For the first time in five years, the University of Southern Maine expects to finish this fiscal year with a positive budget balance — without using reserve or outside funding.
The announcement comes when the University of Maine system has faced financial headwinds in recent years. University President Jacqueline Edmondson said that the news is noteworthy, but the work is not finished.
"I really want to take a moment to acknowledge that this was a big success, we started the year with a $10 million structural gap and we're ending the year with a balanced budget," she said.
Edmondson said the university plans to keep the budget momentum continuing, as the fiscal year 2025 budget is also balanced- although it still relies on some spending restrictions and the use of one-time spending.
And after years of declining enrollment, the University of Southern Maine is expecting an increase in students this fall.
This year the university had more undergraduate applications than it has seen in more than a decade, and an increase in transfer students and graduate students.
Edmondson said part of that comes from the way staff have used data to find interested students, and then doing targeted outreach in that area.
"I mean, we've seen an uptick in interest in the University of Southern Maine from places like Long Island, New York, in Westchester County, New York," she said. "And so we've been able to do more strategic outreach to those areas so that the applications actually end up resulting in students coming to us."
And with the state's free community college program in place for two years now, Edmondson said she expects to see more of those students transferring to four-year schools like the University of Southern Maine.
