March 11, 2009
Dear Colby Families,
This week, the Board of Trustees Budget and Finance Committee met to approve the College’s budget for 2009-10. That budget includes a 3.7 percent increase in the College’s comprehensive fee, which will total $50,320.
Colby’s challenges in this time of economic uncertainty include the predicted loss of approximately 25 percent of Colby’s endowment (by June 2009) and an operating budget constrained by a $500,000 shortfall in the Colby Fund. As I have mentioned in prior communications, Colby’s conservative financial practices, including our cautious approach to endowment spending, have stood us in good stead for the near term, and we are in the enviable position of hiring faculty at a time when some exceptionally talented teachers and scholars are seeking positions. However, Colby is confronting some difficult financial choices, and there are almost surely more to come.
Most immediately, because of the loss of endowment and Colby Fund income, Colby’s non-compensation budget for 2009-10 will be reduced by approximately $1.6 million, or 3.2 percent. The reductions will be targeted so as not to risk Colby’s fundamental academic programs and will include:
- A freeze on most capital projects;
- Placing initiatives identified in Colby’s strategic plan, but as yet unfulfilled, on hold;
- A freeze on salaries for those employees earning more than $40,000, with the exception of faculty members who are eligible for merit raises next year in the third of a three-year cycle;
- Waiting longer to hire replacements for staff members who leave their jobs, reducing the number of temporary workers we hire, and cutting overtime budgets;
- Eliminating overnight infirmary care at the Health Center (click here for more information on this item);
- Reducing dining hall hours on weekends;
- Moving from a three-year to a four-year replacement cycle for computer equipment (the industry standard);
- Reducing staff travel, playing host to fewer events, and relying more on electronic communications;
- Reducing work done by outside vendors.
Although we cannot predict that further budget reduction strategies will not be called for in the future, Colby remains committed to:
- Continuing the “no-loan” financial aid initiative inaugurated this academic year and making additional funds available to families with increased need;
- Filling faculty positions as usual, which is a tremendous advantage for the College at a time when academic positions are dwindling across the country;
- Planning for key capital/academic projects such as a new science facility, so that the College will be ready to move forward when conditions improve.
None of us knows how economic circumstances will play out in the coming years. But, working with the Board of Trustees and with on-campus constituencies, Colby’s senior administration has as its primary goal the continued availability, to every Colby student, of the educational and co-curricular opportunities that have for almost 200 years enriched the lives of those privileged to earn a Colby degree.
Sincerely,
William D. Adams
President
