90-credit professional baccalaureate degrees, closing out the budget deficit and the college’s strategic plan were among the topics discussed at the annual State of the College address.
The meeting, which took place on Friday, Feb. 9, kicked off with a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” KSC President Melinda Treadwell asked attendees to rise for the playing of the song, coupled with a unique land acknowledgment in recognition of Black History Month.
“We must continue to adapt to the world around us,” Treadwell said in opening remarks.
On the stage, Treadwell was joined by Vice President for Finance and Administration Nathalie Houder, Vice President of Enrollment and Student Engagement MB Lufkin and Provost James Beeby.
Treadwell said based on past University System of New Hampshire (USNH) Board of Trustees investments and campus initiatives show the college can close out its budget deficit by FY2026.
The Equinox previously reported the college’s budget stood at $2.7 million following a one-time state funding increase for FY2024.
Lufkin took to the podium next to detail some preliminary enrollment numbers to the audience. Lufkin noted the R+30, or registration plus 30 days numbers, the traditional benchmark put in the KSC Factbook, would not be known until Wednesday, Feb. 14.
“There is a possibility that we will end in R30, a hundred more students registered for spring than we budgeted,” Lufkin said.
Lufkin also detailed increases in the number of students living on-campus. “We have reduced our melt… in the fall and the spring by 2% over our numbers from 2019… which means more students living on-campus,” she said.
Additionally, Lufkin noted 37% of juniors were living on-campus, up from 23% in fall 2019, as well as 20% of seniors on campus, as compared to 10%.
Treadwell, coming back to the podium, remarked on how KSC plans to become deficit-neutral and perform better than baseline projections. A base-case enrollment analysis of KSC by Nathan Grawe, author and economics professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., showed the college would plunge into a $6.9 million deficit in FY29.
“This model… set a stark future for [USNH] and the good fortune for Keene State is that our strategic planning and our board of trustee investments focus was well-timed to coincide with our ability to quantify what we could do to bend this curve,” Treadwell said.
Among the items Treadwell said will buck the projection, some were classroom and residence hall improvements, the Antioch University of New England partnership, athletic investments and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) investments.
Treadwell said outside of the board investments, campus initiatives would help the college become deficit-neutral. In a presentation slide shared to the audience, there were both revenue increase opportunities and expense reduction opportunities.
The areas in which the college plans to increase revenue include summer and
winter course registration increasing, regional partnerships, housing and dining improvements, online graduate program expansion and undergraduate program expansion. The college estimates these items would increase revenue by $1.7 million by FY26 and $3.9 million by FY29.
In terms of where the college plans to reduce expenses, curriculum changes, capital expenditure reductions and a strategic hiring of staff plan are at the forefront. The college estimates these measures would save the college $2 million by FY26 and $2.3 million by FY29.
“Every one of these initiatives has a conceptual throughline from our work in 2019 with Huron all the way to today,” Treadwell said.
One investment Treadwell pointed out as both a marketing and enrollment tool was the completion of a long-held KSC goal: Becoming an All-Steinway campus.
“This was a dream of our faculty, a dream of our students,” Treadwell said.
“It means that all of the pianos that our students enjoy, that our community enjoys are either Steinway or Boston pianos, the highest quality piano in the world,” she said.
Treadwell also noted only 149 other colleges and universities held the All-Steinway distinction.
As part of the strategic staff hiring initiative, a career transition incentive plan
the college’s union, the Keene State College Educators Association, approved recently. Treadwell said by supporting retirement for senior faculty coupled with strategic backfilling in areas of growth, the college would reduce operating expenses by $650,000.
A challenge in higher education Treadwell addressed was the movement towards a 90-credit professional bachelor’s degree. Treadwell, who serves as a commissioner at the New England Commission for Higher Education (NECHE), said there needs to be a distinction between the 120-credit bachelor’s and the 90-credit offerings proposed by New England College and Merrimack College.
“To the extent that we do not address this ourselves, our prospective students will address it as they choose the more accessible and affordable options around us,” Treadwell said.
Nathan Hope can be contacted at
nhope@kscequinox.com
