The Daily Bulletin

As you know, the vast majority of higher education institutions across the country are facing tremendous financial pressures. Buffalo State College’s financial concerns are no different. I understand the unease and anxiety this financial uncertainly is causing, so I wanted to convey some additional information on our financial picture and our efforts to stabilize our budget.

Our financial difficulties are the result of a number of issues, some of which have been affecting campus finances for more than a decade, and still others that have been caused or exacerbated by the current health crisis. On many occasions, I have discussed these causes, some of which have been forecast for many years and are well documented throughout higher education news media. These problems are a constant source of concern within SUNY, the region, and across peer institutions. Waning numbers of high school graduates, concerns about the value of a college education, rapid declines in community college students, lower retention rates, heightened competition, and the trauma of the pandemic constitute the forces that are affecting finances campuswide. These factors are detrimental to our enrollment and therefore negatively affect the financial resources available to campus.

Many of these forces were looming before the pandemic. The need to innovatively develop new revenue streams became a constant refrain in my campus comments. Additionally, in 2018, I developed and implemented a plan to permanently reduce $7 million in expenses from campus. Because 89 percent of our entire budget is directly related to personnel (salaries), as a community, we understood that we’d use some reduction in staff through attrition and retirements to partially reduce expenses. Through this attrition, as well as increased efficiencies and cross-divisional solutions, we have been able to successfully make these reductions in our expenses permanent, but unfortunately that was only the beginning.

We understood that even with flat state funding, yearly negotiated salary increases would mean a continual need to reduce our expenses. I advised my cabinet to continue to engage in planning so that we could strategically review our workforce and explore additional efficiencies while still supporting our mission and priorities. It was clear that the entire campus would need to be fully engaged in this process and that this would take several years. Thus, under the leadership of Vice President for Finance and Management Laura Barnum, I instituted the Strategic Resource Planning Process (SRPP). It is through this process that all areas across campus—academic and support units—will explore how their resources align with our important mission-strategic work. To fully assess the work of each unit, accurate institutional data must be made openly available. Last year, as we implemented the SRPP, the Institutional Research Office performed significant work to inform this process. SRPP workbooks, under review for next year, will inform how campus will best align its resources with its strategic priorities.

As the pandemic hit, it was unclear how we would manage what was predicted to be an extremely tough time for higher education. COVID-19-related costs, including the refunding of tuition to students who returned home when the pandemic shut down campus early, only worsened an already difficult situation. Fortunately, the three phases of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) allocated to Buffalo State provided us more time deal with an increasingly difficult budgetary situation. In the short term, these one-time federal resources have allowed us to continue with our planned, measured, and strategic approach toward settling our finances.

Toward that goal, this year we have been able to adjust those levers that are under our control to positively influence our financial outlook:

1. Under construction is a multiyear enrollment plan within the Enrollment Management division, developed with the thoughtful insights of the Enrollment and Resource Planning Task Force (ERPT).
2. Efforts are underway within the Academic Affairs division to develop new or revised programs that will attract new students or new populations that have not been traditionally represented on campus in large numbers. Those efforts include the following:
      

   a.  Further increasing partnerships with local high schools to gain a larger portion of dual-enrollment students.
   b.  Investigating new online programs with significant student interest, especially at the master’s level.
   c.  Modifying existing programs to meet the needs of today’s students, creating more student excitement and interest throughout the entire length of the program, thus decreasing student attrition.
   d.  Developing workshops for industry through Continuing and Professional Studies to address critical industry needs while generating new revenue streams.

3. We have made significant progress in our philanthropic initiatives, exceeding our campus goals. This year, we have capitalized on our 150th anniversary as an opportunity for our alumni and supporters to make gifts that will enhance our future; I expect we will exceed those goals again this year.
4. We are increasing the number of students on several current athletic teams, exploring new club sports, and bolstering our support for intramural teams to attract larger numbers of students interested in athletics.
5. We have implemented a retention plan with the goals of increasing our retention by a minimum of 10 percent over the next five years.
6. We have joined an AASCU transfer collaborative to improve our ability to recruit, retain, and graduate a larger number of transfer students throughout Western New York.
7. We have expanded funded research, which will modestly decrease pressure on the personnel portion of our state budget.
8. We are adding greater mental health resources on campus to assist in this important need that will augment our retention efforts and support programs.

While our plans to stabilize our financial situation will certainly consist of reducing expenses and increasing efficiencies, we will continue to strategically invest where needed through our resource planning process in support of emerging initiatives like those above. The need for the entire campus to innovate has never been more important.

Of course, the upcoming New York State budget process remains the most critical and consequential component of our future financial picture. Along with those of our SUNY peer campuses, our advocacy efforts will focus on increasing direct state aid to support campus operations and fully fund negotiated salary increases. We will also be urging lawmakers to accelerate the closing of the TAP gap, ensuring that campuses like Buffalo State, which serve the state’s neediest students, are funded appropriately.

At the end of this academic year (June 2022), following the current year’s SRPP and assessing new revenue or savings from ongoing efforts, we will have a better picture of where we are landing financially. No new campuswide reductions or budget actions are planned before June 2022, but at that point, I will announce a multiyear goal for the campus to make further permanent reductions to our expenses and some modest yet strategic investments to keep innovation moving forward. Once this goal is established, we will work collaboratively with the campus community to implement the changes needed to reach the goal while providing the best possible education for our students.

I appreciate the collaborative projects and innovative thoughts that are being implemented across campus, especially during the difficult times we continue to navigate. You are invited to stay informed and involved in our budget process by participating in the Bengal Business Forum. Future meetings will be announced in the Daily Bulletin. Our success will be found in new strategies, greater student support, and new sources of revenue. These key factors will militate against the permanent reductions needed across campus as we steady our financial footing.