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The following message was shared with all OHIO faculty and staff on Friday, September 19.
 

Dear Colleagues,

As the fall semester gets underway, I wanted to provide some updates and information on our financial outlook. In my eight months at OHIO, I have seen the deep commitment faculty and staff across the University have to our collective mission, our students, and our long-term success. That commitment gives me confidence in our future.

To secure our future, President Gonzalez charged me to dive deeply into our financial picture and develop a transparent process for budget planning and forecasting to ensure that we are making the right financial choices to protect this institution for generations to come. 

As the President shared in her message to the University community on August 11, while we are seeing success in recruitment and retention, we are also experiencing continued increases in institutional expenses. These pressures are largely driven by shifts in state and federal support and enterprise-wide inflationary pressures.

State and federal guideline changes

First, the state budget bill limits increases to in-state tuition under the guarantee to three percent for this biennium. While keeping costs manageable for students and their families is important, the impact is that our revenue increases over the last few years have not kept pace with our increases in expenses.

Second, in fiscal year 2026, State Share of Instruction (SSI) increased one percent, and two new set-asides were created within the SSI funding appropriations to be distributed based on employment outcomes and technician-aligned associate degree completions. The net result of the changes to SSI for OHIO is that our year-over-year funding is expected to be relatively flat despite our success in growing enrollment. 

Meanwhile, the much talked about federal reconciliation bill brings a number of changes for higher education, including changes to Pell eligibility, program-level accountability metrics for aid eligibility and significant changes to the Federal Direct Loan program. We anticipate impacts over time from the elimination of the Graduate PLUS Loan Program as well as new annual and lifetime borrowing caps for loans that have supported undergraduate and graduate students alike. By way of background, OHIO disbursed around $27 million Grad PLUS loans in financial aid year 2024-25.

Investing in employees and navigating inflation

At the same time, our operating costs continue to rise. Over the last three years, OHIO has invested in annual compensation increases for employees; increased our promotional pay for tenure-track, instructional and clinical faculty as they move through the faculty ranks; and experienced rising costs in retention and recruitment. In addition, the University has experienced an increase in the cost of health insurance.

On the non-personnel operating side, costs have increased over the last three years. Examples include increased costs in utilities; enterprise-wide technology software costs have risen; and the University’s General Insurance has seen rising costs.

Ensuring stability moving forward

In the months ahead, we will update our budgeting and forecasting processes to plan for a multi-year view. I will work closely with division leaders to identify areas for new revenue streams and cost containment measures, and we will launch opportunities for faculty and staff to share ideas. As we begin to make process changes, we will share that information with the University community.

The challenges we are experiencing are not unique to our institution – they are truly universal pressures felt by most public universities. What is unique here at OHIO is your level of commitment to the University and its mission. Our focus will remain on that mission, and we will work to ensure that every dollar we spend delivers the greatest possible value to our students. When we bring that together with a willingness to innovate and think creatively about revenue growth and cost containment opportunities, I am confident OHIO will continue to thrive.

Sincerely,

David B. Moore
Vice President for Finance and Administration