Evangelical colleges cut over 230 staff positions due to financial concerns

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Citing continuing financial concerns, evangelical colleges and universities around the country have canceled over 230 faculty and staff positions as they head into the fall semester, Christianity Today reports. More than 150 positions were eliminated in the spring and dozens more were cut over the summer.

In some instances, staff and faculty may actually lose their positions, Christianity Today explained in its report. In most cases, cuts are made through simply not filling vacant positions. Many schools have stopped hiring. Explaining the situation to Christianity Today, Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) said: “Institutions are often required to make strategic and necessary changes based on a number of factors. But at the end of the day, these decisions are made to ensure the future financial viability of the institution.”

A small number of institutions have cited COVID-19 as a specific reason for their cuts, but the majority claim ongoing financial insufficiency. Small evangelical colleges have been struggling for some time because of lower enrollment, small endowments and reduced donor bases. Ten CCCU schools reportedly made cuts in 2019. In these cases, COVID-19 has aggravated an already difficult situation, Christianity Today says.

Reduced enrollment is a key issue in the ongoing financial crisis facing these schools. According to Christianity Today, the higher education trade company McKinsey & Company, forecasts that first-year undergraduate enrollment will drop 15 percent this fall. In that event, schools with small endowments will be hit hard.

In any event, a major challenge for school administrators is how to plan in a sector that is facing unpredictable and dramatic changes, whether pandemic-related or because of declining enrollment among other causes. Administrators have to be “extraordinarily strategic,” Hoogstra said.

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