In 2022, Whitworth University prepared itself for the worst. Global factors indicated that higher education institutions were on the verge of a financial struggle. Gearing up for hard times, Whitworth implemented cost-cutting measures that they hoped would save them from the storm they were about to find themselves in. 

But then 2024 came around, and Whitworth realized the problem was much worse than they thought. 

Due to inflation and continued low enrollment, at the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year Whitworth found itself $1.5 million more in debt than anticipated. To have any hope of achieving a balanced budget in the future, Whitworth did what seemed to be their last remaining option: let faculty go. 

The budget cuts impact 20 faculty positions, according to Dr. Gregor Thuswaldner, Whitworth’s former provost and executive vice president. Sixteen faculty are being let go from their positions, with four faculty positions left empty.

The faculty cuts hit the world languages and culture, English and music departments, according to reporting done by The Whitworthian. 

“It’s hard, and there’s no way to sugarcoat this,” said Thuswaldner.

National struggles

Whitworth is not alone in this moment of crisis. Most higher education institutions across the nation are hurriedly making adjustment just as Whitworth is, hoping that their institutions do not sink. 

This problem is not just the result of one factor. Expenses have soared due to inflation. There is a growing overall negative attitude toward higher education. There are fundraising struggles. We just survived a global pandemic. 

And then there is the factor that we can pin most of the blame on: decades of stagnant and declining enrollment. From 2020 to 2022, enrollment in American higher education institutions declined by more than 1.2 million students. This is because students are choosing not to continue to traditional higher education and there are less students available to go to college due to declining birthrates 18 years ago.

Whitworth’s struggles

Whitworth is in no way immune to these national pressures. Rather, some of the pressures that other institutions are facing are magnified for Whitworth. 

First, there is the impact of the pandemic. One of Whitworth’s most effective recruiting strategies is on-campus visits. But in 2020, this recruiting pipeline was busted. 

“COVID killed, I mean literally ended, hard-stop, [this recruiting practice],” said Greg Orwig, Whitworth’s assistant vice president for research and innovation and, from 2011 to 2023, Whitworth’s vice president of admissions and financial aid. With this recruiting practice ended, the number of students committing to Whitworth began steadily decreasing.

Second, there is the impact of students staying closer to home. Typically, a higher education institution’s primary market for students is generally those who live within 50 miles of the university. 

For Whitworth, this does not result in a lot of students. In the past, recruitment strategies have focused on casting a wider net to bring in a slew of students who exist beyond the 50-mile mark. But according to Orwig, COVID increased the number of students who stay close to home for their higher education. This means that colleges and universities that were located in major metropolitan areas coped with COVID relatively well. But for institutions like Whitworth that are not in a major population center, “[the] market of potential students just shrunk,” said Orwig. 

Third, the number of Washington high school students who enroll directly into college is dropping. Washington’s direct enrollment rate is lower than the national average, dropping from 59 to 50% between 2019 and 2021. Washington high school students are Whitworth’s primary market. Now, as the pool of students is shrinking, the competition for that declining pool of students is growing. 

“We’re now having to make the case for college,” said Orwig.

 What it means for Whitworth

These struggles are leaving their scars on Whitworth. In 2021, Whitworth projected that 2022 enrollment would be 690 incoming undergraduate students, according to Kenneth Brown, Whitworth’s vice president and chief operations officer. A year later, the real numbers revealed only 517 incoming undergraduate students, nearly 30% fewer students than projected.

These 173 missing students had a huge impact on Whitworth’s budget because the students’ absence costed Whitworth tuition not only for the first year, but also for every year of the four years the students were expected to be at Whitworth. 

*Data provided by Greg Orwig.

Nearly three-quarters of Whitworth’s total net revenue comes from undergraduate and graduate tuition and fees. An additional 18% comes from room and board. This tuition dependency means that Whitworth needs to increase their number of undergraduate and graduate students just to stay afloat. 

The majority of this burden falls on Whitworth’s recruitment and enrollment team, who must figure out how to sell the value of a liberal arts education, particularly one with an increasingly high cost, in a world that does not seem to be valuing this product. 

The recruitment and enrollment team implemented steps to help Whitworth’s struggle with attracting students. Orwig said one such strategy is offering automatic travel grants to any admitted student. Whitworth also implemented a guaranteed admission program for all school districts in the state of Washington. This program allows any student with at least a 3.6 GPA and who meets most of the college academic distribution requirements to get guaranteed admission to Whitworth, as well as a guaranteed minimum scholarship amount. Whitworth also shifted their messaging to emphasize affordability and relevancy, according to Josh Hibbard, vice president for enrollment management. 

Due to these and other strategies, Whitworth’s undergraduate enrollment has steadily increased since its low in 2022, but it is still nowhere near where it was before the pandemic. 

Whitworth is not getting out of this higher education crisis unscathed. “The only responsible thing for any institution to do is to reduce the deficit so the university can thrive again,” said Thuswaldner.

*Data provided by Greg Orwig and the National Center for Education Statistics.