From the Newsstands: This story appeared in The Eagle's December 2024 print edition. You can find the digital version here.
American University is facing a $68 million deficit for the 2025 fiscal year, according to a community forum held on Sept. 25. The University’s shortfall was originally $33.6 million, yet its value increased by $35.2 million due to decreased student-generated revenue.
The deficit represents the negative difference between the University’s proposed spending and earnings for a fiscal year. The University plans new housing requirements and other changes as it addresses low enrollment and retention rates that contributed to the deficit. However students and faculty want more transparency from the University.
“It’s not transparent,” said John Bracht, president of AU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “Some of the numbers are public, but not very many, and they’re very high level numbers, aggregates. They obscure a lot of things. There’s a lot of budget questions we have.”
Balancing the budget
In a memorandum sent to the University community in June 2023, administration cited both low graduate student enrollment and poor student retention as challenges for the 2024 fiscal year budget, yet said they were operating on “our investments in our people.”
Chief Financial Officer, Vice President and Treasurer Bronté Burleigh-Jones, former Vice President of People and External Affairs Seth Grossman and former Provost and Chief Academic Officer Peter Starr said the University budget was “significantly influenced by student enrollment and retention.”
Burleigh-Jones, Grossman and Starr said 92 percent of the University’s operating revenue comes from student-generated sources, including tuition, housing, dining and fees.
Comparatively, student tuition and fees make up 47 percent of George Washington University’s operating revenue, according to a 2022 financial year report covered by AWOL.
On July 19, 2024, University President Jonathan Alger and his cabinet announced enrollment outcomes would continue to affect the budget and require additional steps.
The drop in revenue stems from projected fall 2024 undergraduate enrollment, which the University administration projected would reach 6,995 students. Instead, the undergraduate class was 566 students short, marking a 7.5 percent deficit. Comparatively, fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment fell short by only 1 percent. Total graduate credit hours also fell short by 8.6 percent, reaching 20,850 total hours.
In a statement to The Eagle, Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer, said measuring graduate students by credit hours considers “a number of graduate students are enrolled part-time and this approach provides an accurate measure for our graduate programs.”
AU brought in $825 million in revenue after the 2025 Fiscal Year AU Budget Report first projected $860.4 million.
The 2025 fiscal year’s shortfall is larger than the 2024 fiscal year’s $30.8 million. That shortfall
prompted $9.8 million in budget cuts, bringing departments and offices a 2 percent budget decrease, according to an October 2023 community forum AWOL reported. The University additionally withdrew an additional $10 million from enrollment and compensation reserves.
“We are taking a measured approach to using reserve funds, prioritizing the long-term financial outlook of the university while also meeting the immediate needs of our community,” Deal said. “Strategic use of reserves and ongoing commitment to replenish them helps us support our mission, advance campus initiatives, maintain operational continuity, and invest in student thriving.”
Board of Trustees Chair Gina Adams announced in April 2024 that the University would pause its 1 percent annual contribution to its reserve. Adams said it was still “critical” that the University continue to fund the reserve in the future for the “enduring financial health of the University.”
Despite this, at a Sept. 25 community forum the University announced additional funding withdrawn from the reserves.
According to Bracht, there is a lack of faculty consultation regarding budgetary-related decision making, leaving stakeholders feeling left out in policy adoptions. He questions how much of the budget is spent on “administrative bloat.”
“I believe the University can only overcome enrollment issues by investing in the ground game,” Bracht said. “The faculty-student engagement is the heart of the University. We need to invest there more than we need to invest in upper-administration.”
Deal said the University recognized “the importance of faculty-student engagement” and supported efforts to strengthen these relationships across campus. According to Deal, student seats on the Faculty Senate committee have been filed for “the first time in many years.”
As stated by Deal, AU Student Government is also restarting a committee dedicated to improving communication between students and faculty.
In preparation for a potential undergraduate enrollment shortfall, the University requested a $5 million draw from reserves from the Board, according to Burleigh-Jones. With current enrollment projections, she anticipates requesting an additional $8.2 million, for a total reserve withdrawal of $13.2 million.
Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Vicky Wilkins told the attendees of the community
forum held on Sept. 25 that it’s unlikely the school can find its way into a balanced budget.
On Nov. 12, School of Education Dean Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy announced the University would restructure SOE following her departure in January 2025. According to the email sent to SOE majors and minors, the restructuring was a result of the University’s budget.
“With a university-wide budget deficit of over $60 million, one of the first areas the University will likely cut is our education school,” Holcomb-McCoy wrote. “Discussions have occurred about whether the SOE may be relocated to the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) again.”
Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Matt Bennett told NBC4 Washington that there is no discussion about cutting SOE.
“Discussions about restructuring SOE’s administrative framework are ongoing and have been for some time as part of our regular evaluation of our academic offerings,” Bennett said.
University budgets, including the $1.74 billion 2023-24 financial year budget, are normally set for a two-year period. The 2025 financial year budget is the first one-year budget since the 2022 financial year.
According to Deal, a one-year budget plan permits more flexibility and allows the University to make adjustments based on enrollment, market trends and optional
needs.
Burleigh-Jones said that the University hasn’t decided on whether the 2026 financial year budget will be a one-year or two-year budget and there is no consensus if budgets will permanently adopt one of the two time frame options.
University investment in students
Salvatore Cottone, SG senator on the Committee on Academic Budget and Benefits, said the University is prioritizing investment in the urgent needs of student communities.
“The recent budget shortfalls stem from lower enrollment over the past two years, most notably our significant miss in meeting our undergraduate enrollment target, exacerbating the deficit already in place,” Cottone said. “This new budget approach aims to implement the best financial strategy moving forward in light of these challenges.”
To “foster a stronger, more connected student community,” Cottone said the University is “having serious conversations to require sophomore students to live on campus as part of a new two-year residency requirement.”
Deal said the University has “sufficient capacity” to still accommodate juniors and seniors interested in living on-campus.
While new housing requirements may burden students financially, Cottone said the University is considering “adjustments to the current financial aid model” to reduce the financial strain of a sophomore housing mandate.
“Per U.S. Department of Education requirements, room and board charges are already part of the annual cost of attendance calculations that are used to determine financial aid awards,” Deal said. “Our financial aid approach and commitment to meeting students demonstrated financial need support the residency requirement.”
A sophomore housing requirement would mean all sophomores would be required to live in a campus residence hall, with the possibility of a fine if they chose not to, according to Residence Hall Association Northside Council President Roderick Purdy. He said there are many sophomores who currently live off campus who would “certainly not” like the idea.
“I know a few [sophomores] who actually live off campus now,” Purdy said. “Not only do they have their own privacy, but in some cases, it’s just as, if not more, affordable for them, so it’s less of a financial strain on them.”
Purdy said the current housing situation on campus is better suited to allow students to live off campus if they choose to, and that the upcoming residency requirement proposal should be subject to student-administrative dialogues.
The 2021 Campus Plan, a ten-year vision for the University’s developments, offers details on current plans to potentially house more undergraduate and graduate students.
Over the course of the next decade, AU plans to build more than 500 beds on University grounds, to encourage more students to live on campus beyond their freshman year. It will also allow for more flexibility in renovating existing residence halls to higher quality, and providing graduates with on-campus housing, according to the plan.
Such developments would be necessary for the University to successfully carry out the sophomore residency requirement, according to Purdy, including an examination of the actual supply of rooms on campus.
“If you’re making your students stay on campus, you have to make sure you have enough space for them,” Purdy said. “And frankly, I think the University would need to, first and foremost, make sure that there is in fact enough space for them.”
Proposed housing developments on campus are divided into priority and secondary sites in the 2021 Campus Plan. Priority sites include two proposed residence halls, one behind the currently under-construction Meltzer Center and one where the Osborn Building, located behind the Asbury Building, currently stands.
Secondary sites include potentially repurposing of the Beeghly Chemistry Building for housing space and two hypothetical residence halls attached to Letts Hall. The construction of these would require the demolition of the existing beds in Clark and Roper Halls, according to the plan.
The graduate student experience
South Campus’ Clark Hall is currently occupied by the first-year advising department. But the building, once housing, still contains hallmarks of a student residential
space.
A shower is present in the first floor bathroom, and the hallways and office space in Clark more closely resemble the layout of neighboring Roper Hall, currently home to Black Affinity Housing, than other office-oriented buildings on the south side of campus, such as neighboring McCabe and Gray Halls.
Now, seven years after First-Year Advising arrived, the building may revert back to housing, likely for graduate students interested in living on campus, according to a meeting transcript obtained by The Eagle.
First-year advisors, who have been told Clark Hall will be closed to them come March, will integrate into the schools as the University administration realigns to focus on major-based advising.
Housing’s impact on revenue is “foundational” for the University going forward, Burleigh-Jones said during the September 2024 forum.
According to Burleigh-Jones, bringing graduate students on campus is part of a strategy to fill residence halls stricken by lower undergraduate enrollment while fulfilling wishes of graduate students who would like to live on campus.
The process of putting those graduate students on campus, she said, started this academic year, by offering graduate students housing in Letts Hall, which is traditionally a freshman residence hall.
Emma Hua is a graduate student living in The Berkshire Apartments, located just south of campus on Massachusetts Avenue. She said whether or not graduate students would prefer on-campus housing depends on the type of student.
Hua lives at The Berkshire Apartments because of proximity and affordability. However, she said the benefits of living on campus for graduate students would be apparent — easier access to dining, the library and the University community, among other safety reasons.
“There are a lot of grad classes that take place at night,” Hua said. “It also would be easier for students to return home, basically not having to worry about commuting in the dark and worrying about their safety.”
However, besides getting one email about potential graduate housing, Hua was not aware that graduate students were living in Letts Hall, and there has been no announcement about potential housing in Clark Hall either. She said communication from the University on the subject has been “extremely ineffective.”
The University is also focused on improving its research appeal. AU’s Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education status changed from “R2: Doctoral Universities: High
Research Activity” to “R1: Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity”.
Carnegie Classifications categorize institutions of higher education based on their function or mission, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. R1 and R2 categorize universities that conduct research, R1 denoting the highest levels of research activity for a university.
The American Council on Education changed its qualifications for an R1 rank in a new 2025 policy, allowing a university to meet R1 status by spending $50 million on research and development and by awarding at least 70 research or scholarship doctorates in a year. According to a 2023 presentation by the Council, the University meets these requirements.
Deal said the University is “home to world class scholars,” and that growing research programs will increase the University’s ability to “attract and retain top faculty and students.”
“It’s a tribute to the faculty and a tremendous opportunity for the University,” Bracht said
as president of AU’s chapter of AAUP. “It’s an automatic bump in ranking. I think we’ll see a
significant increase just because of the classification, we’ll probably see greater enrollments.”
During the Sept. 25 forum, Wilkins said the R1 ranking has been a big conversation on campus, but the University needs to keep in mind financial challenges. Once achieving R1 status, the University must work to maintain it, as losing the status is possible.
“We have to consider the investments we make in research, how we continue and build on those, so that we can be sure to maintain the external dollars that you need as part of the formula, and then also our production of PhD students,” Wilkins said.
On‐campus changes
Cottone said the University is also working to improve present communities on campus with a plan to put The Bridge and The Davenport Coffee Lounge on GrubHub and campus dining platforms. Deal said the University is working with technology vendors and will share a “potential solution” with students in the spring.
Cottone said that AU is also considering establishing an alcoholic venue on campus to offer students and staff a new social space on campus. Bender Arena has started selling alcohol this semester at wrestling matches in The Perch, a designated alcohol and snack vendor.
The University provided no official timeline for establishing an alcoholic venue, as Deal said there are “topics related to licensing and other legal requirements that require further work.”
Administration said improving the student experience is at the core of these University-wide changes, whether new housing or alcoholic beverages on campus. However, some community members of the University say these changes have lost sight of what’s truly important to the community.
More faculty involvement in administrative decisions, better budget transparency and increased investment in students and staff are three of many recommendations made by the AAUP to the University in an attempt to elevate campus success, from their final report of the faculty senate working group on faculty engagement.
Brian Yates, a psychology professor in CAS and a member of the AAUP and decades-long stakeholder in the University, hopes that faculty and students will be factored into more University-wide decisions, and that policies made to boost the University’s budget are made with more “consensus.”
“I’m 74 — I could retire,” Yates said. “But I love teaching and I love academia. I’ve been thinking about it a lot ... but now I feel like I’m engaged in a different way in academia, more fighting for the right to do this.”
Correction: The original print version of this article did not cite AWOL’s November 2023 reporting as the source of the October 2023 community forum information and the George Washington University statistics. Instead, it appeared to be The Eagle’s original reporting. The version was edited for online publication to correctly cite AWOL as the source of this information. The Eagle regrets and apologizes for this error.
This article was edited by Sydney Hsu, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Emma Brown, Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Nicole Kariuki, Charlie Mennuti and Ella Rousseau. Fact Checking done by Hannah Paisley Zoulek and Sasha Dafkova.
