate population increased this year by 1.3 percent, which is just under half of the 3 percent increase officials had originally anticipated. Officials held graduate tuition steady this year, which led to an annual budget shortfall in graduate tuition.

“There is some gap there as well even though we had a higher enrollment than last year,” Blake said.

He added that the “biggest piece” to enrollment changes this year is a drop in the international population by 916 students – 253 undergraduates, 556 graduates and 107 non-degree students.

The drop marks another setback for the University’s goal of increasing international enrollment to 15 percent of undergraduates and 30 percent of graduate students by 2022.

“As a provost, there’s been some concern there because these shortcomings in our enrollment are likely to follow us, particularly when it comes from that particular population,” Blake said. “I honestly feel a certain way about this too because I know that body of students provides diversity and a real experience for the student body.”

As Fall enrollment figures are finalized, we will find a number of colleges in the same situation as George Washington U.

Tony

NOTE:  After this posting was made, the National Student Clearinghouse published a report indicating that preliminary enrollments among all undergraduate higher education sectors decreased 2.5 percent with community colleges experiencing the largest decline.  Details are available at: https://nscresearchcenter.org/stay-informed/