The University of Akron is looking to close its budget gap by at least $22 million in the next year.
The Board of Trustees voted Wednesday on a resolution to set the target number for the administration to achieve $22 million in budget “improvements,” which includes cuts and revenue gains, by June 30, 2026. The gap next year between revenues and expenses is expected to be $27 million.
A press release from the university said the “improvements will be shared across all facets of the University and include selling underutilized assets, reducing expenses, and increasing revenue as the University pulls back from areas that are not growing and invests in areas where there is growing student demand and employment opportunity.”
The university is already in the middle of “retrenchment,” a process to lay off faculty, but a final plan has not yet been presented to the trustees.
President R.J. Nemer sent a letter to campus following the vote, saying the university is “at a turning point,” and that “in this moment, decisive, institution-defining change is necessary.”
“Current enrollment numbers are encouraging, and key indicators underscore the fact that another loss is not simply an inevitability,” Nemer said. “In fact, growth is on the horizon, but that growth potential will not spontaneously become reality — we must be the catalysts that will bring it to fruition.”
Nemer said some of the budget “improvements” the trustees called for are already underway, “with subsequent improvements in the following years.”
In the meeting Wednesday, the board also approved a pre-development agreement with a management firm to take over operations of the university’s on-campus student housing. The deal would provide the university with an upfront cash payment to help pay down debt and to pay for renovations and deferred maintenance. That comes almost two years after the university outsourced parking.
Nemer said the board’s resolution about the cuts is “an endorsement of our campus revitalization efforts and an act of transparency to our stakeholders.”
“This directive will require a substantial and attainable budget improvement plan that I have already set in motion,” Nemer said. “Let me be clear — a budget improvement plan does not equate to simply making cuts. In fact, the resolution is a codified ratification of efforts our leadership team has already undertaken.
“From day one, I have signaled the dangers of attempting to cut our way to growth; this hasn’t worked in the past, and it is not the direction we should go now. That’s why we’ve taken steps to increase revenues through a variety of means.”
Nemer also gave a brief update on the retrenchment process, saying the Joint Committee on Retrenchment (JCR), made up of union and university officials, “will soon provide me with its work, outlining a forward-moving plan to efficiently respond to student demand and accomplish the necessary alignments.”
“I look forward to receiving the JCR’s recommendations and quickly acting to increase investment of resources in areas with increasing student and market demand, necessarily pulling back from areas where demand is declining,” he said.
Nemer noted other recent budget gains, including the sale of the Medina County University Center to the Medina County Commissioners, and the upcoming sale of Quaker Square.
Nemer pledged that the athletics department would also be “required to achieve better financial balance and alignment. Faculty have previously pushed back on cuts to academics before reductions were made to athletics, which heavily relies on general fund dollars.
Nemer said employees have contacted his office with various cost-cutting strategies or identified duplications that could be eliminated. He encouraged all of campus to put in their two-cents.
“Now is the time to speak up,” he said.
Contact education reporter Jennifer Pignolet at jpignolet@thebeaconjournal.com, at 330-996-3216 or on Twitter @JenPignolet.