St. Catherine University eliminates staff roles as it grapples with deficits

Dive Brief:

• St. Catherine University, in Minnesota, has cut 11 staff roles as it grapples with annual budget deficits.
• The institution confirmed for Higher Ed Dive that it eliminated six staff positions with the closure of its early childhood center and another five in various other units.
• While it didn’t specify numbers, St. Catherine said the employment of “a few” faculty members ended when their temporary contracts lapsed, but asserted it did not terminate or choose not to renew any contracts.  It also said “a number of” faculty retired this year and others have left for new jobs.

Dive Insight:

St. Catherine is one of an ever-growing cohort of colleges making cuts — both modest and large — to bring their budgets in line with falling tuition revenue and a tough operating environment.

The institution posted an operating deficit of $19 million for the fiscal year that ended May 2023 after racking up a $9.5 million deficit the year before, according to its latest financials. Total revenues decreased by about $6.5 million year to year year while expenses rose by $3 million. Tuition revenue, specifically, fell 7.7% from fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2023.

St. Catherine had 3,577 students in fall 2022, down 24.3% from 2017 and about a third from 2010 levels, according to federal data. 

Not helping financial matters, a former dean of St. Catherine’s nursing school was recently charged with embezzling $400,000 from the university. 

Based in St. Paul, St. Catherine says it is the largest Catholic women’s college in the country. In 2023, women made up 99.7% of enrollment at the university’s College for Women, its undergraduate program for traditional students.

Starting July, St. Catherine will have a new president, Marcheta Evans, currently chancellor of Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, in New Jersey. Evans will be St. Catherine’s first African American president following President Becky Roloff’s retirement. 

Jean Wincek, chair of the university’s board, praised Evans for her “embrace of the Catholic intellectual tradition, emphasizing scholarly inquiry and social justice teaching.”