Enrollment of full-time, on-campus students for the 2018 school year is projected to have gone down, said University of Idaho President Chuck Staben at the annual State of the University address Tuesday.
Staben said the lower enrollment numbers have led to “financial challenges” in the coming year.
“We have been planning, as you know, that our enrollment we grow will help sustain the expenditures we’ve made at the university,” Staben said in the address. “But we have not grown enrollment and we are facing financial challenges in the next year.”
Staben said the university will “have an on-going and transparent discussion throughout the year” to be led by Vice President for Finance Brian Foisy.
Official enrollment numbers are expected to be released Oct. 15, Staben said, adding that the decrease is predicted to be minimal.
The projection for a decrease number of enrolled students comes from a weekly projection, Staben said in an interview afterwards.
Staben said the university needs to address a “structural deficit” in the budget in which expenditures outweigh revenue as a university by making “structural budget reallocations.”
The outgoing administrator due to leave when his contract expires next June also addressed budget deficits within the athletics department, which he said is projected to have a $1 million this fiscal year. The deficit was $750,000 at the end of last fiscal year, which ended this summer.
“We’re trying to resolve that in a positive way,” Staben said in his address. “But it will take time, and it may take some sacrifice and no small amount of different thinking.”
Of the potential sacrifices to deal with the university budget shortfalls, Staben said in an interview 80 percent of the university’s expenses come from personnel and UI may need to slow faculty and staff hiring, including replacements for retired or faculty who have left.
As general enrollment decreased, UI saw an increase in enrollment of international students, Staben said.
“Last fall we bucked the national trend in international enrollment with an increase,” Staben said during the address. “Our Global Student Success Center is an important component in what is a multi-layered effort, supporting our international students.”
Just months after former Athletic Director Rob Spear was terminated, Staben discussed Pete Isakson’s recent change in position from acting to interim athletic director, one of the recent changes within the department over the course of the past year.
Staben addressed the issues surrounding Title IX from the spring, citing “complicated issues touching upon student privacy” referring to underreporting by former UI Athletic Director Rob Spear.
“This spring, we had to sort through some real challenges in respect to Title IX issues, centering on our athletics department. These are complicated issues touching upon student privacy and personnel decisions,” Staben said. He added, “but what is not complicated is understanding our responsibility to students and all members of our community.”
Spear was terminated in August by the State Board of Education, who stepped in on the personnel matter after Staben requested recusal. His termination was in “convenience” with his contract, due to end Feb. 17, 2020, meaning he will continue to receive an annual salary of roughly $181,000.
Staben also touched on several other projects in his speech that the university will continue to work on, including the Idaho Arena and the new president’s house.
The Idaho Arena has $38 million in funding, including the $10 million from Idaho Central Credit Union, and is expected to break ground in the spring.
The end of the work on the president’s house is in sight, Staben said, with an expected completion in the spring. Staben said open houses will be available for all students and faculty, and will help in the recruitment of the next UI president.
The president’s house was previously slated to be finished this fall. Months before Staben came aboard in early 2014, the university received approval to build a new president’s house in the same place as the previous one, built in 1966.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at arg-news.edu or on Twitter: @mere0415.