The University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, plans to lay off staff as it contends with a $10.5 million budget gap.
The private nonprofit announced last week that it intends to eliminate less than 2% of its staff positions. The layoffs will affect fewer than 30 employees out of 1,500, it said in an emailed statement.
The cuts affect nearly all of the university’s staff units in some way, a spokesperson told Higher Ed Dive via email. The $10.5 million budget hole represented 3.6% of University of St. Thomas’ total projected fiscal 2025 budget, according to the spokesperson.
The institution plans to cut 26 staff positions and leave another 30 unfilled, according to a letter from university President Rob Vischer obtained by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It also plans to continually review its academic offerings to see if any programs should be added or phased out.
The staff reductions will not affect academic programs or any faculty positions, the university said in its statement.
The institution called the cuts “difficult but necessary” and said they were “due largely to headwinds affecting all of higher education.” The university considered the student experience and things like class sizes in its decision, it said.
The University of St. Thomas describes itself as the largest private university in Minnesota and one of the largest Catholic colleges in the U.S. From 2017 to 2022, the university’s enrollment declined 8.6% to 9,025, according to federal data.