Xavier University plans a $100 million capital campaign, which would include plans to demolish Alter Hall, the largest instruction building on campus. It is too old to be renovated. / The Enquirer/Taylor Norton
Seeking to reshape an increasingly uncertain academic and financial future, Xavier University will try everything from a capital campaign of as much as $140 million to a new College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
There also could be a new pledge from Xavier to students: “To develop their values and character, deliver an excellent education, and guarantee placement in their career or next educational step.”
Draft plans circulating around the Evanston campus this week show that XU’s board and top administrators are serious when they talk about doing things differently.
“The business model across higher education is not sustainable,” said Scott Chadwick, Xavier’s provost, or top academic officer. “That requires us to figure out how to help students learn differently at lower cost.”
XU will run an operating deficit of about $5 million this year. It discounts freshman tuition by 47.5 percent to keep itself affordable, and can’t afford any further tuition breaks.
It also has built up debt of close to $200 million rebuilding its campus during the last five years and needs to spend about $12 million a year to maintain and renovate existing buildings.
“We have a good foundation,” said Beth Amyot, XU’s chief financial officer. “Even thought it’s not an emergency, we do need to have a sense of urgency.”
“I think we need to make choices that we haven’t had to make before.”
Universities across the country are struggling with similar financial woes, and the plans are Xavier’s attempt to chart its own future before students and families start abandoning it for less expensive options.
Those changes are particularly difficult on college campuses, said Kate Fenner, a consultant at Downtown-based Compass Higher Education.
“There’s a whole culture that’s based on a respect for how we’ve always done things,” Fenner said. “It’s very difficult when you want to push change in a culture like that.”
Groups of students and employees will discuss the plans at open forums this month, including one today. Xavier hopes to polish off a final version this spring.
It appears inevitable that the final plan will include:
• A new fundraising campaign. Having completed a $206 million campaign in 2011, Xavier will probably start another campaign to raise $100 million for the endowment – most for scholarships – and $40 million for new buildings, according to the plans.
• A new austerity. A pool for employee merit raises would not be tapped until January 2014, and any new employees would probably be funded by eliminating existing jobs.
The plans predict a raft of cost-cutting measures without identifying any specifics. Chadwick and Amyot said no specific academic programs have been targeted so far for closure.
“We recognize that while ideas for programs of all sorts are unlimited, our resources are not,” the financial plan said. “In defining certain strategies for investment, other programs may be scaled back, eliminated or not started.”
Alter Hall, Xavier’s main classroom building, will have to be renovated using internal funds. Xavier has said for several years that Alter will need to be renovated or razed and replaced.
• More students. With about 7,000 students now, Xavier has recruited two of its biggest-ever classes during the last four years, but new growth won’t come from bigger freshman classes, Chadwick said.
Instead, XU hopes to double the number of veterans enrolled to about 300, recruit more students from such markets as Atlanta, Kansas City and Minneapolis, and increase both international students and transfer students.
• A bigger campus. The financial plan says Xavier will try to finance a new Allied Health Professions building, probably just east of the Williams College of Business along Dana Avenue, and a new recreation center, probably located in the new multiuse development closer to Montgomery Road. The current rec center is off Victory Parkway, on the west side of campus.
• A new learning model. The new College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship could be “a safe space to test ideas, to play with ideas and to bring new things to the market,” Chadwick said.
It’s unlikely that current academic departments would be moved into the new college, but they could use it as a laboratory, he said.
• A promise to students. The pledge idea is a bold one in academic circles, but Chadwick said it’s the same concept as a car dealer offering a warranty with a new car.
“You see it in every other industry,” he said. “We know the process. We will pledge to hold up our end of that process and give them that learning and developmental environment.”
Xavier student body president Seth Walsh, a senior from Michigan, gives the university credit for trying.
“I’m not sure anyone really knows what the times are in terms of academics anymore,” Walsh said. “Every generation learns in a different way. I think the fact they’re taking proactive steps will keep them as close to current as any college can be.”
There also could be a new pledge from Xavier to students: “To develop their values and character, deliver an excellent education, and guarantee placement in their career or next educational step.”
Draft plans circulating around the Evanston campus this week show that XU’s board and top administrators are serious when they talk about doing things differently.
“The business model across higher education is not sustainable,” said Scott Chadwick, Xavier’s provost, or top academic officer. “That requires us to figure out how to help students learn differently at lower cost.”
XU will run an operating deficit of about $5 million this year. It discounts freshman tuition by 47.5 percent to keep itself affordable, and can’t afford any further tuition breaks.
It also has built up debt of close to $200 million rebuilding its campus during the last five years and needs to spend about $12 million a year to maintain and renovate existing buildings.
“We have a good foundation,” said Beth Amyot, XU’s chief financial officer. “Even thought it’s not an emergency, we do need to have a sense of urgency.”
“I think we need to make choices that we haven’t had to make before.”
Universities across the country are struggling with similar financial woes, and the plans are Xavier’s attempt to chart its own future before students and families start abandoning it for less expensive options.
Those changes are particularly difficult on college campuses, said Kate Fenner, a consultant at Downtown-based Compass Higher Education.
“There’s a whole culture that’s based on a respect for how we’ve always done things,” Fenner said. “It’s very difficult when you want to push change in a culture like that.”
Groups of students and employees will discuss the plans at open forums this month, including one today. Xavier hopes to polish off a final version this spring.
It appears inevitable that the final plan will include:
• A new fundraising campaign. Having completed a $206 million campaign in 2011, Xavier will probably start another campaign to raise $100 million for the endowment – most for scholarships – and $40 million for new buildings, according to the plans.
• A new austerity. A pool for employee merit raises would not be tapped until January 2014, and any new employees would probably be funded by eliminating existing jobs.
The plans predict a raft of cost-cutting measures without identifying any specifics. Chadwick and Amyot said no specific academic programs have been targeted so far for closure.
“We recognize that while ideas for programs of all sorts are unlimited, our resources are not,” the financial plan said. “In defining certain strategies for investment, other programs may be scaled back, eliminated or not started.”
Alter Hall, Xavier’s main classroom building, will have to be renovated using internal funds. Xavier has said for several years that Alter will need to be renovated or razed and replaced.
• More students. With about 7,000 students now, Xavier has recruited two of its biggest-ever classes during the last four years, but new growth won’t come from bigger freshman classes, Chadwick said.
Instead, XU hopes to double the number of veterans enrolled to about 300, recruit more students from such markets as Atlanta, Kansas City and Minneapolis, and increase both international students and transfer students.
• A bigger campus. The financial plan says Xavier will try to finance a new Allied Health Professions building, probably just east of the Williams College of Business along Dana Avenue, and a new recreation center, probably located in the new multiuse development closer to Montgomery Road. The current rec center is off Victory Parkway, on the west side of campus.
• A new learning model. The new College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship could be “a safe space to test ideas, to play with ideas and to bring new things to the market,” Chadwick said.
It’s unlikely that current academic departments would be moved into the new college, but they could use it as a laboratory, he said.
• A promise to students. The pledge idea is a bold one in academic circles, but Chadwick said it’s the same concept as a car dealer offering a warranty with a new car.
“You see it in every other industry,” he said. “We know the process. We will pledge to hold up our end of that process and give them that learning and developmental environment.”
Xavier student body president Seth Walsh, a senior from Michigan, gives the university credit for trying.
“I’m not sure anyone really knows what the times are in terms of academics anymore,” Walsh said. “Every generation learns in a different way. I think the fact they’re taking proactive steps will keep them as close to current as any college can be.”
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