Wayne Lynch

Even before programming cuts were announced last week, the State University of New York at Fredonia kept whittling down its overall financial deficit.

It’s down to a projected $3.36 million, according to Wayne Lynch, the campus vice president for finance and administration. Lynch spoke at the May University Council meeting.

The deficit was at a little over $4 million last May. The recent deficit figures are notably down from the early 2020s high point of around $15 million.

Lynch said Fredonia is running nearly $200,000 ahead of SUNY’s 2025-26 deficit projection for Fredonia.

“We know we are not going to close our gap… but this year, we’ve kind of achieved our goal,” he said.

The campus did have around a $4 million budget deficit for 2025-26. Lynch also found room to talk that up, noting that SUNY projected a $6.4 million loss, so

“From a budgetary standpoint we’re going to beat our projection by $2.4 million.”

Lynch went on to comment that “The majority of our budget is made up of salary. I don’t think that can be overstated. We are over target on salaries.”

He added that “a lot of meaningful decisions are still being made on salary control — how do we get that right-sized to the volume of students coming in?”

Lynch then cautioned that some of the campus’ better-than-expected performance came as a result of one-time revenue sources that won’t be replicated in 2026-27.

Still, as his boss President Stephen Kolison emphasized, “We are ending the year below deficit target.”

He cracked, “So as I’m sitting here, I’m wondering when I speak with my boss, whether I will (get) credit for that next year. That’s a difficult proposition, I’m sure he’ll probably tell me no.

“But that’s good news, it means that most of the things we put in place to manage the structural deficit — a lot of things are working.”

Kolison said he has a close working relationship with Lynch, who was added to the campus administration team last year.

“If I don’t speak to Wayne after three days, then something is wrong,” Kolison said. “We are talking constantly to watch how the numbers are going.”

The president noted, “There is a time period for which we are supposed to reach zero (on the deficit). That’s what makes this job very complicated.”

Ten undergraduate, four graduate, and seven minor programs were targeted for elimination by the university last week.

In a news release, SUNY Fredonia said it is committed to providing the advising, coursework and associated support to students currently enrolled in these programs. Courses will continue to be offered on a schedule that gives students the opportunity to complete their degrees without disruption.