With leaner courses and faculty reductions arranged for the upcoming 14-15 school year, Goshen College will now focus on thinning overhead costs in administrative departments throughout next semester.
Deciding how the college can serve as an effective steward of its resources requires a great deal of work, calling for correspondence from each department across campus.
Bill Born, vice president of student life, said, "We often work with projections [based on] multiple variables related to enrollment, financial aid, student retention, staffing variance throughout the year, departmental budget management, et cetera.”
Born also says that members of student senate will remain informed throughout the process, though current level of discernment lacks a sense of direction.
Caleb Longenecker, president of student senate, said via email, "The challenge is deciding how to proceed," he said that the goal is, "to balance the best interests of students and faculty/staff as well as the best interests of the institution as a whole and its future."
Students, however, shouldn't expect to feel the brunt of these adjustments.
Chad Coleman, director of Residence Life said, "All the things we're doing, we're doing so students don't have to be impacted by it [the cuts]. I don't think they need to worry."
At this current stage in the budget discernment process, departments across campus are submitting proposals for how they might decrease spending.
"We have a ton of empty beds on campus," Coleman said. More empty rooms requires more overhead costs for heating and cleaning, which translates to higher room and board costs per student.
But reassessing the overhead cost associated with empty rooms occurs annually, and is a part of business as usual, Coleman said.
However, similar assessments and subsequent proposals will help the President's Council decide which departments can handle decreases in next years budget.
"There's a potential for any department to be impacted by it," said Coleman, who says that despite the connotative nature of budget readjustments, "there could be some good out of some change."
