Evergreen State College Announces Layoffs Due to Drop in Enrollment

Administrators at The Evergreen State College have announced that the embattled school faces a massive $2.1 million budget shortfall due in part to a drop in enrollment, and the institution has already handed out some temporary layoff notices as officials grapple with balancing the books.

In an Aug. 28 memo to the campus community titled "Enrollment and Budget Update," officials report that fall 2017-18 registration is down about 5 percent, from 3,922 students to 3,713. But the problem is nearly all of the students they lost are nonresidents, who traditionally pay a much higher tuition to attend, officials explained in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The College Fix.

Combined with a shortfall in funding from state coffers to shoulder a mandatory cost-of-living salary increase and a rise in the general cost of operations, and the school must find a way to resolve a $2.1 million shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1, according to the memo.

"This creates the need for significant budget cuts in the immediate future," the memo states, adding that the university late last month already handed out temporary layoff notices to 17 facilities staff members.

"Some notices were rescinded as we try to use scarce local dollars to keep people employed," the memo states. "… However, if the capital budget crisis at the state level continues indefinitely, layoffs will become impossible to avoid."

"… In a college where 89 percent of the operating budget is in salaries and benefits, it is impossible to reduce the budget by substantial amounts without giving up positions. In anticipation of this, we will soon be announcing a hiring freeze."