Overall enrollment at Fort Lewis College is down by 5.3%, according to a letter sent to FLC employees from its president, Tom Stritikus. Though enrollment was previously up the last two years during the pandemic, the college now has 175 fewer undergraduate and graduate students than fall 2021.
Stritikus’ letter states, “I am writing to let you know that despite the amazing efforts of many of our colleagues, we did not hit our enrollment targets for the fall.”
The letter goes on to highlight the initial analysis from FLC’s finance team, which points to out-of-state Native Americans as being the largest demographic of students to decrease in numbers for the 2022 enrollment. It does not, however, specify a decrease in any other student demographics, nor draw conclusions as to why out-of-state Native American student numbers are down.
FLC spokeswoman Lauren Pope said she believes the reason out-of-state Native Americans are the largest demographic being down is because they are the largest demographic of students at the college.
“We’re still at a point of analyzing the numbers in our student demographic enrollment for fall 2022, but that has to be one of the main reasons,” she said.
Whether other student demographics saw similar declines is not yet clear, Pope said.
“We’re still analyzing the data at this time,” she said. “I’m not sure about our other students, but we still have 850 students for fall semester, which is the second highest we’ve had since 2016, so that’s good.”
The decrease in student enrollment is expected to have only a nominal budgetary effect for the 2022-23 school year, she said.
“We’re always considering how we can minimize the impact on students, as we align our budget considerations with our strategic plan,” Pope said. “We’re still on a trajectory of growth.”
Nevertheless, Stritikus’ letter stresses the long-term effects if FLC is unable to minimize declining enrollment.
“Our five-year budget model reveals potentially large deficits in future years that likely cannot be addressed through enrollment and revenue growth alone,” he wrote. “We need to act in the next 18 months to ensure that we do not face large deficits in the future.”
Stritikus’ letter then focuses on what will be necessary for the college going forward in terms of planning, spending and investing.
“We will consider limited and strategic budget reductions,” the letter states. “As we have done throughout good times and bad, our strategic plan will guide our decision-making, and we will continue to make investments to strengthen student success, enrollment growth, and our culture as an institution.”
Stritikus had agreed to a phone interview with The Durango Herald, but the college canceled the meeting Thursday night saying he was “out of service.”
Pope pointed to the positives of FLC’s fall semester.
“Despite national trends, Fort Lewis College’s enrollment went up the last two years, and we’ve had a record-breaking year in philanthropy (FLC donors),” she said. “We have a lot of great things going on.”
Stritikus similarly ends his letter to his colleagues with a hopeful conclusion.
“I remain optimistic that Fort Lewis College will make the right decisions so we continue our strong trajectory.”
molsen@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of the story misstated Pope’s comments as a five-year plan rather than a strategic plan and minimizing the impact of lower enrollment instead of minimizing impact on students “as we align our budget considerations with our strategic plan.”
