Hiram College, a small private college that's been operating in rural Northeast Ohio since 1850 and counts U.S. President James A. Garfield as a former student and teacher, is not immune to broader financial pressures facing higher education.
Robert Bohrer II, the college's president, said in a Monday interview that the college needs to make between $3 million and $4 million in cuts. The college, like many across the country, saw enrollment drop for about a decade leading up to the pandemic, although Bohrer said it's seen an uptick over the last three years. He said it's not clear yet how many of its 257 full-time and part-time staff could be cut, but the college is trying to minimize the impact on personnel by eliminating unfilled positions. The cuts will be steepest, as high as one-fourth of budgets, in "non-revenue areas."
"It's not across the board. We have 25% (cuts) in non-revenue areas. And so areas like development, fundraising, and admission, we're not cutting budgets there. We're not cutting athletic budgets the same way, because we've used athletics to drive a lot of our enrollment," Bohrer said.
Still, Bohrer said faculty could be on the chopping block. The cuts have been layered into departments' budgets for the year, but there's an appeals process. He described the cuts as difficult but necessary for the small college, which doesn't have a large endowment, to ensure its future survival.
"I would argue if we don't take these kind of financial responsibility steps then, yeah, that would be an existential threat to the college," he said. "And I think that a lot of colleges are faced with that right now, and I think the responsible thing to do is, as difficult as it might be, to look at these and realign your expenditures with your revenues."
He said the college has met its enrollment goals over the last three years, slightly increasing its on-campus student population up to about 850 students. But he said the college's expenses have risen despite years of enrollment declines prior to that.
"For years enrollment had been declining and our expenditures hadn't really kept in line with that. And so we've had a structural deficit that we've been facing since I came into this that was inherited from before," said Bohrer, who became the college's 24th president last year.
Colleges and universities across the region, and the country, have had to make similarly difficult decisions as enrollment has dropped and expenses have risen. Small private colleges in particular face unique challenges. In Northeast Ohio, Notre Dame College, a small private college in South Euclid, closed its doors in spring 2024, while Ursuline College in Pepper Pike merged with a college in Pennsylvania.
More broadly, Bohrer said Hiram College needs to undertake a thorough review of all degree programs, looking at enrollment and expenses. He said no programs are slated to be cut as of now, however.
He said the school has a long history of serving first-generation college students, especially from the surrounding rural area. About 43% of Hiram's students receive federal Pell Grants, which help students with the most financial need in the U.S. attend college.
"We change people's lives here generationally, you know, creating generational wealth... I'm a first-generation college student myself," Bohrer said. "So it matters a lot to me. I think that when we're doing these things (cuts), it's a difficult time right now in higher education. But I think that we're kind of turning a corner."
Higher education institutions could face additional challenges down the road. The Trump administration has proposed cutting funding for Pell grants, and Congress is considering increasing the tax on institutions' endowments.
