Valparaiso University endowment takes hit

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS, Times of Northwest Indiana
bwilliams@nwitimes.com

VALPARAISO | A significant decrease in value of Valparaiso University's endowment and the resulting loss of operating revenue is forcing a spending cut-back in budgeting for the next fiscal year, the school's president has told the campus.

VU will combine its response to impacts of the international economic crisis with a planning process to enhance the university's long-term future, President Mark Heckler told staff and students in an e-mail this week.

Heckler said the university anticipated up to a $15 million gap between desired expenditure and expected revenues for the 2010 fiscal year, which runs from July 2009 through June 2010.

The situation, not unique to VU, could not be met "by traditional belt-tightening approaches or by conducting business as usual," Heckler said.

The planning process will realign the university's spending with its institutional priorities, said Reggie Syrcle, director of university relations.

Options to pursue will be identified by mid-January and decided on later in the spring, Syrcle said. He said it was too early to speculate on cuts that might be made or the impact that any changes might have on the city and larger community beyond the campus.