Macalester and the Economy

Message From President Rosenberg,
February 20, 2009

To the members of the Macalester community,

As many of you know, we have this year delayed our normal budgeting process in order to make the most judicious decisions about expenditures in fiscal 2009-2010. We now expect to seek final approval of next year’s budget at the May meeting of the Board of Trustees, by which time we will have additional information about admissions, financial aid, the equities markets, and the broad state of the economy.

It is important, however, that at this point we make some crucial decisions regarding major portions of next year’s budget, particularly so that we can proceed with our financial aid offers to admitted students. I write today to inform you of the most consequential of those decisions. Each has been made with an eye toward our central goals of sustaining the quality of our academic and co-curricular programming, maintaining access to the college, and continuing to support our current faculty and staff.

(1) The amount budgeted for financial aid in 2009-2010 will increase by about $3.5 million, or more than 12 percent, over the amount budgeted this year. This is far larger than the increase in a typical year and will bring next year’s financial aid budget to more than $32 million. We believe this to be a necessary and important step in the current economic environment and hope that, together with the smallest percentage increase in the comprehensive fee in nearly a decade, it will keep Macalester affordable for our new and returning students.

(2) We do not anticipate any layoffs of continuing staff in 2009-2010. We will however be suspending the normal cycle of pay increases, holding salaries at their current levels. There will be three categories of exceptions to this rule. Staff and faculty employees who are eligible for benefits and whose full-time equivalent salary is or would be under $70,000 per year will receive an increase of $400, pro-rated for those who are less than full-time, to help cover potential increases in health care and other expenses. Faculty members who will be promoted next year will receive a salary increase so as not to be disproportionately impacted by this suspension of raises. And of course we will honor our previously negotiated agreement with members of the collective bargaining unit.

(3) We expect to add no new staff or faculty positions during 2009-2010, except under conditions of the most extreme necessity. We do not anticipate a freeze in the hiring of replacements for vacant positions, though each vacancy will be carefully evaluated at the senior level before a search is authorized to proceed. The faculty allocations process will move forward, though only requests for replacement hires will be considered and, depending upon budgetary conditions, it is possible that not all of those requests will be granted.

Given the cloud of uncertainty that envelops virtually all fiscal decisions at this moment, it is only fair to add that even the assumptions above are subject to change should economic conditions deteriorate sharply, especially in ways that negatively impact our ability to recruit and retain students.

No decisions have yet been made about program budgets for next year. The current exercise of drafting two budget alternatives—one with the total unchanged and one with the total declining by 10 percent—should proceed with the understanding that the former is a best case and the latter a worst case scenario. At this point we do not anticipate program cuts of 10 percent for next year and we do not anticipate that any cuts would be across the board. We would prefer that funding decisions be selective and strategic, with the goal of preserving the quality of the student experience at the college. To that end, it would be most helpful if you could identify those areas in your own budget whose reduction would have the least impact on that experience.

All of us who are working on the near and long term budgeting process on Senior Staff, the Task Force on the Budget, and the Resources and Planning Committee appreciate your understanding and good will as we work through these challenging times. We also welcome your best ideas. I strongly believe that as long as Macalester continues to be prudent in its budgeting, imaginative in its thinking, and focused on its powerful and distinctive mission, we will remain well positioned to emerge from this period with our strengths intact or enhanced.

Best wishes,

Brian Rosenberg