Dear Faculty and Staff,
I want to emphasize how much I appreciate your hard work and service this academic year. I would like to give a special thanks to those who have been on our campuses in order to teach or serve students while following the strict return-to-campus guidelines. I know it has not been easy, and you have done a wonderful job.
Yesterday, many of you attended the Administrative Assembly meeting in which I shared, in full transparency, the details of how Roosevelt’s enrollment has been impacted, much in part due to COVID-19. Specifically, we are projecting a large deficit for FY23 due to lower-than-anticipated enrollments and other lost sources of revenue, from conference services to on-campus housing and dining services. Also, for the next fiscal year, there is no federal aid to support the budget as there has been for two years. With overall FY22 enrollment declines and anticipated fall FY23 enrollment declines, measures are now necessary to prevent the deficit from increasing.
I shared during the Administrative Assembly meeting that we will need to enact new cost-saving measures now to ensure the long-term financial viability of the University. I presented the outline of actions to be taken this summer: specifically, eliminating most of the vacant positions; some staff layoffs; temporary cuts to retirement fund contributions; and other operational budget cuts, including looking for efficiencies in restructuring divisions.
We are also working hard to increase revenues as much as possible to support the budget. Two trustee task forces are working with our leadership team, faculty and staff to increase enrollments in the next 2-3 years and find another university for us to acquire. These efforts will start to pay off in FY24 and will help us achieve a balanced budget going forward. However, we do need to get through the difficult FY23 year, thus the need for the cost-cutting measures this summer.
Make no mistake, this is a shared sacrifice, and for the measures to be effective, we must all contribute to the actions outlined. Know that I understand and care about how these financial decisions will affect each of you — I do not take these matters lightly. It is my hope that taking aggressive action now will provide us the opportunity to return to normal business operations later next year.
Thank you for your time, talents and continued service to the University.
With Warm Regards,
Ali R. Malekzadeh, Ph.D.
President