Strengthening Our Financial Footing
A Message from Mark Diaz, Interim Executive Vice President for Business and Operations
Last month, I shared the university’s financial stabilization and sustainability strategy at multiple in-person sessions for the community. I am pleased to share that this strategy was endorsed at the beginning of the spring semester by the university’s Board of Trustees, and its implementation is already underway.
The two-pronged approach begins by stabilizing the university’s finances and minimizing the budget deficit through a number of mitigating actions. The second step is to develop a long-term plan that eliminates non-strategic costs and resets our priorities to ensure a strong academic core and position The New School for long-term financial sustainability. With this renewed sense of focus, we are strategically aligning all university activities, assets and resources with the goal of reinforcing and investing in our academic mission, and will pause or suspend upstream investments that don’t immediately enhance the academic and day-to-day experience of our students or support degree-program enrollment. I am also pleased to share that Moody’s, the international credit rating agency, affirmed the university’s rating and outlook at A3/stable as a result of this fiscally sound plan.
Our long-term sustainability strategy enhances housing and residential life to support the student experience; reflects a new enrollment management and retention strategy; integrates our Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) division into the core academic enterprise; creates operational enhancements to expand academic and revenue opportunities; and strengthens graduate education. I want to update you on our progress in its implementation:
- Housing and residential life—The university’s strategy ensures a strong residential life program that supports the university’s broader enrollment management goals. This includes creating a robust first year experience for new students and making campus housing more affordable.
- Continuing and Professional Education—The process of integrating CPE into the core academic enterprise, under the Provost’s leadership, is underway. We will wind down the unit’s on-demand offerings and open-enrollment executive education to focus on our adult and youth programming opportunities, and integrate staff and functions into the core academic and enrollment operations of the university. This strategic step enhances alignment of CPE programs and activities with our colleges, degree programs and enrollment efforts, and ensures The New School is well-positioned to provide online and all types of education to a wide range of learners.
- Operational and business enhancements—Improvements in some of our business practices are also well underway, including a reduction in our use of external vendors and updated budgeting practices. We have also repositioned the activities related to N Ventures, our corporate partnerships development unit, into other areas of The New School. Oversight of university trademarks has moved to the Office of the General Counsel, and The New Store and retail merchandise activities are now aligned with other auxiliary services under the Office of Business and Operations.
- Strengthening graduate education—This is an area of significant potential for the university, and under the leadership of the deans and colleges, we are assessing our investments to enable growth and focus on measurable quality and fiscally sustainable outcomes.
Our financial stabilization and fiscal sustainability efforts are intended to provide a solid foundation for the next President of The New School to step in and help the university shape its vision for the future. It is separate from the important strategic planning work spearheaded by Provost White, which is ongoing.
In building this plan, President Shalala and I have benefited from the input and support from many throughout our community. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who shared their insights and perspectives, including the Faculty and Staff Senates and the University Budget Committee.
The New School is a unique and remarkable institution with a bright future. I am proud to be working with you all and am confident in our path forward, together.