Budget Bind at Whittier College Forces Staff Cutback

Two months after a national publication named Whittier College among the best in the nation, officials of the 1,000-student private college have announced that they are forced for economic reasons to eliminate about two dozen teaching and other staff positions.

The officials said last week that, without the cutbacks, the college would be facing an operating deficit of at least $262,000 by the end of June, 1989.

Despite submitting yearly balanced budgets to the Board of Trustees, the 101-year-old college has been forced to use reserve funds to make up operating deficits averaging $500,000 in nine of the last 11 fiscal years, Finance Director Joseph E. Cardoza said. As a result, the reserve fund has been reduced by more than $4 million to $200,000, not enough to cover this year’s projected deficit.

“We have a consensus that we have a long-term problem and need to deal with it,” said Dean of Faculty Robert B. Marks.

Non-Faculty Jobs

Thirteen non-faculty positions are being eliminated to help reduce personnel costs, which make up 80% of the operating budget, college spokeswoman Susan Pearce said.

Although seven of those positions were vacant, six staff members, ranging from cafeteria workers to administrators in student affairs, admissions and college advancement, have been given layoff notices effective Feb. 1.

In addition, the school’s Faculty Executive Council is expected to decide by early February on 12 faculty positions to be dropped at the end of the school year, Marks said.

The layoff decision was also made in the face of projections that student enrollment nationwide could drop 12% by 1996, said Board of Trustees chairman Rayburn S. Dezember, who called the cutback “a necessary adjustment for the future.”

Cardoza said that a variety of circumstances have caused the yearly shortfall. Among them, he said, was the low income generated from the school’s already low $16-million endowment fund. The college’s endowment, a restricted fund that cannot be used for general expenses, collects interest, which can then be used to pay the bills, Cardoza explained.

Low Endowment

Whittier College’s endowment is far below that of other private schools. In comparison, Pomona College, with 1,400 undergraduate students, has an endowment of $250 million, Cardoza said. And Caltech, with an undergraduate student population under 1,000, has an endowment of $430 million.

Cardoza also said that tuition revenue has fallen short of expectations because of a high percentage of school-awarded scholarships and new student enrollment that was lower than anticipated. This year, for instance, enrollment was 50 students below the college’s goal.

Trustees have contributed personal funds to cover the yearly shortfalls, trustee Chairman Dezember said.

Cardoza declined to say why financial officials in the past have not prepared budgets that more accurately reflected the institution’s financial condition.

“I don’t want to be a Monday morning quarterback on this,” Cardoza said. But, he added, layoffs were the only way to combat the ongoing financial difficulties.

“The purpose (for the layoffs) is to bring the budget into balance because the reserve funds are standing at a very small level and could be utilized totally,” Cardoza said. “There are essentially no reserve funds available.”

Whittier College, which counts former President Richard M. Nixon among its alumni, for the second year in a row was cited in October for its academic program by U.S. News and World Report. It was ranked fourth in the small comprehensive college category.