Good afternoon, Bears:
I want to thank the more than 200 faculty, staff, and students who participated in last Wednesday’s town hall, where we received a presentation on enrollment from Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management Pete Lien and a budget update from Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Michelle Quinn, in addition to reports from other members of the Cabinet.
As discussed at the town hall, we are projecting enrollments will be down in fall 2022 and are implementing steps to lessen any declines, while focusing on building long-term enrollment strategies as we emerge from the pandemic. Some good news in how we will respond is that our cash reserves are up significantly this year. This is thanks to the work we have done over the last 3-4 years, including the prudent decisions we made before the pandemic to eliminate the university’s structural deficit. One-time federal funds and oil and gas revenues have also contributed to our financial stability. This places us in a strong position to take the time and space necessary to build for coming years without making across-the-board cuts or layoffs—or even spending down the reserves we accumulated in the last few years. In fact, we will continue to make investments in our exceptional employees. In addition to the mid-cycle base adjustments we made in January, we are planning an additional 2-3% compensation increase in July. However, there will continue to be thoughtful and sometimes challenging decisions to make. Although we will not have any across-the-board cuts, part of the work we need to do to move UNC forward for the future is being responsive to changing needs, and every division and department will need to make strategic use of our limited resources to achieve that important goal.
I remain confident in our future because each of you—our faculty and staff—are committed to the mission of the university and our students’ success. The other presentations at the town hall highlighted so much good work that is occurring across the university, as well as how we will continue to invest in each of you. I remain grateful for everything you do to make sure UNC is a Students First institution.
If you were unable to attend, we have posted a video recording of the town hall presentations and discussion on the Office of the President website.
Thank you for all you do.
Andy Feinstein
President
