Drexel University plans to lay off 60 staff members as it tries to balance its budget.
The cuts do not apply to faculty and represent less than 1.4% of the private, Philadelphia-based institution’s workforce, according to an emailed statement from the university.
Another 155 employees have opted into the university voluntary retirement incentive program, according to Drexel.
“The decision to lay off members of our professional staff is never made lightly,” the university said. “This is part of Drexel’s plan for resolving an approximate 10% imbalance in its operating budget in order to ensure resilience amid financial headwinds facing the higher education sector.”
University officials signaled that cuts were coming earlier this fall after enrollment came short of projections, something they blamed on the troubled federal rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. They also listed past rising costs, increased institutional aid and spending on student support services as driving its budget woes.
A decline in first-year students this fall, specifically, led to an additional $22 million gap in Drexel’s operating budget, according to the university. In October, the university noted that first-year undergraduate enrollment, at 2,350 students, was on pace to fall about 17.5% below initial estimates.
Like many colleges, Drexel has a sizable share of students dependent on federal aid, making it vulnerable to the FAFSA debacle. In the 2021-22 academic year, 25% of its undergraduates received Pell Grants and 49% took out federal student loans, according to federal data.
The university said in its statement this week that it “remains well-positioned to navigate the shifting tides of higher education.”
“In service of its unique educational model, the University is in the process of transforming its academic structure, including shifting to a semester schedule, and implementing a core competency curriculum to better prepare students to take advantage of their experiential learning opportunities,” Drexel said.