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Frostburg State says retrenchment and other actions reversed a $7.7M deficit to a $3M surplus, plans limited faculty reductions
Summary
Frostburg State University's interim president told the subcommittee the university has reduced a structural deficit and, after an academic retrenchment process, expects to eliminate a small number of faculty positions while protecting student progress and preserving strategic reinvestment.
Frostburg State University told the Education and Economic Development Subcommittee it has begun to reverse a multi‑year enrollment and revenue decline and expects to manage a projected state funding reduction while protecting students and creating resources to reinvest.
DLS analyst Sarah Baker summarized Frostburg’s long enrollment decline — a roughly 36% drop in FTE since 2010 — and described recent efforts to stabilize enrollment, including partnerships with community colleges, direct admit programs and targeted scholarships. Baker said state funding per FTE has risen as enrollment declined, contributing to fiscal strain.
The university’s interim president said the institution entered fiscal year 2025 facing a $7.7 million structural deficit and, by February, had reduced that to a roughly $3.0 million structural surplus through expense reductions and enrollment gains. “By the February, we had turned that $7,700,000 structural deficit to about a $3,000,000 structural surplus currently,” the interim president told the subcommittee.
Frostburg described an Educational Market Alignment Plan (EMAP) that includes administrative reorganization, athletics revenue initiatives and faculty retrenchment. The university initially estimated up to 45 faculty positions could be affected but said the planned number of eliminated positions declined through retirements and negotiations; current reductions reported to the committee total seven faculty positions (including tenure‑track/non‑tenure, plus some non‑tenure track positions) with additional savings expected in future years.
The interim president said the university expects to manage a roughly $3.1 million FY26 cut to its state appropriation using the surplus and ongoing savings without interrupting student progress. The university also requested corrective language to preserve a $200,000 Mary Clapsaddle scholarship as an endowment rather than require current‑year spenddown.
The committee discussed retrenchment protections for faculty and the appeals process; the university said it followed USM policies and had a planning committee and appeals procedure in place.
