Enrollment and Budget Update

June 23, 2025

Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

We hope this message finds you enjoying a restorative start to the summer. As we prepare for the year ahead, we write to share some important updates regarding enrollment, the College’s financial outlook, and implications for the coming year.

Like many colleges and universities across the country, Pitzer is navigating a rapidly changing landscape shaped by demographic shifts, heightened economic pressures, aggressive federal actions and policies, and increasing uncertainty in the higher education sector. These external dynamics have impacted student decision-making in new and complex ways and are affecting College planning and operations similarly.

This year, despite a 7.5 percent increase in first-year student applications and targeted efforts to support the yield (the percentage of admitted students that enroll at the College), our incoming class is projected to fall short of our target by approximately 65 students. This shortfall will significantly lower tuition revenue for fiscal year 2025-26, negatively impacting our budget.

Pitzer has long been defined by our core values, thoughtful stewardship, a strong commitment to shared governance, and our resilience. As a community, we have come together to weather formidable challenges and emerged stronger. This same spirit will continue to guide us as we address current ones.

In response to the projected deficit, we are considering a range of immediate and longer-term measures to stabilize our finances while preserving our core academic mission and supporting our community. These include strategic reductions in expenditures and a prudent draw on institutional reserve funds that have been saved for situations like this.

We have conferred with Board leadership, the incoming Chair of the Budget Implementation Committee (BIC), the outgoing and incoming chairs of the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC), and with the Senior Staff. We will coordinate with FEC and Staff Council leadership to hold special forums in August to provide more information and answer questions about our budget situation.

One of the necessary steps to address the budget deficit will be to limit staff and faculty salary increases to two percent for the coming year, with exceptions for scheduled faculty promotions, some specific corrections, and previously negotiated union contracts. All members of Senior Staff will forgo salary increases for the year.

We know this news is disheartening. We share it with full transparency and with the deepest appreciation for all that you contribute to Pitzer. We also want to be clear: We believe this is an acute disruption in a novel environment, and one to which we can—and will—respond effectively. We remain confident in Pitzer’s strength and adaptability, and in the power of our community to move forward with clarity, compassion, and purpose.

We will continue to engage the campus community through our shared governance system as we refine our analyses and make decisions about additional necessary cost-reduction strategies, and we will continue to communicate openly about our progress and path forward.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Pitzer College. We are grateful for your partnership, your perseverance, and your commitment to the special mission and bright future of this remarkable institution.

Provida Futuri,

Strom C. Thacker
President

Laura Schaefer
Vice President, Chief Operating Officer & Treasurer