Update on Financial Sustainability Initiatives and Fiscal 2024 Budget Adoption
A Message from the Expanded University Budget Committee
The Expanded University Budget Committee is pleased to facilitate the university-wide charge to collaborate in finding ways to strengthen the university’s financial sustainability, and we thank the community for participating in this process. As we near the end of the academic year, we are writing to share an update on our work to date.
Financial Sustainability Initiatives
As we reported in our update on April 11, the Committee received a total of 64 initiative proposals to be considered for the Fiscal Year (FY) 24 budget from faculty, staff, and students. Of the 64 proposals submitted, a number were academic program-related (i.e. proposals for new degree programs, changes to curriculum, new academic partnerships) and have been referred to the relevant college dean and the provost’s office for a separate review in accordance with existing faculty and academic committee governance structures. Thirty-five of the remaining proposals were considered fully complete and were reviewed and scored for viability by the Expanded University Budget Committee using this rubric. The proposals, viability scores, and feedback solicited from impacted departments were all shared with the President’s Leadership Team and the Executive Deans.
None of the proposals have been approved for implementation at this time. Over the coming weeks, the President’s Leadership Team, in consultation with the Executive Deans, will review, select, and prioritize initiatives and then present the selected initiatives to a Working Group of the Board of Trustees in June. This Working Group represents academic and financial committees of the Board of Trustees and has been established to work closely with university leadership to plan for and implement initiatives to return the university to financial sustainability. Once initiatives are approved, implementation will begin using investment funds included in the FY24 budget.
A list of the 35 complete initiative proposals can be reviewed here. Please look for more information about the next steps in this process in the coming weeks.
Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Adoption
In addition to the call for initiatives, the Expanded University Budget Committee has continued to carry out our responsibilities to monitor the FY23 budget and develop the FY24 budget. In order to focus on our charge from the Board of Trustees to gather and vet initiatives, we recommended a continuation of the FY23 base budget as the foundation of the FY24 proposed budget, adjusted for inflation, budgetary obligations, and remedies crafted with the colleges to address the FY23 deficiencies. We recognize that our recommendation to roll the FY23 budget forward with the additional liabilities constitutes a deficit budget. We believe this is required to give the university time to strategically invest in our future.
The Board of Trustees reviewed and approved our FY24 budget on May 4. The adopted budget reflects a $52 million deficit including an additional $15 million in investments that we can draw upon and use to implement the approved initiatives. While no one is pleased with a significant planned deficit—by far the largest in the university’s history, with the exception of the first full year of the pandemic—we are grateful that our Board has granted their approval of the budget with a provision for investments in selected gap-closing initiatives. This affords us the opportunity to address the financial gap in a more strategic and thoughtful manner than would have been possible otherwise.
It is important to note that the budget was approved with the explicit expectation that the Board Working Group will meet regularly to monitor efforts and will continue to provide the Board with regular updates.
Looking Ahead
Over the next year, the Expanded University Budget Committee will continue to collect and review initiatives from the community. Open information sessions are scheduled monthly through December to allow community members to drop in to ask questions as they continue to work on proposals. View the open information session schedule on our University Budget Committee webpage.
In the meantime, we have partnered with the Financial Transparency Council to create a series of information sessions on topics related to university finances. The series begins tomorrow, Wednesday, May 10, 2023 with Understanding The New School’s Finances: Gift Giving and Endowment Management. The session is open to everyone in the community and will include significant time for Q&A. Register here to join.
Thank you again for your continued support and participation as we work together to build a stronger, more financially sustainable New School.