Students returned to SUNY Fredonia on Monday following winter break. Photo by Jo Ward

FREDONIA — As a new semester gets underway, enrollment worries continue to be a focus at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

President Dr. Stephen Kolison praised the campus during a meeting with the Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club during the winter recess, while lamenting a decline in support from the state. “This is a great institution, great faculty, outstanding students,” Kolison began. “We have strong programs and we are a very good value in terms of affordability and we play a critical role in the socio-economic fabric of this community.”

Student numbers at the campus became a somber point the president soon made citing also declining state support. “We’ve been having some declining enrollment for quite some time,” Kolison said. “As a result we do have some deficit to deal with; and there is declining state support for state universities. It’s not just Fredonia, but I think all state universities are experiencing this and it’s not just in New York, but across the country you have that trend going on. I have some concerns about retention and then also some programs I think need to increase their enrollment. So these are things I consider to be addressed.”

COVID-19 has played a large role in how things have progressed this year and Kolison shared that that has had a major impact on revenue. “COVID-19 has been quite a challenge for us,” he stated. “It has impacted enrollment as well as impacted revenue. Of course we do compete with other institutions within the state and region. Within a 100-mile radius there are at least five other institutions that we need to be able to compete with. In between 2009 and 2020 we’ve dropped significantly in terms of head count. So that has to be addressed and we have to reverse that.”

He took a moment to mention the enrollment cliff, which are demographic changes in the country of the number of students that graduate from high school. According to Kolison that number is supposed to decline anywhere from 15% to 20% for the next five years.

He focused on things that the campus needs to maintain to stay stable financially. These include: achieving enrollment optimality, what they need to to break even in terms of budgeting; operational efficiency, such as adding new programs that are in high demand; and diversifying revenue sources.

“Investing in our faculty and our staff, recognizing them for the great work that they do as well as provide opportunities for professional development growth and career progressions is important,” Kolison added.

The college has set up a committee to achieve these goals hopefully over the next five years.

In recent years, the university has been facing numerous budget deficits, which is similar to other SUNY locations. Over the weekend, The Post-Star in Glens Falls reported SUNY Adirondack will eliminate seven academic programs beginning this fall, the latest cost-saving measure undertaken by the college, which for years has experienced declining enrollment.

The cuts were approved by the college’s board of trustees on Thursday and are expected to save the institution about $350,000. A combined 40 students are enrolled in the seven programs.

The programs include the following: associate degree programs in music and information technology as well as individual studies degrees in art studio, music industry and sport management.

For now, however, the biggest challenge is the virus. “I have to give a lot of credit to our faculty, staff and to our students,” he said. “We managed to remain open this semester with a lot of work, a lot of investment to keep the campus safe.”

Classes begin on Wednesday. Strict guidelines will continue to be in effect, including facial coverings and distancing.

“The vaccine, I don’t think will trickle down to many of us until summer,” Kolison said. “By the time you deal with health care providers and then people with underlying conditions, then it gets to other citizens. So we still have to be very vigilant and be very careful in how we deal with COVID-19.”

Kolison is looking at a long term approach to all of this which he calls “crisis proofing.” One of these ways is looking at becoming a 100% laptop campus, so that if teachers have to instruct remotely from anywhere they can.

“We must make sure we have a team that always looks ahead at different things that can actually impact the institution,” he said.