A decline in enrollment isn’t cutting it

By: Alexis Mitchell
Twitter: @alexismitch14
Email: mitchella2@findlay.edu

Recently, budget cuts have been made across the University of Findlay campus, and last week the UF community heard student’s perspective. Now, we hear from professionals who have answers to all the unasked questions.
According to Anne Wells, director of business services, confirmed that budget cuts are being made and the reason is because of the decline in student enrollment, especially the decline in international students. No specific programs have had cuts made.
“The budget reduction is shared by every academic and non-academic department across campus, not just individual programs,” said Wells.
The reductions have been restricted to budget lines in each academic and non-academic department. Wells explained that she wants the quality of the student experience inside and outside the classroom to be maintained.
“Even with this challenge, we have much to celebrate,” said Wells, “the University continues to remain strong, and this budget reduction is a proactive step to ensure that we have the resources we need to make bold investments and that are good for our long-term growth.”
Some examples of the campus moving forward to benefit both students and staff have been the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Wells added that the University has been working through a “master planning process” that will result in a better space allocation across campus. The fairly new Center for Student Life and College of Business and recent decision to purchase the Winebrenner Theological Seminary last fall.
“There are many new opportunities to optimize the student learning experience and potentially reduce the expense of maintaining many small facilities,” said Wells.