Dear Colleagues,
Let us begin by thanking each and every one of you for your commitment to GW and for your continued good work under strained fiscal conditions this year. Throughout this past year, we have come together as a community to achieve our education and research missions, culminating in the graduation of the Class of 2026 last weekend. This was made possible through our collective efforts in managing through challenging times.
As we look ahead to next year, the university continues to face several concurrent headwinds. We anticipate further enrollment declines driven by intensifying competition from peers recruiting our admitted undergraduate students, declining international enrollment due to visa constraints, and softening graduate enrollment due in part to changes to federal financial aid. At the same time we see rising operating costs in largely non‑discretionary areas such as infrastructure, utilities, transportation, technology, cybersecurity, compliance, and interest expenses.
At its most recent meeting the Board of Trustees approved the administration’s proposed budget for FY27, which includes a total $46.5 million of net budget reductions from FY26. This budget reflects a measured and deliberate approach to responding to the challenges described above while also pursuing a multi-year approach to addressing our structural deficit.
The college and school consolidated margin was intentionally held flat from FY26 to FY27, and the central administration made budget adjustments (cost reductions, revenue enhancements, or a combination of both) of a roughly equal percentage to the academic units.
The approved budget includes a 5% payout rate from the endowment (up from 4.5%), provides for a 1% contingency and a 1% operating margin, and anticipates financial impacts associated with the transition of the MFA. This approach preserves consolidated margin stability at the school level while ensuring that the university’s overall FY27 budget objectives are achieved.
One of those achieved objectives is the establishment of a 3% merit pool for eligible employees for next year. Funding a merit pool was one of our primary priorities in developing the FY27 budget. We know how hard each of you work to keep GW moving forward, and we hope that the merit pool will both recognize that and provide some relief in these economic times. We thank our colleagues across the university for their diligent (and often difficult) work in establishing this pool. Further communications about merit raises for FY27 are forthcoming.
While we recognize that current conditions remain challenging, we are confident that the FY27 budget reflects a prudent path toward providing near‑term stabilization while preserving flexibility and positioning the university for long‑term financial sustainability.
Sincerely,
Ellen M. Granberg
President
John Lach
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Bruno Fernandes
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Scott M. Mory
Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff