12/03/2024
By Joanne Yestramski
Dear Campus Community,
As we approach the midpoint of the academic year, I want to take a moment to provide an update on the university’s financial position and share some important transitions currently underway.
At the start of the fiscal year, we faced a $15 million budget gap, due primarily to inflation, salary and fringe benefit increases, an increase in required operating margin and the ending of federal COVID ARPA funds. Unfortunately, fall enrollment numbers, particularly among higher-paying out-of-state and international master’s students, did not meet our targets, increasing the gap by an additional $5 million. While this presents a new challenge, it also underscores the importance of the thoughtful planning and actions we’ve been discussing over the past several months.
In our Town Hall meetings and previous communications regarding the FY25 budget, we outlined a plan to conduct administrative reviews across the university to identify efficiencies and ensure we are positioned to meet our financial goals. Based on these reviews, we have taken several steps to address these challenges:
- Leased Property Consolidation
- The university has begun terminating leases in Haverhill and Andover. These changes will contribute to long-term operational savings and align our physical footprint with our needs.
- Workforce Management
- Significant savings have been identified through careful position management across the university (through actions such as freezing open positions, reallocating backfills to higher priority needs, and timing start dates), by the Essential Hiring Committee.
- Reorganization Efforts
- Brand, Communications & Creative Strategy (BCCS): This unit is undergoing a reorganization to modernize UMass Lowell’s digital presence, including the next generation of uml.edu, aimed at enhancing recruitment strategies.
- Athletics, Information Technology and Corporate Relations: Reorganization efforts are also underway in these areas, streamlining operations and aligning resources with institutional priorities.
- Course Management: After a global review, a restructuring of course offerings led to the elimination of over 150 sections for the spring semester. Aimed largely at underenrolled and elective sections, this decision will result in significant budget savings.
We know that these changes will not be easy. But we are committed to finding sustainable solutions to address immediate challenges, while laying the groundwork for future growth.
Looking ahead, we remain optimistic about the prospects for fiscal year 2026. Ongoing investments in key areas such as recruitment and technology—as well as the identification of new revenue streams from external partners—will position UMass Lowell for long-term success. Growing enrollments will continue to be vital, and to that end, the chancellor has formed several working groups that are already hard at work to identify and implement strategies across all our key prospective student populations.
Thank you for your dedication and adaptability during these transformative and challenging times. By working together, we can build a bright and sustainable future for UMass Lowell.