Drake University recommends cutting academic programs, positions

Drake University’s campus, via Drake’s YouTube channel.

Four percent of Drake University students could see their degree programs eliminated under cost-cutting measures recommended by the college to help recoup budget deficits.

Drake University Provost Sue Mattison announced that a faculty program review, launched in November, has recommended the discontinuance of 13 undergraduate majors, minors and certificates. In an email to faculty sent Friday, Mattison said nine faculty members have been notified that their academic program and “faculty line” were recommended for termination.

Mattison said in her message that program reviews like the one that led to these recommendations are essential to ensuring the university is meeting societal needs, satisfying student interests and providing a quality education.

“It’s important for institutions like ours to periodically review our academic programs, curriculum, and makeup of our operating budget — as we have many times in our 143-year history — to ensure we’re well-positioned for the future,” Drake University President Marty Martin said in a statement. “This work demands that we make difficult decisions, but also presents an opportunity to invest in academic innovation that meets evolving student needs, while focusing on expanding college access opportunities — all to ensure a prosperous future for our institution and our students.”

University recommends program elimination to secure solid future

The program reviews and recommendations were one of several measures taken, including curriculum reviews, to reach a balanced budget, Mattison said in her message to campus. The review also served to “ensure Drake’s future as a mission-driven institution that provides outstanding educational opportunities.”

Students currently enrolled in programs that could be axed will be provided with plans to finish their degree on schedule, Mattison said in her message to the campus community, and students who were hoping to enter into these programs will be able to pivot to similar areas of study with individualized help and guidance.

As for the faculty members whose programs or positions have been recommended for termination, they have until April 1 to submit “evidence that retaining the program is in the best interest of the institution,” Mattison said in the email to faculty. The submissions will be reviewed by Mattison, faculty senate committees and deans before they make final recommendations to the faculty senate.

The faculty senate will vote on the recommendations at its April 17 meeting, after which Martin will review them and bring them to the board of trustees to vote on. He will share the results with the campus community April 29, Mattison said.

“There is no easy way to receive this message for those whose positions are being recommended for elimination,” Mattison said in the email. “Please continue to support colleagues whose lives have just been upended.”

Cuts to be made across campus to balance budget

Discussions around academic program cuts began in November, when Mattison told the university’s faculty senate that previous budget cuts and revenue driving efforts like investing in new programs wouldn’t be enough to fill the gap. At the time, Martin said the budget deficit came out to around $10.3 million, when factoring in one-time funding going away and temporary reductions going back to normal.

According to a message Martin released to campus Feb. 7, the university is working to have a balanced budget by July 2025, and plans to reduce costs by 5.1 percent in fiscal year 2025, which starts in July 2024.

According to meeting minutes from Drake University’s Jan. 31 faculty senate meeting obtained by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the university needs to cut around $14.3 million from its $132 million operating budget, or just under 11 percent, based on a budgeting exercise from 2023.

These cuts would occur across fiscal years 2025 and 2026, Martin said in the minutes, and the target the university is trying to reach for fiscal year 2025 is $11 million in reductions, in order to bring the deficit down to $3 million, approved by the board of trustees. These reductions would come from across the university, not just academic areas.

Martin said that by June 30, 2026, the university’s operating budget must be balanced. He said these numbers can change depending on factors that aren’t solid yet, like future enrollment counts, and he’s anxious about how delays to the federal student aid application process could impact the budget outlook.

The Jan. 31 meeting minutes stated that if all the temporary cuts made in fiscal year 2024 were reversed, the university would need to reduce costs by 8.5 percent in order to reach a $3 million deficit for fiscal year 2025. If these cuts were to be made permanent, that number would fall to 5.1 percent, or $6.7 million, going off of the $132 million operating budget.

The academic affairs unit of the university makes up around 62 percent of the total operating budget, the minutes stated. One commenter during the faculty senate meeting asked if the unit would need to cut 62 percent of $11 million, or around $6.8 million, to which Mattison concurred.

With other areas that report to Mattison also making cuts and contributing to the $6.8 million, she said in the minutes that academic affairs would need to cut between $2.5 million to $3 million more to meet the gap. This number could also change, she said.

Mattison said in the minutes that “the current estimated savings due to the reduction of adjunct faculty and reliance on visiting assistant professors (VAP) is $1.6 million,” and that, at the time, 10 faculty members had elected to participate in a “faculty transitional sabbatical program,” saving more money.

In fiscal year 2024, which ends this summer, the minutes stated that 45 percent of budget reductions came from academic units, of which many were temporary, and the rest from other areas. In 2023, one non-academic department cut 23 percent of its positions and another eliminated 8 percent, with comparable cuts made in other units.

All areas except academic and administrative units are planning their budget reductions for fiscal year 2025, rather than spreading them out across the next two fiscal years, in order to give the academic units more time to prepare.

Martin said in the minutes that he didn’t ask the board of trustees for more time, and that all departments “need to do their best to hit the balanced budget” in the set time frame.

“If, for some reason, that proves to be impossible, then we will adapt,” he said in the minutes.

Drake University’s assets total $568 million, almost half of which are endowment investments, Martin said in his message, and less than $50 million in debt “in relation to those assets.”

“Drake University has navigated through many challenging periods in our 143-year history. Each time, struggles notwithstanding, the University has grown stronger,” Mattison said in her message to campus. “As we work together to face this most recent challenge, I’m confident we will leave a mission-focused legacy for another 143 years and beyond.”

Here are all the programs recommended for discontinuation:

Undergraduate Majors