PATHWAY
FORWARD
2 | ALBION COLLEGE
Dear Family of Britons, Albion’s reputation as a leader in delivering a high touch and applied educational experience for all students is a credit to the hard work, dedication, and innovative thinking of our faculty, staff, alumni, and friends. Students come to Albion from small towns and urban centers across the U.S. and internationally, with an average GPA of 3.5 and noteworthy accomplishments inside and out of the classroom. We are proud of the fact that 26.6 percent of students are the first in their families to attend college and more than 44 percent come from underrepresented backgrounds. Albion College has a deep and enduring connection to the wider community and the advancement of Michigan’s southcentral region. Michigan students constitute an incredible 73 percent of our total enrollment, with an additional 11 percent coming from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Our Midwest-first strategy, however, has come with some bumps in the road in recent years with a declining number of high school seniors, particularly in the Upper Midwest regions from where we recruit. Notably, Michigan ranks 49th in population growth since 1990, surpassing only West Virginia. Birth rates are dropping and mortality rates are rising. While our team in admission and campus partners are working hard to identify and develop new recruiting territories, we have not given up on our backyard. In this highly competitive landscape, it’s essential that Albion maintains flexibility and adaptability to meet the demands of the market while ensuring prudent financial management. When fewer students enroll in college, institutional revenue decreases, and significant financial challenges set in without appropriate adjustments to operational expenditures. Valuable lessons can be drawn from the widespread budget cuts across the higher education sector and recent closures of nearby schools like Iowa Wesleyan, Finlandia University, and Cardinal Stritch University.
Over the course of the past few months, our campus has begun to work together to enact measures to bring our budgets closer in line with available resources, improve our overall operational efficiency, analyze the staffing size appropriate for our total student headcount, establish achievable enrollment targets and financial aid packages, and act in areas that will improve overall student retention. If we are to continue to compete for the best and brightest students, we cannot afford to halt our progress. Surveys of students who opt to leave the College before graduating show finances and mental health concerns among the top. We also frequently learn that our academic program is not what they were looking for or that they had a hard time making connections on campus or finding things to do in the City of Albion. We must put our focus on investing in curricular innovation, expanding experiential learning, and creating student-centered spaces that allow the kind of sticky experiences our students need to thrive. In the following pages, we present Albion College’s budget and the obstacles we are confronting together as a community. We value your trust and realize that it is earned through a proven track record of transparency and stewardship. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering commitment to Albion College, year after year. Your ongoing support is invaluable as we continue to make progress on our journey ahead. Sincerely,
Wayne Webster President
Joanne (Joey) Miller ’75 Chair, Board of Trustees
Ted Everingham ’61
President, Alumni Association Board of Directors
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BUDGET AT A GLANCE Albion is, and always has been, a tuition-dependent school. We receive approximately 60 percent of our revenue from tuition, fees, room, and board. The remaining 40 percent comes from gifts, grants, interest off our endowment, and auxiliary fees like summer camps and conferences. The bulk of our operating revenues go directly to support salaries and benefits for our employees and to fund programmatic needs in departments across the College.
Sources of Operating Revenues
Uses of Operating Revenues
58% – Net Tuition & Fees, Room & Board 26% – Endowment Income 6% – Annual Fund 1% – Auxiliary Revenue 2% – Other Revenue 7% – Grants & Government Appropriations
55% – Salaries & Benefits 4% – Utilities 1% – Insurance 3% – Interest 18% – Services 3% – Professional Development 5% – Supplies 11% – Other
FUNDRAISING Despite surging inflation and the global disruptions of 2022 that undercut endowment returns, Albion’s endowment value maintained firm footing at a market value of $155M at the close of fiscal year 2023. This is due in part to realized pledge payments from the Purple & Bold comprehensive campaign, which concluded in fall 2020, coupled with strong investment strategies. Gifts to the Annual Fund and restricted gifts amounted to a total of $6M. The planned giving pipeline includes a total of 549 documented and undocumented gifts totaling $63,504,873.44. These numbers are cause for celebration but there is more work to be done.
Fiscal Year 2023 Gifts and Grants 33% – Grants 29% – Annual Fund 38% – Restricted Gifts
Source: PARis Performance Reporting System
Albion’s Historical Endowment Performance 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% -5.00% -10.00%
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
4 | ALBION COLLEGE
FACING ENROLLMENT CHALLENGES The best efforts of our staff and faculty have produced a record number of applicants to the College in the past few years. Our actual enrollment and our ability to retain students for four years, however, has declined for reasons we no longer can afford to ignore.
Albion’s Total Enrollment by Year 1700 1600 1558
1500 1400
1512 1451
1401
1497
1511 1445
1300
1347
1200
FALL 2016
FALL 2017
FALL 2018
FALL 2019
FALL 2020
FALL 2021
FALL 2022
FALL 2023
Sweeping demographic shifts in the United States high school-age population, coupled with lingering financial pressures and price sensitivity, have presented new challenges for private liberal arts colleges. The number of high school graduates in the United States is on the decline. Decreases are most pronounced in the Midwest region of the country (and acutely in Michigan), areas where Albion traditionally has drawn many of its students.
No Segment is Safe from Falling Demand
2025 to 2030 Should be the Real Focus, as Even Elites Will See Declines Change in Enrollment Demand 2018 to 2035 (2018 Projection = 100)
Change in demand
120
‘Elite’
Index: 2018 = 100
115
-5%
110 105
-8%
100 95
-11%
90 Decline Impacts All Segments
85 80
2020
2025
2030
2035
Top 501 research universities & liberal arts colleges
National
Top 50-1001 research universities & liberal arts colleges
Regional
Ranked1 outside of Top 100
1) US News and World Report Rankings Sources: Nathan Grawe, The Agile College: How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes, 2021; EAB analytics
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While published tuition prices have continued to rise across the sector, the net revenues received per student have remained flat or decreased over time as demonstrated in this chart from the Council of Independent Colleges, representing over 1,000 private colleges and universities. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
’21-22 20-21 19-20 18-90 17-18 16-17 15-16 14-15 13-14 12-13 11-12 10-11 09-10 08-09 07-08 06-07 $0
$5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $30,000 $35,000 $40,000 $45,000
Published Tuition and Fees
Net Tuition and Fees
Grant Aid % Tuition and Fees
6 | ALBION COLLEGE
RETENTION AND PERSISTENCE POST-2020 One of the key strategies we can utilize to support our financial success is to prioritize student success and retention. Albion’s first-to-second year retention rates have been in a steady decline since 2020, dipping well below other GLCA colleges and down from the national average for all colleges and universities. Our three-year average first-to-second year retention rate is 71.7 percent and 6-year graduation rate is 60.2 percent. Teams of faculty and staff across the College are working collaboratively on a series of measures to build a campus culture of student success, promote degree completion, and embrace practices that encourage belonging. Academic departments, athletics, student organizations, ensembles, Greek life, residential communities and centers and institutes are just a few ways students seek mentorship, pursue their passions, and find a home at Albion. We’re working to understand where breakdowns in connection exist along our student journey.
Prior to the start of fall semester, these teams led and instituted changes to First Year Experience seminars and introduced a revamped Summer Bridge program to provide highly qualified students from historically underrepresented and first-generation populations access to a curriculum designed to prepare them for the rigor of college, personalized advising, and leadership and professional development opportunities. We continue to enhance the Summer Bridge program and are pleased to share that this was the first year in recent memory where we didn’t lose students between the start of the semester and the 10-day enrollment census.
While we are already seeing positive results, we cannot let up on our short-, mid-, and long-term efforts to provide meaningful connections for all students and remove barriers to degree completion.
Historical First-Year Class Enrollment 600 548
500 488
400
504 464
479
508
488 417
525 489 430
475
434
475
451
449 411
487
405
300 200 100 0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
First-Year Student Enrollment First-Year Students Retained Next Year
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559
571 480
500
515
485
478
455
434 384
385
402 360
346
357
425
415
468 418 363
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
8 | ALBION COLLEGE
MAKE INVESTMENTS NECESSARY FOR OUR FUTURE Investing in Student-Centered Spaces Attracting and inspiring the next generation of faculty, staff, and students depends on our ability to provide an inspiring environment that fosters connection, creativity, and academic discovery. We must ensure that our basic amenities meet the needs of the people who use them and that we are providing adequate opportunities for all students to gather, find community, and seek out resources. Our historic buildings, designed for the academic and student life needs of the past, need to be updated constantly to accommodate emerging learning technologies and new pedagogies.
The College continues to update and renovate learning, wellness, and social spaces across campus. Recent improvements have included: from left, a refresh of the lobby of our first-year residence, Wesley Hall; new matting, paint, ceiling, lighting, and weight training space in the lower level of Kresge Hall to support our student wrestling team; new carpeting, paint, HVAC in Burns Apartments for juniors and seniors; and, in the Stockwell-Mudd Library, a new Innovation Lab, equipped with technology to design and print 3D objects, try out virtual reality experiences, program a Sphero Droid, or work on creative projects.
POTENTIAL PROJECTS ON THE HORIZON Priority upgrades supported by donor and bond funds Kellogg Center Over the course of the fall and spring semesters, we will explore a variety of upgrades to the Kellogg Center, including but not limited to enhanced food service options, reimagined traffic flow, ways to offer more personal product options in the bookstore, and a potential new convenience store.
Upper Baldwin To better support the needs of campus and grow revenue from external organizations, our conference and event spaces need to offer additional space, modern amenities, flexible layouts, and enhanced audio visual. We will be working to identify partnerships that can help us renovate our main ballroom in Upper Baldwin as well as the top level conference rooms to accommodate evolving needs of campus and beyond in ways that foster community-building.
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PROJECTS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY
The Bridge Between Stockwell and Mudd Libraries A gift from the estate of Nancy “Nan” Finton ’75 was made to support renovations to the Library Bridge, a favorite study and connection spot for many Albion students. Nan Finton studied and explored other cultures. She valued education as a portal to the world and embraced cultural differences through literature, religion, art, and music. The updated bridge will undergo construction during winter break and will include expanded study and collaboration space as well as upgrades to furniture, painting, lighting, and more.
Training Room One lead gift from Trustee Tim Wyman ’91 will allow us to move forward with a long-awaited renovation to the training room in Dow Recreation and Wellness Center. Updates include the addition of a human performance space and exam rooms, expanded training and office spaces, a hydrotherapy plunge pool, and new furniture, carpet, and paint. Renovations to existing training spaces are largely seen as a necessity for NCAA programs across all levels. At Albion, our project goes beyond keeping studentathletes in top performance condition or furthering our athletic program’s success; these resources will benefit all students who use the Dow for personal wellness and club and intramural sports.
Goodrich Chapel Goodrich Chapel, our community’s gathering place for events and academic year milestones for 75 years, also houses our music department. The building has aged, and lowerlevel classrooms and practice spaces no longer meet growing ensemble and student needs. The College will invest in renovating this space, ensuring music majors and enthusiasts have suitable facilities, and maintaining its role as a prominent campus venue.
Kresge Gymnasium Modest updates will be made to our historic Kresge Gymnasium in the future to add cooling for our student-athletes and summer campers who use the facility throughout all seasons, new bleachers to help create a more modern fan experience, and a variety of other aesthetic upgrades.
Site of Former St. John’s Catholic Church Repairs to the roof of the former St. John’s Catholic Church—erected in 1875 and located at the corner of Cass and Huron streets—began in 2021, in hopes of preserving the 11,450-sq. ft. landmark and finding new opportunities to build community and connections for Albion students in the heart of campus. With available resources, a renovation could provide space for student and alumni networking, social justice events, performing arts, alumni, and career services.
10 | ALBION COLLEGE
CURRICULAR INNOVATION AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Academic Program Review Process Will Drive Curricular Innovation There is a growing realization among many in the Albion community that our academic program has the potential to be even more distinctive and come in closer alignment with the needs and wants of today’s students within the liberal arts core. Our faculty, led by the Curriculum & Resources Committee and Interim Provost Lisa Lewis, are launching into a comprehensive self-assessment of our academic offerings and identifying indicators to help us understand what we are doing well, what we need to refine, and what new programs are worth pursuing. While departments and programs have a long history of regularly engaging in assessment of student learning as well as reviewing their major curriculum internally and by external experts, faculty will seek to examine every facet of how we educate, including the core curriculum and majors and minors. Looking ahead, the outcomes of the faculty’s review process will work their way through the shared governance process during the fall of 2024, with a goal of phased implementation beginning in 2024-2025. We will continue to identify and seize opportunities that build on our liberal arts tradition while capitalizing on our faculty and staff expertise and the phenomenal natural assets of our campus. We have a strong track
record of successfully preparing generations of Albion College graduates, but we also must constantly be thinking about new opportunities for future students.
Expanding Experiential Learning Experiential learning has long been a hallmark of an Albion education. Supported by our distinguished centers and institutes and deep connections to our community, we should aim for every Albion student to receive an education that is locally grounded and rich in opportunities for collaboration, civic engagement, professional exploration, and leadership. When we deepen and make more universal connections between learning in the classroom and engagement with the campus, local community, and the world, our students are better prepared for life and work when they graduate.
Throughout time, Albion College has changed and adapted its programs to meet the ever-evolving needs of students, the market, and society. In doing so, we have continued to keep our mission as our guiding compass. We are so grateful for the many ways you contribute to this mission. Together, the future for Albion is bright!
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ALBION NEEDS YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT Make an Unrestricted Gift To the Albion College Fund. Increasing support through the Albion College Fund is central to the College’s aspirations and securing our future. Faculty members and students depend upon gifts to the College that are renewed and increased annually because they support the essentials: financial aid, salaries, equipment, software and books. Your gifts also help keep the campus secure and clean, help to upgrade computer networks, field varsity sports teams, and – quite literally – keep the lights burning in the library. There is no aspect of campus life that is not improved by gifts to the Albion College Fund. Visit albion.edu/forward or call 517-629-1835 to make your Albion College Fund gift.
Annual Scholarship Support Through the Briton Scholarship Fund The Briton Scholarship Fund is an annual operating fund that makes it financially feasible for the College to provide financial aid packages to students. Over the past five years, donors have empowered hundreds of students by contributing more than $1.2 million to the Briton Scholarship Fund. You understand the power of the Albion College experience. Your donation to the Briton Scholarship Fund enables us to continue providing life-changing experiences for our students.
Become an Albion College Stockwell Society Member Through a Planned Gift or Estate Commitment. The Stockwell Society, established in 1982, boasts nearly 600 members who are dedicated to enhancing Albion’s educational legacy. It honors Madelon Stockwell Turner, class of 1862, whose bequest funded the Stockwell Memorial Library. In recognition, names of all members are displayed in the Kellogg Center. Stockwell Society offers various ways to give: through wills, charitable life-income gifts, retirement account or life insurance designations, or
real property donations with retained life estates. Membership has no minimum requirements, and anonymity is an option. For estate gifts to Albion College, contact Institutional Advancement at 517-629-1835 or advancement@albion.edu. Your gift transforms lives.
GET INVOLVED WITH THE ALBION COLLEGE COLLABORATIVE ALUMNI NETWORK (AC CAN) Refer a Student To Albion; Become an Admission Volunteer The success of Albion College’s student enrollment depends on the efforts of alumni and parents who are willing to share great experiences with prospective students and their families. Referred students who enroll at Albion receive a scholarship valued at $3,000 per year for four years ($12,000 total). To be eligible, students can be referred at any time prior to their acceptance to Albion. Visit albion.edu/referral to get started!
Mentor, Engage, and Recruit Albion Students for Internships and Full-Time Jobs The Career and Internship Center seeks alumni and employers to mentor and recruit students for various opportunities. Annually, alumni return to campus for classroom engagement, career workshops, networking, interviews, and résumé proofreading. Explore connections with our programs at albion.edu/cic-alumni or inquire at careers@albion.edu or call 517-629-0332. For AC CAN and involvement opportunities, visit albion.edu/accan.
611 East Porter Street Albion, MI 49224
Office of the President
Giving days are great opportunities to have a collective impact on the College. Last year, through our GivingTuesday and Albion Everywhere giving days, we raised over $110,000 from 365 donors. Mark your calendars for this year! GivingTuesday November 28, 2023
Albion Everywhere March 23, 2024
Albion Everywhere celebrates the anniversary of Albion College’s founding on March 23, 1835.