Finance

The college is facing projected structural deficits of $9 to $10 million each year for future years. The FY25 budget identifies a number of sources of extraordinary (non-recurring) funding, which are being utilized to cover the cash shortfall. However, many of those sources are about to be exhausted. For FY26, $3.7 million of the projected $9.7 million deficit currently is unfunded. The final budget will close this gap through expense reductions and new revenue.

Contributing to this increasing structural deficit is a threat to the Sellinger program, which offers financial aid and other supports for Maryland students. The Maryland Independent College and University Association (which represents St. John’s and other independent colleges in the state) has prepared an email form for current students, alumni, faculty and staff, parents, and friends of the college to have their voices heard about why this program is so vital. We encourage all members of our community, and particularly Marylanders, to submit this form and help us save Sellinger.

Endowment performance has been positive and is in the top 5 percent compared to similar-sized endowments. The college's move to a new OCIO management firm has also realized more than half a million dollars in savings thanks to lower management fees and other reductions negotiated by the firm. Even with these healthy investment returns, the early receipt of the Winiarski funds, and an anticipated extraordinary endowment draw, the college faces significant cash-flow issues.

Strategic Vision and Planning

The current financial picture underscores the urgency of our strategic vision and planning process, which builds on the core strength of the institution—our Program of study—while establishing an implementation plan to get us into a long-term viable position where the college can truly flourish. Meetings and listening sessions have been conducted and feedback from all college constituencies is being considered. During the board meeting, our strategic advisors provided an update to board members on where we are in the process, leading to hours of serious discussions. The resulting action item from the board was to ask the advisors to conduct data analysis to help inform thoughtful planning and decision-making. The strategic vision steering committee, composed of faculty and staff members from both campuses, will continue its work in the coming months on improvements to revenue-generating opportunities and finding cost savings where possible. Long-term plans to secure the future will be under consideration by the board at the next meeting. As both processes run in parallel, the outcomes of strategic planning will lead to implementation that unfolds later this year and beyond. If you have ideas, share them with the committee via our online form.

Enrollment

National undergraduate enrollment trends for small colleges continue to be worrying. Application volume is down domestically for St. John’s and most of our peers, particularly from states such as California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. It is unknown what effect the current political environment and uncertainty will have on international recruitment efforts. Last fall, St. John’s enrolled a smaller freshman class than desired, and with fewer domestic applications compared to this time last year, we expect the same or fewer incoming students in fall 2025. This, plus a large graduating senior class, means an almost certain hit to net tuition revenue. The college will need to employ aggressive strategies to maintain competitiveness in this environment. Some of those current strategies include Summer Academy, the Southwest Scholars partner school program, new partnerships with schools and Incheon National University in South Korea, the Discussion-Based Application, targeted marketing for students with interests in philosophy and classics, and our United World College partnership.

Enrollment at the Graduate Institute on both campuses continues at historic highs. This fall, the college will soft-launch the Master of Middle Eastern Classics program on campus in Santa Fe, the first new degree program at the college in 30 years. This three-to-five-year pilot will begin with a fall cohort of 15-20 students; a full public launch of the program for fall 2026 recruitment is planned for the summer.

The Career Pathways website, which helps prospective students visualize a St. John’s-supported career path, launched this month. Career Pathways outlines career supports in nine distinct professional fields and includes graduate partnerships with the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins and more; credentialing partnerships with eCornell; visual maps connecting Program studies to fields; and paid internships, fellowships, and study abroad. The Odyssey Program, which partners alumni advisors with students, has restructured to align with Pathways, offering a “one to many” approach, with 80 students receiving support from 40 alumni this year. The committee also held a robust discussion about current paid marketing efforts, brainstorming ways to increase our efficiency and efficacy to reach those “needle-in-a-haystack” students that could find a home at St. John’s.

Advancement

The Advancement team is in a leadership transition period following the departure of the Vice President of Advancement in December. Recruiting for that position will occur this spring following an assessment of the departmental structure, data capability, and needs by the interim head. In the meantime, the college has exceeded goals for both unrestricted and restricted giving, including meeting this year’s Pritzker Match and completing fundraising for the $10 million salary enhancement fund created in honor of President Emeritus Mark Roosevelt’s retirement. A new donor to the college has provided $1 million to jumpstart the Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Classics pilot program, joined by two existing donors who matched an additional $1 million. The sponsorship program for this year’s croquet match is also showing positive results with nearly $60,000 raised from corporate sponsors to help offset ticket costs for students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Recent data from the alumni engagement team shows that we are performing well compared to peer institutions, with a quarter of engaged alumni participating in college events and nearly 10 percent participating philanthropically.

The St. John’s College Alumni Association shared an update on its annual report, awards of merit celebration, and other planned activities to cultivate future alumni leaders and build goodwill. In response to student needs, the association piloted a program over winter break to address food insecurity of students in Santa Fe, providing rides to grocery stores and hosting dinners at the homes of alumni.

The Community and Lifelong Learning team is continuing to explore new ways to attract different audiences to the college and increase revenue through partnerships with the Modern Elder Academy and the American Law Institute. Day of Classics, piloted in Annapolis this fall, will return this spring on both campuses to give attendees a taste of the college’s non-degree offerings in a short and easy-to-commit-to format.

Facilities

In Santa Fe, the Pritzker Student Center renovation project is 65 percent complete and is on track to be substantially completed by the end of the calendar year, at or below budget, with final finishes to landscaping and the Meem mural restoration expected in spring 2026. Although construction is disruptive to campus life, the college is making creative use of other spaces, such as the Meem Library for Friday night lectures. Savings realized from the project will help cover costs for a necessary retaining wall installation. IT infrastructure improvements will also continue to be installed over the next two summers.

In Annapolis, the college received a $1 million grant from the state of Maryland to create a clean energy master plan, install solar panels on the roofs of Mellon Hall and the heating plant, and pay for student internships to assist in the project. Additionally, a $375,000 grant from the state will provide security infrastructure improvements across campus. The college plans to apply for a capital grant from the state in FY27—a transformation of Paca-Carroll into a mixed-use building of residential suites and arts programming spaces is under consideration pending funding availability. Short-term improvements made to the Barr-Buchanan Center HVAC system will push the college’s funding application for renovation of that building to FY30.

The College History Task Force provided their report to the board on how to acknowledge the institution’s history and association with slavery. The task force’s recommendations, which will be taken under advisement by the presidents and implemented where funding is available, include: 1) expanding historical information on the website, reprinting historical books and articles, and including a short overview in freshman orientation 2) partnering with community organizations in Annapolis to increase the amount of academic support and community service opportunities for students 3) developing additional campus signage and self-guided walking tours 4) including college history in the New Program via lectures, preceptorials, faculty seminars, and student discussions 5) establishing an annual lecture on democratic citizenship and different legal topics 6) considering a second phase to research other historical topics identified by the task force but not included in this phase and applying for grant money to fund this research. Following this set of recommendations, the work of the task force is considered complete. With sincere gratitude, we thank the task force and its chair, Adrian Trevisan (A84), for their dedication and the more than 700 volunteer hours they put forth for this important project.

Visiting

The Visiting Committee, which focuses its work on the student experience, discussed the effects of the current national political environment on students as well as statements from each dean regarding educational policy and programming. In Annapolis, this included a discussion around the question of academic honesty and the role of artificial intelligence tools. As Dean Suzy Paalman wrote in her statement, “...there ought to be places in the world where people can support other people in the human business of exploring ideas and looking for truth. If St. John’s will be one of those places, we can add to the list of unique attributes (no majors, fixed curriculum, no textbooks) the fact that we do not use artificially generated text for anything in our academic Program.” In Santa Fe, Dean Sarah Davis called for boldness in our current environment, with an appeal to the metastrophic turn, or that place where the known becomes unknown. “Liberation, as St. John’s has long known, cannot come from within the system. It requires rupture, a turning, that resists sedimentation in the name of wonder and life,” she writes. “It is a serious, vital, and at times heavy commitment and obligation. But that is how I understand the St. John’s education—we do what we do in the name of awakening our students and ourselves to life. When we think about preserving the project of St. John’s, as we strategize about our future, this is what is really at stake.”

Polity Update

After a 20-month-long collaborative review process, the board took a historic vote on new governing documents that accomplish the goals of achieving a more straightforward, clear, and legally defensible Polity. These updated documents focus the Polity on the core principles and functions of the broader institution while moving operational details to other documents. They clarify the respective purviews of the board, the presidents, and the faculty and empower constituents to self-govern where appropriate. And, importantly, they address significant areas of legal exposure. The Polity Review Committee will work on a final set of cleanup revisions in collaboration with the deans to address minor but important updates that arose before the board meeting but after the 30-day required notice period to make additional changes. Our collective appreciation goes to the Polity Review Committee and the two deans for their substantial work.

Conclusion

Although our financial situation is serious, we believe our educational Program is more relevant than ever in today’s landscape. Our students and alumni prove every day the value of what we do. Thank you for joining with us to continue building a resilient and flourishing college. St. John’s Forever.

Feedback

If you have thoughts that you would like to share, please contact us at presidents(at)sjc.edu.

Sincerely,

Nora Demleitner and J. Walter Sterling