FAFSA woes result in price range cuts at small schools

Final December, Lindenwood College minimize 10 of its 50 sports activities packages and eradicated 9 nonathletic employees positions as a part of a budgetary “rebalancing,” because the college referred to as it. So as to get by way of the fiscal 12 months with out extra cuts, the small non-public school in St. Charles, Mo., wanted tuition income to carry regular.

As an alternative it skilled the most important enrollment disruption because the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rollout of the brand new Free Software for Federal Pupil Help was delayed by months, and when the shape debuted it was riddled with errors, setting again scholar completion charges and undermining schools’ yield predictions. In Missouri, the place the overwhelming majority of Lindenwood college students come from, solely 41 p.c of highschool seniors had accomplished the FAFSA as of June 14—one of many lowest charges within the nation, and down 12 p.c from final 12 months, in keeping with knowledge from the Nationwide School Attainment Community.

Lindenwood’s projected fall enrollment can also be down 12 p.c 12 months over 12 months, a decline that President John Porter attributes largely to the FAFSA woes. This month the college introduced it will minimize a further 10 p.c of its working price range by the autumn, beginning with layoffs for one more 12 employees and two school members.

“We’d not have minimize to the diploma that we did had it not been for what we’re seeing with FAFSA,” Porter mentioned. “I don’t wish to put all of the blame there, but it surely actually precipitated us to take a step again and reassess our prices.”

Small impartial schools have been closing at an accelerated tempo, and plenty of of these teetering on the sting are restructuring, slashing budgets left and proper; this semester has been notably tough for program cuts. Small establishments are additionally extra reliant on tuition income than ever, and the enrollment penalties of the bungled FAFSA launch have pushed some to make extra drastic cuts than they in any other case may need.

Justin Monk, director of scholar and institutional assist coverage on the Nationwide Affiliation of Unbiased Faculties and Universities, mentioned the FAFSA disaster was a “pressure multiplier” that expedited program cuts at small schools already buckling beneath a confluence of economic challenges.

“Small schools and universities are having to stretch their assets thinner than ever … We’ve actually heard from quite a few faculties anecdotally that this 12 months has been remarkably difficult,” he mentioned. “[The FAFSA] eliminated plenty of the margin that faculties needed to take care of different points.”

Stalling Progress

The final black swan occasion for small schools was the COVID-19 pandemic, which despatched enrollments plummeting throughout larger ed and hit small tuition-dependent schools particularly arduous. The establishments that survived had been slowly recovering from the downturn, however this 12 months’s FAFSA holdup has stunted their progress.

At Hampshire School in Amherst, Mass., the FAFSA debacle reversed three years of enrollment and monetary progress.

In 2019 the tiny establishment of about 700 college students confronted possible closure and didn’t admit incoming freshmen for fall 2020. However in a dialog with MassLive in March, President Ed Wingenbach sounded bullish concerning the school’s path to sustainability, predicting that Hampshire would surpass its aim of 1,000 college students in fall 2024.

Then, two weeks in the past, the faculty introduced over $1 million in cuts to employees advantages and administrator salaries. In an e-mail to Inside Greater Ed, a Hampshire spokesperson mentioned that as a result of FAFSA challenges, enrollment predictions had been decrease than anticipated earlier within the spring.

“FAFSA delays contributed to our present enrollment numbers for Fall 2024, that are decrease than our projected aim, as we’ve got heard instantly from candidates and their households,” the spokesperson wrote. “Quantifying precisely what may need been, had FAFSA not been such a multitude, is a problem. Realistically tuition, meals, housing and costs comprise a majority of our income, and we’re working to regulate our bills from present ranges to fulfill our anticipated income in gentle of those enrollment realities.”

Johanna Alonso for Inside Greater Ed

Different schools are dealing with comparable setbacks. Final 12 months Lindenwood welcomed 805 freshmen to campus, its largest incoming class in a decade—simply three years after enrollment dropped by 20 p.c as a result of pandemic. This 12 months, Porter predicts, the faculty received’t see the identical upward trajectory.

DJ Menifee, vice chairman for enrollment, advertising and communications at Bradley College in Peoria, Unwell., mentioned his establishment made a concerted effort final 12 months to recuperate from a steep decline in enrollment, from 1,040 college students in 2022 to 835 in 2023. Thus far, nonetheless, enrollment predictions for the autumn hover at 832.

Menifee mentioned he “feels good” about not falling additional given the challenges, however he hopes for higher ends in the approaching years.

“Our expectations shifted whereas the FAFSA knowledge was popping out,” he mentioned.

Monk mentioned he’s involved that many small schools could also be greater than briefly waylaid by the FAFSA-instigated enrollment dip this 12 months.

“Enrollment declines aren’t only a one-year downside; these rippled results comply with you for 4 years” he mentioned. “So there’s fairly a little bit of fear now, but in addition actually for the long run.”

Planning for the Worst

For some small non-public schools already dealing with long-term monetary shortfalls and mulling strategic pivots, this 12 months’s monetary assist fiasco has prompted drastic steps.

Earlier this month the College of Lynchburg introduced it will restructure its educational choices, chopping 12 undergraduate levels and 5 graduate packages, along with firing 40 staffers. A Lynchburg spokesperson declined to remark for this text, however in a video saying the cuts, President Alison Morrison-Shetlar mentioned the college was “at a crossroads” and that “the FAFSA disaster,” amongst different components, had “a profound impression.”

Regardless of vital cuts over the previous six months, Porter mentioned, Lindenwood is in an “glorious monetary place.” However his administration has been looking for for some time now to proper the ship; the FAFSA disaster merely uncovered a few of Lindenwood’s larger strategic issues and expedited plans to trim fats and improve institutional scholar assist.

“The FAFSA really instigated plenty of our pondering on how far we have to go,” he mentioned. “It helped us understand what wanted to be performed.”

Porter mentioned the college has ramped up recruitment and advertising spending this summer season to attempt to recuperate as many misplaced college students as potential. Officers have bought 23 new billboard adverts throughout Missouri, positioned native tv spots and invested in focused recruitment of scholars who utilized to Lindenwood however by no means dedicated. Porter mentioned deposits are up 23 p.c this month in comparison with final June.

However chopping packages is a part of a broader technique of “planning for the worst-case situation,” he mentioned.

“We’re not going to attend till August and cross our fingers hoping for one of the best … If we do hit the worst-case situation, these measures permit us to function with margins,” Porter mentioned. “If different universities aren’t planning this fashion, and are simply hoping to squeak by and see what occurs, I’d say that’s a foul philosophy.”