ECSU Gears Up to Get Lean for the Fall

Kesha Williams
June 02, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— As part of the annual University of North Carolina system-wide budget planning process, and per the direction of UNC General Administration, Elizabeth City State University will gear up for the new fiscal year with a $2.8 million budget reduction. ECSU will align its existing resources to fit within the current reduced 2015-2016 budget projections. The current reduced 2015-2016 budget is based on the previous year’s decline in enrollment without consideration of any positive adjustments that may be realized in the coming month(s) due to state legislative action. The UNC General Administration mandated alignment called for ECSU to get even leaner in order to absorb the projected $2.8 million budget gap caused by the previous year’s decline in enrollment. In response, ECSU has considered campus-wide cost-saving measures which include eliminating non-essential vacant positions, faculty and staff reductions, maximizing energy savings and reducing IT maintenance cost. Thirty-four (34) employees and/or positions are affected by this alignment. Chancellor Stacey Franklin Jones says, &quotIn consultation with UNC General Administration, we are addressing head-on the fiscal challenges associated with the previous years’ decline in enrollment. Despite these challenges, we are forging ahead on the Path to Prominence and over time we’ll be even better positioned to remain the most affordable, academic success university in northeastern North Carolina.&quot Elizabeth City State University was most recently named by Washington Monthly as one of the &quotBest Bang for the Buck&quot institutions. ECSU has 28 undergraduate degree offerings and four graduate degree programs, flexible study options, and research opportunities. # # #