BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo State University is operating with a structural deficit, President Bonita Durand said Tuesday, and the school aims to return to balance by the 2027-28 academic year.
Durand made the comments during a forum in which the university's cabinet took questions from students. Disappointed by the low turnout, she opened the discussion by stressing the importance of student engagement.
"I say very frequently to students, you are the reason that I show up here every day," Durand said.
Financial outlook
Asked whether the school is in debt, Durand said yes.
"We are in debt. We have what we call a structural deficit," she said. "It means we have more workforce, more faculty, staff, maintenance people, cleaners, than we should based on the number of students we enroll."
Durand said the problem built up over several years and that the campus once enrolled 12,000 students. The university is working through a sustainability plan meant to match its workforce to current enrollment.
"We're looking at things that used to be done manually that we can now do with an app or a program so that we can adjust our workforce," she said. "Our goal is by 2027-28 that we should be back in balance."
Durand said the university is trying to avoid raising costs for students and is looking for scholarships and outside support.
Asked whether replacing manual work with software could lead to layoffs, Durand said, "It may." She pointed to yearly attrition and retirements as a cushion, and said each departure prompts the university to ask whether the work needs another hire, a program, or should be done at all. She cited EAB Navigate, a system that handles advising functions and helps flag students who are off track on credit hours, as one of the major tools being put in place.
Durand was also asked whether the university could go bankrupt, given the closure last year of University of the Arts, a private college that had partnered with Buffalo State to accept transfer students. She said the university is part of the SUNY system, which provides a safety net.
"If we actually get to the point where we cannot operate, where we physically can't write paychecks, we have some support through SUNY," she said.
Bus passes
The cabinet also addressed the future of student bus passes. The university reported that pass use peaked in 2014 but fell to 20% last year.
Durand said the university moved away from providing the passes to all students after spring 2024, when officials concluded the program's cost was unsustainable given how few students used it.
"We've got a fair share of complaints in the other direction from students who are paying for something they have no interest in," she said.
The university has since taken several steps to ease the transition. It now sells bus and rail passes at the bookstore in the student union, which Durand said is a convenience because the nearest alternatives are the Ellicott Street station or a 7-Eleven on Elmwood Avenue. It raised the bookstore deferment threshold from $750 to $1,000, so students with financial aid on their accounts can put more of it toward a Metro pass. It also scaled down its transportation assistance program to serve about 100 of the neediest students.
Other topics
Cabinet members also discussed promoting diversity in sports through a proposed ice hockey team for Black women. They said a survey will be sent to students during the fall semester to gauge interest.
Asked about the university's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Durand said the school will continue its work. The question followed President Donald Trump's signing of Executive Order 14151 on Inauguration Day, which moved to roll back federal funding for organizations that promote such policies. The order described DEI initiatives as illegal and immoral discrimination, and Trump has said such programs focus too much on race, religion and gender identity rather than competence.
"Our job is to continue to do the great work that we do to educate our students and serve the community until we know otherwise," Durand said. "Right now we have no reason to do anything differently." She said the university's attorneys have told her that many of the executive orders have been stopped or blocked because they are so vague.
After the event, Durand told this reporter she did not believe student issues are being underreported.
Edvardi Jackson, World Telegram News