Future of Division III

[WUPHF]

Oglethorpe - 2025 audit shows endowments of somewhere around $55M, an increase of around $4.1M from the previous year, so other factors may be responsible for that number.  Their annual expenses for 2025 were around $41M, they took in nearly $38M, and their tuition discount rate was nearly 66%. 

Detailed breakdowns would be educational.

Right, I would also be curious about their executive compensation.  If they pay $400K to the dean of the business school, well...

[Ralph Turner]

I too wonder if the "in trust" monies were calculated. The campus is beautiful, well-kept and seemingly up-to-date. I hear nothing of financial trouble at ETBU and IMHO, their devout positioning for a faith-based college education may not be comprehended by urban "sophisticates" but certainly plays well to the parents in east Texas. There are some very silent "deep pockets" in east Texas, the maintainters of those "well-lined" pockets have deep connections to faith-based institutions. There is some 95-year-old deep wealth from the 1931 oil boom here. (Lamar Hunt, Sr's childhood home is in Tyler.)

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Oglethorpe - 2025 audit shows endowments of somewhere around $55M, an increase of around $4.1M from the previous year, so other factors may be responsible for that number.  Their annual expenses for 2025 were around $41M, they took in nearly $38M, and their tuition discount rate was nearly 66%. 

Detailed breakdowns would be educational.

Right, I would also be curious about their executive compensation.  If they pay $400K to the dean of the business school, well...

On their 2024 filing, nobody over $300k, but probably a few too many six figure salaries for the size of the school.  Loss $3m on the year.  $50m endowment.  Probably not panic mode, but they can't be feeling great. Certainly a better situation than a lot of other schools.

[WUPHF]

On their 2024 filing, nobody over $300k, but probably a few too many six figure salaries for the size of the school.  Loss $3m on the year.  $50m endowment.  Probably not panic mode, but they can't be feeling great. Certainly a better situation than a lot of other schools.

Very interesting, thanks!

[Kuiper]

Another piece of evidence for the decline of traditional liberal arts majors.  SUNY Fredonia is cutting majors like Economics, Math, Physics, and Political Science, (as well as hot new majors like Data Science).  They blame small enrollment, but this is probably one of those cases where being part of the SUNY system makes this a sorting issue more than anything.  I assume students still major in Econ elsewhere in the SUNY system, but apparently not the students interested in attending Fredonia.  Nevertheless, the looming dark clouds for DIII liberal arts colleges is that if traditional majors are not of interest to students anymore, who will attend schools whose strength is in these traditional majors?  Small Liberal Arts colleges can's exactly pivot easily to engineering degrees, for example, and they have no comparative advantage in offering many applied degrees just by being smaller.

https://www.wivb.com/news/education/colleges-universities-buffalo/suny-fredonia-cutting-more-than-20-programs-and-minors/

SUNY Fredonia will cut more than 20 programs and minors in an effort to address its deficit, the school said in a news release Tuesday.

The school will cut 14 undergraduate and graduate programs:
Undergrad programs

    Communication – Audio/Radio
    Cooperative Engineering
    Economics
    International Studies
    Mathematics
    Mathematics (applied)
    Mathematics – Physics
    Physics
    Physics: Adolescence Education
    Political Science

Graduate programs

    Biology
    Mathematics 7-12
    Music Composition
    Music Therapy

In addition, the following minors will be cut:

    Applied Mathematics
    Data Science
    Mathematics
    Statistics
    Physics
    Economics
    Political Science

The programs combine for more than 150 students at the school. Students in the programs will be able to finish out their studies, according to the school. The school added that only 25 are incoming freshmen.

[Caz Bombers]

the music part of Fredonia's cuts is surprising, that's one of their top programs. A friend of mine growing up went to Fredonia to study music and he's now a music teacher in our hometown school district.

[Gregory Sager]

the music part of Fredonia's cuts is surprising, that's one of their top programs. A friend of mine growing up went to Fredonia to study music and he's now a music teacher in our hometown school district.

I'm surprised, too. One of my best friends from high school specifically went to Fredonia in order to study music, and it was the music teachers at our high school that steered him there.

[WUPHF]

Wittenberg provost: University not closing soon, making improvements.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/wittenberg-provost-university-not-closing-soon-making-improvements/article_edaf0911-47ad-5b23-abf1-d4126ebde348.html

[Ron Boerger]

What I know about Witt:  they lost over $15M on expenses of $96.7M in tax year 2024 after losing $17.3M the previous year and their 2025 audit is overdue.  Neither of those are positive signs.  The 2024 audit (for the period ending June 2024) contained numerous findings and was not filed until late 2025.  The Dayton Daily News article is all smoke and mirrors with no actual details as to how problems are being addressed.

[WUPHF]

Wittenburg is definitely in trouble and unfortunately, the restructuring may do little more than give them a few more options to separate with tenured faculty.

[Kuiper]

Wittenberg provost: University not closing soon, making improvements.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/wittenberg-provost-university-not-closing-soon-making-improvements/article_edaf0911-47ad-5b23-abf1-d4126ebde348.html

This has a Baghdad Bob "Nothing to see here" feel.

[Caz Bombers]

Wittenberg provost: University not closing soon, making improvements.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/wittenberg-provost-university-not-closing-soon-making-improvements/article_edaf0911-47ad-5b23-abf1-d4126ebde348.html

"my Wittenberg University Not Closing Soon, Making Improvements t-shirt is raising a lot of questions best answered by the t-shirt"

[IC798891]

Wittenberg provost: University not closing soon, making improvements.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/wittenberg-provost-university-not-closing-soon-making-improvements/article_edaf0911-47ad-5b23-abf1-d4126ebde348.html

This has a Baghdad Bob "Nothing to see here" feel.

It's all very vague and doesn't have much details on how these changes hace impacted enrollment and giving

[DriftlessDuhawk]

* Loras: See above. Maybe not the same institutional cachet as Coe, but a steady stream of suburban Chicagoland kids have bolstered Loras's student body in recent decades, as Loras has appeared to do a really nice job of maximizing its relative proximity to the heartland's biggest population center.

https://www.kcrg.com/2026/05/28/it-was-dire-loras-college-president-defends-financial-progress-after-forbes-gives-d-grade/

Response from Loras' president about the status of the college. When Doyle was brought back most of the college's community knew the money issues that were ahead and were told Doyle was the guy who was going to right the ship. If what he says in this story is accurate, then hopefully I will get to be a proud alum of Loras for many more years.

"Loras College operated at a loss for three consecutive years before Mike Doyle returned to Loras as president-elect in 2024. The stretch included net cash flow losses of $8.8 million in fiscal year 2024 and $5.4 million in fiscal year 2023, leading to at least $38 million in debt.

"Had I known that the cash flow losses, what the situation was when I returned in August of '24, I'm not sure I would've come back," Doyle said, now Loras College president.

Doyle implemented a five-year plan that prioritized fundraising and enrollment, which both declined for a few years, and included eliminating the use of endowment funds for day-to-day operations.

The plan also included suspending benefits and reducing staff, mostly through attrition; he said about five staff members were fired.

After years of losses, Loras now expects its second consecutive year of profit, reporting net cash flow gains of $2 million in fiscal year 2025 and a projected gain of $3.6 million in fiscal year 2026.

The more than $12.4 million turnaround from FY24 to FY 26 comes as the college raising a record $18 million in the last 12 months and paid off $11 million in debt.

Doyle said the college's goal was to pay off 50% of its $38 million in debt by 2030. Having covered about 30% since 2024, he estimates the college is two years ahead of schedule.

"We have stabilized financially and dramatically improved our results in the last two years and we are on the pathway to long-term financial viability, and we are going to get there," Doyle said.

Doyle admitted there is still more work to do, indicating incoming class sizes and fundraising efforts need to continue to grow."

[WUPHF]

Response from Loras' president about the status of the college. When Doyle was brought back most of the college's community knew the money issues that were ahead and were told Doyle was the guy who was going to right the ship. If what he says in this story is accurate, then hopefully I will get to be a proud alum of Loras for many more years.

That is how you handle the media, though to be fair, Loras had some nice wins to point to, including the fundraising.

I love this quote from the President by the way:

"We're on the list that was used as the teaser on Instagram to draw attention to help sensationalize and sell and talk about colleges that are in a dire situation," Doyle said. "I understand how from using the UNAEP as the simple calculation to determine what our overall situation is, but not to look under the hood and get more information of what we've done recently, I think you have to do that."