Joliet, Ill. – The landscape of higher education has changed dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020. Smaller, private institutions, in particular, have since faced publicly-recognized enrollment challenges that, because of the financial implications associated with enrollment declines, have resulted in institutions reaching the decision to close their respective doors forever. While smaller, private colleges and universities currently operating today continue to navigate these struggles and work to prevent the potential of arriving the same fate as some of their less fortunate peers, a new financial tool developed by Julee Gard, Ed.D., CPA, CMA, USF Vice President for Administration and Finance, is gaining attention for its ability to provide important strategic perspective to higher education leaders as they look to the immediate future and beyond.
For her dissertation as part of her recent doctoral program studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Gard created her Financial Viability Index for smaller private institutions. The tool presents institutions with a way to calculate eight different financial metrics using financial data from audited financial statements, taking in to account the value as well as the 3-year trend of each metric. The resulting score, on a scale of 1 to 100, is assigned a color code indicative of overall financial health ranging from blue (excellent), down to green (very good), yellow (good), orange (marginal), and red (poor). The combination of the color coding and numerical score provides institutions with valuable trend data across several critical areas of measure that can be used as part of planning efforts to enhance their financial viability. Important to note, though, is that the tool is not meant to predict institutional closures.
“My hope was the Financial Viability Index could be used by higher education leaders (financial and non-financial alike) to help understand the underlying values and trends driving an institution’s given score and associated color coding, as well as to provide actionable information to help institutional leaders respond timely and effectively to financial viability concerns,” said Gard.
Gard’s work has already gained attention from smaller, private institutions across the nation, as well as from high-profile media outlets. In fact, Gard has responded to multiple requests in recent months to offer insight based on her Financial Viability Index. Recent articles in which Gard has appeared include:
- Why Did This Beloved Arts College Have to Close? (The Chronicle of Higher Education – by Eric Kelderman and Dan Bauman, published on June 5, 2024)
- Gwynedd Mercy University Cuts Staff, Restructures Academics Amid Higher Ed Financial Turmoil – (Philadelphia Inquirer: by Susan Snyder and Harold Brubaker, published on June 17, 2024)
- The Endangered Small College (The Chronicle of Higher Education: by Scott Carlson, published on June 26, 2024)
“USF is proud of Julee’s contribution at this critical time in higher education. She offers a series of measures by which institutions can not only track but also take action upon in order to enhance their viability. Even institutions that need to make changes can find some comfort in the fact that her results show that, in general, institutions close ‘slowly’…with problems building and being left unaddressed over a number of years rather than due to some immediate ‘crisis,’” said USF President Arvid C. Johnson, Ph.D.
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The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 3,300 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 53,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu.
University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose.
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