Dear AU Community,

Thank you for your dedication and creativity in helping us manage spending as we close the fiscal year 2024 budget. Your efforts helped reduce the projected budget shortfall, allowing us to use less of the reserves than we had allocated. As we approach the beginning of fiscal year 2025 (FY25) on July 1, we want to provide an update on fall enrollment levels, their effect on the budget, and the collective need to support student enrollment and retention, manage resources efficiently, and advance our mission.

Enrollment is a difficult challenge across higher education today. According to national data collected after May 1, many institutions are experiencing first-year undergraduate enrollment declines of as much as 25 percent due to delays in the new FAFSA process, demographic shifts, and other factors. Demographic changes and evolving perspectives on higher education have also created a “new normal” that we must address with innovative new approaches.

AU is navigating our own challenges, as we are about 12 percent below this year’s targets for full-time, first-year undergraduate enrollment. This projected decline will drop overall undergraduate enrollment by nearly 4 percent. Although traditional graduate enrollment is projected to increase, the decline in incoming undergraduates will impact the FY25 budget. We will continue to track and finalize budget implications as enrollment numbers solidify over the summer.

We will continue to focus enrollment efforts on transfer students as the July 1 admission deadline nears. We are also engaging our incoming students to minimize summer melt and working to retain returning students and help them progress toward graduation.

These challenges require creative engagement and decisive action from all of us. Every touchpoint with students has a direct impact on their experience and attendance and—ultimately—the university budget. We need your help to engage with students, prioritize actions that support their success, and foster an environment of thriving. Everyone is a key partner in this effort.

Together, we are committed to continuing to build a strong and vigilant AU to strategically advance our mission. In developing the FY25 budget, schools, colleges, and administrative and operational units made important decisions to focus resources on top priorities and align future spending with revenue.

We will continue our careful resource management in FY25 and in the immediate term, we will review all open positions and hiring decisions to prioritize the most critical vacancies and determine which ones may wait to be filled. Your careful attention to spending and expenses will be crucial throughout the year.

Addressing the enrollment and budget challenges will demand our best work. However, we know that when we work together, we can address and overcome these challenges. We will provide updates as information becomes available throughout the summer. We can navigate these uncertainties together while pursuing a strong future for American University.

Onward,

Vicky Wilkins
Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer

Bronté Burleigh-Jones
CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer