Western Washington University to nix about 55 jobs amid $18M budget cut

Dive Brief:

• Western Washington University plans to eliminate 55 positions as it tries to cut its budget by 8%, or $18 million, to address a structural deficit, according to a campus message issued Monday. 
• The cuts include laying off 5 employees and eliminating 20 vacant positions this month. The university said it will need to cut about 30 additional positions in the 2025-26 academic year.
• While Western Washington’s enrollment has improved since the pandemic, it attributed budget woes to “lingering pandemic revenue shortfalls, as smaller class sizes work through the system.” It also pointed to insufficient state funding, cost-of-living salary increases, and inflation in goods and services.

Dive Insight:

Western Washington defined the goal of its budget actions as long-term financial health. 

“Short-term strategies, if extended for too long, impact the university’s capabilities in unstructured and unintentional ways,” President Sabah Randhawa said in a statement. 

Along with the cost cuts it outlined, Western Washington is shuffling and restructuring some of its administrative units to streamline operations. 

That includes moving its enrollment management and advising units from the enrollment and student affairs division to academic affairs. 

After axing its university relations and marketing division in September, Western Washington moved the unit’s functions to the university advancement unit, which also houses the institution’s foundation and alumni relations functions. 

“The goal is to build an organization that puts the right roles at the same table, in the same conversations, aligning our efforts to meet the needs of current and future students and the wider WWU community,” Provost Brad Johnson said in a statement.

The university’s cost reductions are in part a response to rising costs. In its fiscal 2022 year, Western Washington reported a 10.1%, or $31.4 million, spike in its operating expenses. Its operating loss (which doesn’t factor in state funds and other nonoperating revenues) stood at $123.5 million that year, a decrease from the earlier pandemic years.

The rising expenses come on the heels of modest enrollment declines in recent years. Fall headcount dropped 7.3% to 14,747 students between 2017 and 2022.

Looking ahead, Western Washington said it would make “every effort” to avoid layoffs by reducing vacant positions. The announced layoffs follow past cost-cutting measures, including travel and hiring restrictions and across-the-board budget decreases. 

The provost’s office is also working with deans and faculty to reduce degree concentrations and program pathways, which it said are typically associated with under-enrolled courses.

“The goal is not to eliminate entire academic units but rather to focus and ensure the strategic positioning of WWU’s academic programs without adversely impacting the student experience nor compromising degree offerings,” the university said. 

It also noted that it advocated for the state to boost its base funding to support annual cost-of-living increases for Western Washington faculty and staff.