ECU’s 2025 University Day Event

ECU's 2025 University Day Event

GREENVILLE, N.C. (9/04/2025) - Today during University Day remarks, Chancellor Philip Rogers announced an initiative to identify $25 million in budget cuts and savings over the next three years. This effort is intended to ensure that East Carolina University is actively responding to the changing enrollment environment facing higher education, while also adapting to the educational demands of future generations of students.

ECU is not alone in the need to respond to the changing landscape of higher education today; shifting demographics, including fewer graduating high school students in the years ahead, combined with budget challenges have led to this call to action. At the same time, there is evolving demand for the courses and programs that we offer - demands that we must nimbly seek to meet.

Over the next three years, we must identify $25 million in cost savings and efficiencies, representing about 2% of ECU's total budget. We will do this through permanent reductions, academic program optimization, and organizational adjustments. For Fiscal Year 2025-26, our target is to reach $5 million in savings. Of this amount, $4.2 million in cost savings have already been identified.

We have a strong foundation at ECU, and we will build on our commitment. We must adapt and innovate. At the center of all our work will be our mission of student success, public service and regional transformation.

Adapt: The UNC System enrollment funding formula requires increasing N.C. resident credit hours to grow state appropriations. Simply put, ECU could grow in total student population but see a reduction in appropriated funds because out-of-state students are not calculated in the funding model for credit hours. Currently, one approach to diversify the enrollment portfolio is growing online programs. For example, Project Kitty Hawk's Flight Path at ECU has more than 600 students enrolled across four programs this semester.

We will also continue our academic program review of majors, minors, professional certificates, and concentrations across all academic units that began Spring 2024 as part of the Fiscal Health work groups. An example of structural reorganization in the Division of Academic Affairs is the merger of the J.Y. Joyner and Laupus Health Sciences libraries. Provost Chris Buddo has already charged the library directors with assembling a steering committee for consolidation into one unit. The campus will receive a message next week about the academic program review conducted in the Spring. Provost Buddo is meeting with deans and department chairs to discuss next steps for programs with low productivity.

Organizational restructuring through phased implementation is underway in Information Technology and People Operations, Success and Opportunity. Other areas across campus will also be evaluated by Fiscal Health work groups for organizational restructuring.

Innovate: Strategic reinvestments through the reallocation of existing resources in high-demand programs will play a pivotal role in our future. For example, the ECU College of Nursing consistently has a highly competitive prospective student pool in an area of health care with a dramatic workforce need. We have an opportunity to fuel an expansion through reinvesting resources.

Financial aid optimization is underway, focusing on improving the timing for scholarship and financial aid awards and raising student recruitment and retention levels along with the academic profile; this was also identified as a Spring 2025 priority by the Fiscal Health work group.

During the coming months, the Fiscal Health work groups will share updates through the website.

ECU is strong. At our core, we have a mission and approach that is vital to our region and our state. The work outlined above is intended to proactively ensure that we remain steady and relevant to the needs of our students and community. We are an R1 university with a strong research portfolio, a campus that provides high value for our graduates, and excellent undergraduate and graduate programs.

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East Carolina University News Services

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Greenville, NC 27858

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Phone: 252-328-6481