YSU enrollment expected to be down again next year

By Denise Dick | March 27, 2014 at 12:10a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Lower enrollment and a projected deficit will continue at Youngstown State University for at least another year.

“I see fall 2014 up slightly for new students,” Gary D. Swegan, associate vice president for enrollment planning and management, told YSU trustees Wednesday at a board retreat. However, because the school isn’t retaining students, “overall enrollment will be down 21/2 to 2 percent,” he said.

Beginning in fall 2015, he expects enrollment to begin to move up, although modestly.

From 2009 to 2011, YSU enrollment spiked, but Swegan said those years were during the economic downturn. People who couldn’t find work were going to school.

YSU’s 16-year average enrollment — minus 2009 to 2011 — is 12,890, Swegan said.

Fall 2013 enrollment saw 13,381 students with 13,813 students in fall 2012.

Swegan listed transfer, international and graduate students, online education, veterans and College in High School as opportunities the university can use to improve enrollment. Factors working against a return to record enrollment include Eastern Gateway Community College, YSU’s lack of viable housing on or contiguous to campus, the change from an open admission to an open access university and the declining demographic profile in Ohio and the Mahoning Valley.

The university’s projected deficit is about $7.9 million going into fiscal year 2015, which starts July 1.

Neal McNally, interim vice president for finance and administration, said one way to address part of the deficit is not to fill the positions that have been vacant for a long time. Between existing and projected vacancies, the university could save $6.2 million — $4.4 million in faculty and $1.8 million in staff.

Some of those positions have been vacant for a while as YSU has been using those savings to help balance the budget for the last few years.

YSU also needs to try to raise revenue. One opportunity for that is distance education. McNally said YSU also should target its niche markets.

“We need to focus not on what Akron and Kent are doing but what is right for us,” he said.

A budget development council, a group of university administrators, has recommended that each university division be assigned efficiency targets, or budget cuts, that would be permanent.

Those targets would be incrementally achieved by June 30, 2015, with quarterly reports on the progress to trustees.

The university is also considering a performance audit, perhaps by the state auditor’s office, to recommend reductions and improvements.