A few weeks ago I shared an update about the FY24 budget and our efforts to close the gap between our revenues and expenses. In the time since then, I charged each of our schools, colleges, and administrative divisions with socializing the suggested budget allocations as recommended by the Strategic Resource Allocation Committee, and I am awaiting that feedback.
At this time, after considerable review by our university leadership, we will move forward with a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program for eligible full-time administration and staff. The Board of Trustees has approved this first step of our budget reduction process, and the university will launch the voluntary separation program this week. Out of nearly 1,400 full-time staff and administration, roughly 200 people are eligible, and participation in the program is completely voluntary.
The Office of Human Resources will soon share a message with all staff and administration that includes more details about the voluntary separation program. Eligible staff and administration will receive personalized information packets via FedEx at their home addresses this Thursday, April 6. Those who are eligible and wish to participate in the program will need to express their interest by April 14 and make a final decision by June 8.
Only full-time staff and administrators who meet any of the following criteria as of June 30, 2023 will be eligible:
- At least age 55 with a minimum of 20 years of cumulative full-time service;
- At least age 62 with a minimum of 10 years of cumulative full-time service;
- The sum of your age and cumulative full-time service equals at least 75.
For many reasons, and based on SRAC’s recommendation, faculty will not be eligible for a voluntary separation program. Because of our academic course structure, planning for the next year would be extremely challenging if we offer the voluntary separation incentives to faculty at this moment.
There has been significant work done at all levels of the university to provide input on our path forward, and I am grateful to the provost, deans, vice presidents, Faculty Council and Staff Council leadership for working through these difficult questions. I’m also appreciative of the many ideas and feedback we received from members across our university community.
The entirety of our FY24 solutions is complex and has many parts. In fact, I will not receive all the feedback from across our university until later this month. At that time, I will process your collective input with SRAC and communicate all the decisions that are made. As we learn about who decides to participate in the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, and in which departments they work, I will review these results and work with our university leadership to effectively manage our upcoming academic year.
We will move forward using our mission as our guide. While the decisions we need to make at this moment are of the most difficult type we will ever have to do, we will ensure that care for the individual - and the ability to live out our mission - is central to all decisions.
Thank you again for all that you do for our university every single day. Your dedication and commitment will enable us to build a strong future that will show the world the impact of our programs, people, and mission.