As the Class of 2025 enters into their senior year, the students whose college experiences were stifled by the pandemic have largely aged out of the campus community. However, Furman continues to feel the financial impacts of COVID in various parts of their budget.

Unlike schools that can rely more heavily on their endowments — donated assets that provide long-term financial support to a university — to cover costs, Furman is a tuition-dependent university. Therefore, fluctuations in tuition impact Furman student scholarships, faculty pay and athletics.

That is why the administration is planning to hire consultants this year to analyze the university’s budget and operations. According to Furman President Elizabeth Davis, the main goal of this partnership is to receive recommendations that will help the university increase enrollment, make strategic investments and maximize net tuition revenue. The university has not yet chosen a consulting firm to hire.

Davis cited the pandemic as the cause of two lingering financial problems, the first being an increase in financial need from students since fiscal year 2020, rising from $68.3 million to $86.1 million in fiscal year 2025.

The other strain on Furman’s budget is increased support for employee healthcare. “Furman decided to pay a larger share of the costs in order to keep premiums, the amount employees pay monthly for their health insurance, stable,” Davis wrote in a statement to The Paladin.

Furman is now paying 84% of healthcare costs, and employees pay 16%.

“This is a far higher percentage than many of our peer universities pay,” Davis stated. “We believed these were important ways to help meet the needs of students, faculty and staff, during very trying times nationally.”

In the meantime, Furman employees are likely taking a financial hit going into the 2024-25 academic year. On May 29, Dean of Faculty Jeremy Cass informed faculty via email that he anticipated there will be no salary increases for the 2024-25 session, except for awards if there is a promotion to associate professor or professor.

“This is difficult news, to be sure, and I regret any distress it might cause,” Cass stated in the email. “Despite the challenges we are currently facing, compensation remains an institutional priority.”

In addition, faculty benefits have yet to return to pre-pandemic standards. On July 1, 2020, Furman’s retirement contributions were cut by 2.5% for all employees in response to a lower enrollment rate during the pandemic.

Faculty Council Chair Brandon Inabinet says that faculty members have seen a decline in salaries relative to inflation since the pandemic, but this is the first year of a complete pay freeze.

“Inflation was 4.7% in 2021, 8% in 2022, and 4.1% in 2023, while salary increases have been 4%, 4% and 0%. So, in the last couple of years, most faculty will have lost almost 10% of their livelihood,” Inabinet said. “As an employee, you need salary to keep up with the cost of living, or else you struggle to pay bills. And when you are driving institutional success, like we see through our merit rating system and institutional surveys, we would hope for even better.”

He says professors face unique challenges when they cannot rely on their salary to keep up with inflation, citing graduate school debt that requires a steady pay-off plan and a tight job market for professors.

“We are recruited here from all over the country and the world. So whereas people in other career paths can find other jobs locally in their sector, faculty have to move across the nation and the world to play any kind of labor market with their salaries,” Inabinet said.

In her statement to The Paladin, Davis said that the administration will provide a one-time payment of $1,250 for full-time employees.

“We will continue to find other ways to control expenses, while searching for new revenue streams. And we will continue to support employees in other ways through the various benefits the university offers,” Davis stated.

Staff will also not be receiving raises this year, according to Davis. In addition, Vice President of Finance Susan Maddux told The Paladin that 32 positions were cut from the budget.

“Most were retirements, open positions that were not filled, or positions that were grant funded for a specified period,” Maddux stated. “After long and careful consideration, we reduced these positions to be fiscally responsible and to ensure the university is as financially healthy as possible. Like any organization, we adjust our staff size with fluctuations in the economy and to best serve our mission.”

There has also been a decrease in hirings for this term, with only 64 new hires — about half the number of new hires for the two previous years.

“Any reduction in positions aims to make our organization more fiscally responsible and financially healthy while maintaining a level of service our students expect and deserve,” Maddux stated.

The administration held a faculty and staff town hall on Sept. 12., where employees could ask about these changes and receive clarification.

The Staff Advisory Council declined The Paladin’s request for comment on this issue.

At the beginning of the school year, the ProPublica nonprofit explorer published information about Furman salaries from the previous academic year. It revealed that President Elizabeth

Davis’ salary rose to $859,371 for the 2023-24 school year – a 73% increase from her 2022-23 salary of $497,848.

This information came out a few months after the notification of a pay freeze, raising questions among faculty members. “The revelation of those numbers against our zero hurts, and it specifically feels like our job performance isn’t being rewarded while hers is,” Inabinet said.

Davis stated that this salary increase is not permanent.

“My salary on the 2023 tax Form 990 reflects deferred compensation for a bonus that accrued over several years. My salary will not remain that amount,” Davis stated. “Deferred compensation is common for presidents; previous Furman presidents have received deferred compensation like this.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that in 2021, Davidson College’s president made $1,075,879, and Elon University’s president made $589,943.

According to College Raptor, Trinity College and DePaul University have a similar endowment to Furman, making their pay comparable. Their presidents made $775,976 and $1,039,984, respectively.

In response to these changes, Inabinet’s ideal future would be one where faculty pay is “de-linked” from student enrollment. He says this would ensure that professors’ morale and job would be tied to the long-term success of the institution rather than enrollment strategy.

“It would be a win for the university broadly, relative to other budget priorities, because our Gallup surveys have shown that our faculty are the uniquely valuable asset of Furman relative to our peers.”