OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Michael Kelly, SUNY Fredonia’s vice president for finance and administration, speaks at a College Council meeting. To his right are College Council President Frank Pagano and University President Stephen Kolison.

It’s lately a regular occurrence at SUNY Fredonia College Council meetings: Everyone worries about declining enrollment, and the multimillion-dollar operating deficit.

The council’s meeting last month kept that theme, with a considerable section devoted to discussing the two issues. They are closely related because declining enrollment means less revenue for the school.

Michael Kelly, vice president for finance and administration, opened the discussion with some good news. Enrollment was up over the budgeted amount in both the fall and spring 2022-23 semesters.

The added tuition, and interest coming due on other transactions, has pumped an additional $1.1 million into SUNY Fredonia’s coffers.

There was a $700,000 shortfall in the budget at the council’s previous meeting, “but we anticipated it would go away over the remainder of the fiscal year, and it did,” Kelly said. “That’s a positive… we have positive momentum on the budget side of things for the next fiscal year.”

However, federal stimulus funds will be used up after 2023-24 — and as Kolison pointed out, the school’s enrollment is still down over the long term.

In fact, “Revenue that is generated through tuition” is what he considers SUNY Fredonia’s biggest challenge. Enrollment fell over a 10- to 20-year period and has not recovered, he said.

He said the university must look for money in every possible place to address the tuition shortfall. Most of the school’s operating costs are in salaries, and those are contractually mandated rise every year.

College Council member Richard Morrisroe asked the university president how many students the university would need to eliminate its structural deficit through tuition. Kolison said 5,500 students. However, the school’s enrollment, currently around 3,600, has never topped 5,100 students.

Frank Pagano, the College Council’s president, and a former mayor of Fredonia, stressed the fiscal importance of hacking away at the university’s long-term structural deficit. He noted that otherwise, “you hit a wall,” where basic services can no longer get properly funded.

Council member JoAnn Niebel criticized the university’s lack of an admissions director for the past year.

“To me, a year of upheaval in that department has caused some real issues,” she said. If tuition is so important, that position must be filled as soon as possible, she added.

“We have taken it very seriously,” replied David Starrett, executive vice president and provost. “It may not seem like it from the outside.”

He said SUNY Fredonia has already done a search for a new admissions director, but it failed. A second search is under way, Starrett said, adding the market for such a position is extremely competitive.

“We are very dependent on making sure that area is concentrated on,” Niebel said.

Kolison later said the fundamental problem is demographics. “We have fewer students and we are chasing them,” he said.

The university president closed the discussion with assurances about his efforts to boost enrollment.

“Everything humanly possible that we can do to reverse the enrollment situation is being done,” Kolison said. “I don’t mind the criticism. I’m the university president, you can point at me. … If you think we’re not working hard enough, give me a call.”