St. Cloud State Faces $14.5 Million Budget Shortfall Ahead

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- St. Cloud State University is facing more budget adjustments over the next two years.

Interim President Larry Dietz says he's anticipating a $14.5 million budget gap over the next two years.

He says declining enrollment is just one reason for the revenue shortfall.

We also didn't get any new operating money for either of the fiscal years in the latest budget from the state, so we're not anticipating any new dollars from the state, and our costs continue to rise.

Dietz says while they did raise tuition this school year, it wasn't the increase they were recommending from the campus.

He says part of his plan includes eliminating about 90 positions.

Very few of those would be faculty, and most of those, as we have said we have have been very stingy with the budget this past year, so 65 percent of those positions are unfilled, and we held on to a bunch of open positions anticipating that we may not get any additional dollars from the state.

Dietz says the remaining 31 positions will come from layoffs and retrenchments. When combined with prior reductions since 2024, the position cuts represent 45 percent administration, 28 percent faculty, and 28 percent staff. He says St. Cloud State University has just over 1,000 total employees.

The proposal also includes merging the five current colleges into three larger colleges. The proposed new colleges would be: The College of Business, Engineering, and Technology, The College of Arts and Sciences, and The College of Education, Health, and Human Services. The University College would be eliminated. The new colleges would be in place by July 1st. Dietz says his plan does not include eliminating any programs or majors.

Part of his proposal also includes moving academic offerings from their standalone site in Plymouth, which, he says, has been successful, but their building lease is expensive.

The programs would not go away, and they appeal to more of our engineering programs, some graduate programs.  It really appeals to the full-time employee who wants to take some classes at night.

Dietz says they would move the program offerings to the North Hennepin Community College, where they also have some space. He is also considering the suspension of on-campus child care by the end of the fall semester of 2025.

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Dietz says he'd like to make some final decisions on the latest budget adjustments by the end of September.