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University of Dallas president promises to generate new revenue

By 2022, Keefe said, UD’s projections show that expenses will outpace revenue.

IRVING – In the world of academics, there are few places left like the University of Dallas.

"We're ok with UD being confused with UTD. But we don't want the University of Dallas to be confused with the University of Phoenix," said Anne Lorimer, a 2009 graduate.

There is a 10-to-1 student to faculty ratio at the Irving school, the student loan default rate is 1.2%, the lowest in the state and the only debt UD has is for a dormitory building.

But this small college, well known for liberal arts, is at a crossroads.

"I don't want to hurt our core curriculum. What I want to do is make sure we have enough money to ensure we can do this for decades to come and that requires creativity and courage,” explained Thomas Keefe, University of Dallas president.

Financially, the university has never been in a better place.

But by 2022, Keefe said, UD’s projections show that expenses will outpace revenue.

"Five years down the road we need to have more revenue. No question," he added.

How to generate that extra money to sustain the university is where opinions split.

Keefe said local corporations want a degree completion program for their employees; an idea he said UD is studying. 

The school is also looking at how to attract more transfer students while protecting the core curriculum, perhaps developing more rigorous AP credit courses and determining whether it can take classical masters degrees to share them with more people who can only study on the weekend and evenings, explained Keefe.

But faculty and alumni worry that growing UD might dilute the liberal arts for which this school is known.

“What I don’t buy and what the alumni don’t buy is that this proposal for the college is going to solve that [financial] problem,” added Lorimer. “By adding another college we’re copycatting. This is something other colleges do. We’re not trying to be like other colleges.”

Alumni don't dispute the university could use more money but said they want President Keefe to better sell what UD’s liberal arts.

Students plan a protest march on Friday walking from the Braniff Graduate School across the mall to the president’s office outside Carpenter Hall on Friday at noon.

Keefe reiterated he does not want to lower the university’s standards.

“We’re not going to start a community college at UD,” he explained. “We’re not going to compromise what we do.”

The endowment is $56-million dollars; rather small for similar sized private colleges, Keefe said.

UD is not alone facing a challenging financial future. Other small private liberal arts colleges have already made dire moves.

Saint Joseph College in Indiana announced last month it's closing after 126 years because of financial challenges. In Nashville, another Catholic school, Aquinas College, announced it must make deep cuts to survive financially.

Moody’s Investors Service predicted this in 2015.

“Closures among four-year public and private not-for-profit colleges averaged five per year from 2004-14, while mergers averaged two to three. The closure rate will likely triple by 2017, while the merger rate will more than double,” according to the 2015 Moody’s report.

“Moody's notes that most small colleges will fail to achieve sustained revenue growth above 2% per year, which puts them at a disadvantage in a highly competitive higher education environment. Furthermore, small colleges will continue to lose market share to larger ones, hurting their ability to invest in academic programs, student life and facilities.”
 
Keefe said he’ll make recommendations to the board of trustees next month on the best options for UD to pursue. A final board vote likely comes in October.

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