READING \u2014 Albright College says it ended its recent fiscal year with a more than $10 million surplus, zeroing out its deficit by slashing operational costs, eliminating half of its full-time staff, and selling unused property and other assets.<\/p>\n
Still, experts warn that windfall does not guarantee long-term financial health, since much of the revenue was raised using one-time maneuvers. The numbers presented by the liberal arts college are also not audited, meaning they haven’t been reviewed by a third party and could be unreliable.<\/p>\n
Albright\u2019s financial struggles are not unique. It is one of several small colleges or universities in Pennsylvania grappling with major challenges<\/a> due to declining enrollment, an issue facing higher education nationwide.<\/p>\n In recent years, Albright\u2019s net income margin \u2014 a key indicator of the college\u2019s financial health and efficiency \u2014 has tanked, dropping lower than those of closed peers like the University of the Arts<\/a> and Cabrini and Clarks Summit universities, data compiled through the Private College Advanced Financial Compass<\/a> show (they were shared with Spotlight PA by College Viability, LLC).<\/p>\n After Albright\u2019s faculty voted \u201cno confidence\u201d<\/a> in then-President Jacquelyn Fetrow in April 2024, its Board of Trustees brought in new administrators and laid off 53 employees<\/a>. The school also canceled some academic majors, and sold property and artwork<\/a>.<\/p>\n In December, the college received permission to borrow up to $25 million of its endowment fund<\/a> to prevent \u201cthe risk of closure.\u201d Two months later, administrators told Reading City Council<\/a> that the college was not in danger of closing because of the efforts to \u201cright-size\u201d the institution.<\/p>\n Administrators have touted this quick turnaround in recent news releases and donation requests, telling Reading City Council members in February that Albright would be \u201cbudget-neutral, if not budget-positive\u201d by the summer.<\/p>\n Higher education experts, however, say it\u2019s difficult to turn around a college by cutting expenses alone. Successful recoveries require \u201cmultiple points of entry\u201d to generate revenue, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. (The group advocates on behalf of many higher ed institutions in Pennsylvania, but Albright is not a member.)<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s very difficult to cut your way to financial sustainability,\u201d Pasquerella said. \u201cIt really does require an investment: alumni giving grants, support at the state and federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n Gary Stocker, founder of the app College Viability, LLC<\/a>, stressed that Albright\u2019s current surplus relies on one-time revenue, which isn\u2019t sustainable.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, they still need to generate positive cash from operations,\u201d he told Spotlight PA. \u201cI hate to be redundant, but \u2026 you have a local symptom of a national disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving forward, Albright aims to attract more students through expanding athletics programs and phasing out less popular majors like economics and philosophy with ones that are in demand like cybersecurity, according to Larry Bomback, interim chief financial officer and vice president of finance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the result of these one-time things which are not going to be repeatable, but this does give us the runway that we need to get into next year, so that we can see all these enrollment changes and programmatic changes \u2026 really take full effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Gigantic structural deficit\u2019<\/p>\n Bomback doesn\u2019t deny that the college was in rough shape financially. Albright was at \u201csignificant risk of closure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf nothing had happened this past year, I am pretty sure Albright would have been following a similar fate as some of those other colleges,\u201d he said, adding the school didn\u2019t have the \u201cluxury\u201d of time. \u201cWe had to cut costs immediately because there was this gigantic structural deficit.\u201d<\/p>\n Former and current faculty and staff say they spent the past several years sounding the alarm, but the Board of Trustees didn\u2019t heed them. In February, administrators told Reading City Council the college only ran deficits in 2023 and 2024. But records show Albright had been deeply in the hole since 2018.<\/p>\n Fetrow announced in May 2024 that she would resign as president amid mounting questions about the school\u2019s finances. The board then hired Debra Townsley, touting<\/a> her \u201cexperience in controlling spending while increasing enrollment and fundraising.\u201d<\/p>\n Since taking over, the new administration has sold unused property, gaining $13.8 million in one-time revenue. The college has also received nearly $4 million in unrestricted donations since January, Bomback said. Albright is also looking to cut down on how much it uses its endowment fund, he added.<\/p>\n College leadership has also taken steps to reduce expenses through making programmatic changes and whittling staff from 360 full-time employees to 210. Looking for more sustainable revenue, the college is raising tuition and room and board<\/a> this fall.<\/p>\n \u2018All in on athletics\u2019<\/p>\n Key to Albright\u2019s turnaround will be reversing the college\u2019s plummeting enrollment, which has dropped nearly 50% since 2016<\/a>.<\/p>\n