The past several months have been a time of tremendous change and challenge for Pace University and for all of us as individuals. We’ve adapted to new safety measures and new health concerns, new ways of living and working, fully remote instruction and fully virtual workdays. It is deeply impressive to see how our community has come together and made such great shifts in such a short time. Thank you for all your hard work.
These changes will have a significant impact on our finances. As you know, we are highly dependent on student revenue, and while we’re still seeing strong interest from prospective students,
national surveys
suggest that enrollments could decline by 20 percent. We are budgeting for a significant revenue decrease.
We are planning for a return to on-campus instruction for the fall semester, but we do not yet know exactly how that will work. We’ll likely face some social-distancing limitations on our activities. It is highly unlikely that everything will return to the way it was. I know we’ll all use the same resourcefulness we relied on for this spring’s changes to plan for a new kind of fall semester. At the same time, we must act prudently to protect our financial stability.
We have previously announced a hiring freeze, a moratorium on salary increases, the suspension of University-sponsored travel, and significant curbs on discretionary spending. Today we announce further financial measures designed to stabilize our budget and ensure that we can continue supporting our students. They are:
- Effective June 1, I will take a temporary 20 percent pay reduction. At the same time, the other senior leaders of the University, including the provost and all deans and vice presidents, will take scaled temporary reductions that result in more than 10 percent salary savings from this group collectively. That money will be redirected to the Pace Cares Fund, which provides emergency aid for students in immediate need.
- Effective June 1, we will temporarily suspend the University’s matching contribution to all employees’ 403(b) retirement plans. We recognize that this is a significant sacrifice, but our focus is on protecting existing jobs and take-home pay as much as possible. Later this year, we will evaluate the feasibility of reinstating the matching contribution for 2021.
- Effective immediately, we are offering an accelerated retirement plan to tenured faculty. This plan is open to those who are eligible for our usual phased retirement plan and will be offered only through June 30, 2020. It will allow for immediate retirement at the end of this academic year with a lump sum payment equal to 50 percent of base salary plus one percent of base salary for each consecutive full year of service. Faculty retiring under this plan will receive the title of professor emeritus, the option of an adjunct position for one year, a shared workspace on campus, and University-paid medical benefits for two years. Human Resources will contact eligible faculty with more detailed information. Our usual phased retirement plan will continue.
- We are working to re-assign some Pace staff members who are unable to perform their duties under current stay-at-home directives to other areas of the University, where they will be able to continue working. But for a limited number of staff members, we will implement a temporary furlough. These staff members will retain most of their benefits during the furlough, including medical and dental coverage and the tuition-remission plan, and they will be eligible to collect the enhanced unemployment benefits. We will notify any affected employee by May 12, and our goal will be to reinstate these employees on August 17. If you are interested in volunteering for a furlough or reduced hours, please contact Employee Relations at [email protected].
I know none of this is easy. I also cannot promise that this will be our final phase of belt-tightening. Acting now will help us avoid more painful steps later. We are all hopeful that as conditions in New York State improve, we will be able to re-open our campuses and life will begin to return to normal. But we cannot know now what the landscape will look like later this year, whether we’ll be on campus, whether our enrollment will approach normal levels, or what our revenue will be.
My commitment is that we’ll remain focused on our students, our academic mission, and our people. We will continue to prioritize protecting jobs and salaries. I know you are all making extraordinary efforts to ensure that we continue to fulfill our mission of
Opportunitas
. As we face these challenges together, I am grateful for your immense contributions, and I look forward to seeing you back on campus soon.
I’ll be joining the previously scheduled community Zoom conversation tomorrow, Friday, May 8, at noon, to answer your questions on these measures, as will other senior leaders. All faculty and staff are invited to join that meeting. You can join it
at this link
.
Stay safe, and keep healthy.
