Gianna Hayes
Chief News Editor
On Thursday, April 2, Scot Council hosted David Jones, vice president for finance and business and treasurer of the College, for an informative breakdown of the institution’s financial standing and impacts on the budget.
Jones first explained how the College’s finances are organized and controlled, highlighting the unique structure of the higher education business model, while emphasizing key business structural areas. “It is very much like a business as well, I know I have been sort of verbally disabused of using that term, but there is a very real business component to this institution,” said Jones.
He then walked through the three key components of Wooster’s financial statement: cash flows, net position and revenues and expenses. The statement of net position briefly shows assets owned by the College, liabilities owed and net assets or the overall worth of the institution. The statement of cash flows demonstrates the liquidity of the College and how quotidian costs like utilities bills can be afforded in a timely manner. The statement of revenues and expenses is tracked over a period of time, reporting operations to be either surplus or deficit.
Jones also showed the budget forecast for the 2026 fiscal year (FY), comparing it to the actual budget for FY25. “The good news is, right now, is we’re actually beating our budget by about $1.7 million, but we’re actually still generating loss,” Jones said. The budgeted net loss for FY26 is about $8.7 million, a number that Jones pointed to in explaining that the forecasted net loss for FY26 of about $7 million is an improvement.
“To be extremely candid with you all, this is a very challenging environment,” said Jones. “It’s not pretty, but I think from my professional judgement … we have options, and two things can be true at once — our operating side of the house is not [in the state] that it needs to be in, but our balance sheet gives us both the graces of wealth and also cash … while we look to finish working on strategies to get the College to at least to break even.”
In the next section of his presentation, Jones went into more detail on the state of the higher education industry, specifically for small, four year, residential, private colleges.
Jones outlined that enrollment is declining at small private colleges, a trend that has been seen over the past five years. Particularly, international students’ enrollment has declined more pronouncedly at smaller private colleges. Jones noted that this coincides with a declining birthrate. On top of this, more universities are competing for fewer prospective students. Jones characterized this as “not a rational marketplace when supply is greater than demand.” This causes net tuition revenue to decrease at private colleges and universities, augmented by rising costs of inflation.
Jones also noted actions that are currently being taken to offset these risks that the College faces. Among these are temporary hiring freezes, accelerated borrowing, shoring up liquidity and budgetary planning like that of the College’s Framing Our Future Strategic Plan. The College’s A2 stable rating from Moody’s — a credit-rating service — indicates Wooster’s stability and flexibility with liquidity despite industry difficulties.
Jones paused briefly to take questions. “The state of colleges isn’t looking too good,” one student posed. “I’m just wondering like, how much ultimately can individual colleges end up creating change when it seems like there’s more like a systematic thing?” Jones emphasized creativity in developing new enrollment strategies and tapping into the generosity of alumni.
Launching into section three of his presentation, Jones talked about the College’s efforts and current financial state. He mentioned President Anne McCall’s time fundraising, reportedly spending 15 days of the month on the road to promote Wooster’s capital campaign.
He also touched on the College’s enrollment predictions, with an estimated 340 incoming freshmen based on enrollment from fall 2025. In order to keep up with inflation, Wooster’s tuition list price has increased by 3% each year, according to Jones. “Prices will go up on average, what this model assumes is about 3% a year, which is [in line with] what we’re seeing from inflation rate expectation,” Jones said. He also linked lower enrollment with the recession of 2008, after which enrollment slowly started declining, with COVID also leading to a lower enrollment rate.
McCall, in attendance, spoke towards the end of the presentation to address some of the earlier questions and comments students had. “We’re not doomed for three reasons,” said McCall, listing historical precedent of Wooster’s previous financial issues, the staff in charge of financial decisions at the College and creativity of “things we are starting … that are going to move us along in our evolutionary pipeline.” She continued, saying “no, we’re not doomed. We are seriously challenged … but think about it … you can go to a place where you’re in a fill-in-the-blank course with 400 people or 800 people and your professor can’t know your name. … You guys have a very different education, it’s really slow cooking. Now we have to do things to afford that process.”
Jones ended his presentation just after 7 p.m. to allow students to ask questions. One student asked about the reasoning behind cutting certain services on campus that are viewed as “foundational.”
McCall responded, saying “well actually, over half of the cuts were in things that you all never see. … You’re in a situation where I think 99 percent of people earn their keep and they bring value to the College, but if you can’t close your books, you actually have to cut regardless, and so what you’re trying to do is to minimize harm.”
The presentation ended with one audience member asking Jones what he enjoyed about working in the nonprofit sector. He referenced “the community and the belonging,” as well as there being “a lot more creativity to it.”
