As a result of plans to build a new Molecular and Life Sciences Building and to reduce University costs for students with the highest needs, the University is projecting an annual deficit of just under $2 million beginning in the 2012-13 school year. With annual deficits projected to continue through the 2017-18 school year, University officials are hopeful that a new fundraising campaign will counteract these deficits.

Once the new Molecular and Life Sciences Building is built in the 2012-13 school year, payment of loans for the building will cost $3 million annually.

Also contributing to the deficit is President Michael Roth’s new initiative that will reduce loans for students on financial aid to one fee of $19,000, so as to prevent the need for multiple loans. Roth plans to remove all debt for students who come from families with an annual income of less than $40,000, as well as bring relief to families who make between $80,000 and $150,000 a year.

Although Roth’s decision to improve the University’s financial aid programs may allow the University to better compete with other liberal arts schools, it comes at a cost. His new financial aid initiative will amount to $997,000 during the 2009-10 school year and another $1,872,000 in the 2010-11 school year. This is significantly higher than the University’s projected 2008-09 surplus of $832,000.

“To pay for the immediate change, I was able to make some administrative budget cuts, [such as reducing] staff [in] my office, and offices that deal with the non-instructional side of things,” said Roth.

According to Vice President for Finance and Administration John Meerts, the University’s financial future looks uncertain.

“We run into trouble here,” Meerts said. “Before the loan initiative was announced by Roth, these [projected annual surplus numbers] were all positive.”

However, Meerts is confident that the University will be able to counteract these deficits through a combination of savings, new fundraising and endowment performance.

Vice President for University Relations, Barbara-Jan Wilson, is also optimistic. Wilson hopes to have raised between $30 and $60 million by the end of the 2007-08 school year.

“By 2012 we hope to be raising $70 million a year,” said Wilson, “and that will erase the debt like magic.”

The University’s last fundraising campaign lasted seven years and ended in 2004. With a target of $250 million, the campaign raised $281 million, an average of roughly $40 million per year.

Wilson is now looking toward the future fundraising campaign, noting that the general rule is to double your previous goal. According to Wilson, the new science center and financial aid initiative are both things that donors are particularly interested in donating money towards. Wilson explained that, in order to raise money, the University needs to be able to show alumni that what is being paid for is needed, and that it will help the University compete with other schools.

“Now we’re talking about how much money to aim for in the new campaign,” Wilson said. “Financial aid costs the school money, but you can always raise money for financial aid.”

In 2012-13, the annual deficit is projected to be $1,996,000. That number will decrease steadily over the next four years, and will grow slightly in 2017-18 to $1,310,000. The University does not make financial projections for more than ten years into the future.

Although the deficit numbers may look daunting now, Wilson is trying to stay positive.

“My job is to be an eternal optimist,” she said.