A Message from President
Bloom to the Campus Community

5/6/2009

This past weekend the Board of Managers approved a budget for the academic year 2009-10 responsive to the current financial environment. Salaries for faculty, staff and students will remain at their 2008-09 levels, the planned reductions in expenditures already shared with the community (detailed on the Ad Hoc Financial Planning Group's website) will take effect, and we will continue to live within substantial financial constraints. But the budget does not require any layoffs; and, as has been previously announced, the College remains fully committed to its current financial aid policies (including loan-free packages) for all current and incoming students.

In the coming months, the Ad Hoc Financial Planning Group will continue its effort to identify by November 2009 an additional $15 million in budget reductions or increased revenues, which may be required to return the College to a sustainable spending rate on its endowment. The Board has mandated a return to a 5% rate within 5 years.

I am pleased that we can move forward into the next academic year without diminishing the programs, positions, and commitments to core values that define the broad and distinctive excellence of this institution, while we remain mindful of, and prepare actively for, serious financial challenges which may lie ahead.