While Tufts continues to tighten its belt as it weathers the economic storm, University President Lawrence Bacow remains "cautiously optimistic" that the worst of the recession's impact on the Hill is over.
In an e-mail sent to the Tufts community yesterday, Bacow said that while it is too soon to declare the crisis over, Tufts' outlook for the 2009-10 academic year is clearer than it has ever been in the past 12 months. "Despite the extremely difficult environment, Tufts ended the fiscal year in relatively good shape," he said, noting the university's success in balancing the budget for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The university's budget absorbed the full extent of the 25 percent decline in its endowment, whereas peer institutions often opt to deal with such drastic losses over a period of years.
Maintaining a cautiously positive tone, Bacow highlighted several elements that have put the university in a relatively solid financial position. Tufts' annual fund is up by 6 percent this year. The Beyond Boundaries capital campaign, which includes the annual fund, has seen solid support and is "absolutely" on track to meet its goal of raising $1.2 billion by 2011, Director of Central Development Programs Chris Simoneau said. The campaign surpassed $1 billion with Trustee Emeritus Bernard Gordon's $40 million gift to the university, announced earlier this week.
Fiscal Year 2009 marked the fifth-highest fundraising year in university history, according to Christine Sanni (LA '89), director of advancement communications and donor relations.
Additionally, the university's health sciences branches in Boston have benefitted from federal funding, thanks to a number of National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants.
Tufts' Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine also received a $2.5 million appropriation in the state budget, allowing the school to call off major budget cuts and layoffs after a scare this summer that the state would eliminate all funding for the school. Still, the current funding is $3 million less than the school received last year.
"We of course were very hopeful to secure $5.5 million for state appropriation from the Massachusetts legislature," Cummings spokesperson Tom Keppeler said, adding that administrators are working to get the full appropriation reinstated. "All in all, given the economic circumstances, I believe that we faired through this budget cycle as well as could be expected," he said.
Bacow warned against premature celebration, noting that this year's balanced budget was achieved through considerable sacrifices by the faculty, a sustained hiring freeze on vacated positions and general restraint on new capital projects.
"Our challenge will be to find ways to curb the growth in the cost of a Tufts education without losing all that makes Tufts special — small classes, lots of student-faculty contact, and an intimacy that I think we all value," he said.
Bacow shared hopes that fiscal restraint among institutions of higher education would be long-lasting, explaining that universities are often tempted to attract students with lavish spending projects. He called the increased push to control costs "healthy and long overdue."
"We must resist the temptation to add glitz for glitz' sake," he said.
