Thunder, Stronger

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Adapting to Thrive:

Wheaton College is launching its comprehensive Thunder, Stronger initiative this spring to fortify our enduring commitment to a biblically-grounded, Christ-centered liberal arts experience. We are proactively redeploying resources to invest strategically in our academics and operations to prepare for the challenges facing all of higher education over the next five years when a “demographic cliff” and other factors produce even stronger competition for a smaller number of prospective college students.

Key Points:

Through redeployment of resources and proactive budget reductions, Wheaton College will realize savings of $9 million annually and achieve a balanced budget. These timely measures will reinforce our enviable financial soundness and rigorous academics for the next several years. After using the last year to analyze the College’s academic mission and finances, the College’s Academic Prioritization Committee and the Strategic Budget Review Task Force supported the administration in the development of a comprehensive set of plans, which was then considered and unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees.
The Thunder, Stronger initiative will help the College adapt to thrive, not merely reduce to survive. It emphasizes three mindsets critical to our future success – innovation, collaboration, and implementation. We will enhance the value of a Wheaton College degree and preserve our mission for “Christ and his Kingdom.”
All academic majors and degree programs are protected by Thunder, Stronger. Although some academic programs will be modified and two academic departments will merge (Biology and Applied Health Sciences), all students will be able to stay on their academic pathway, and future students will have all of the same major options currently offered by our departments.
We are using some of the Thunder, Stronger cost savings to make a new annual strategic investment of $1.5 million through an innovation fund. Starting July 1, this fund will support enhanced promotion for graduate and undergraduate admissions and additional mission-centered academic programming relevant to our future students, including expanded Aequitas cohorts and feasibility studies for possible new programs in neuroscience, data science, and engineering.
We are making careful decisions now from a position of financial and missional strength. By contrast, some schools around the country—particularly liberal arts colleges—are having to alter their missions to stay financially viable, merge with other institutions to continue operating, or close their doors entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why is the Thunder, Stronger initiative necessary?

Going forward, we projected a significant deficit between revenue and expenses. If left unaddressed, this would have created an annual operating budget gap of between $6 million and $18 million by Fiscal Year 2030.
COVID-19 has added a projected one-time financial deficit this year of nearly $10 million, but we intend to ensure the equilibrium of our historically balanced budget by next year.
Nationally, higher education faces an impending “demographic cliff” beginning in 2026, reflected by a large decrease in high school students from regions where Wheaton traditionally draws new students, including the Northeast and Midwest. This is primarily due to reduced national birthrates during the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

What will Thunder, Stronger achieve?

We will have a strong foundation to carry out our unique, Christ-centered liberal arts mission.
Our Thunder, Stronger goals will put us on a sustainable pathway for the next 5 years if we meet our adjusted enrollment and other goals.
Our planned Strategic Investment Fund will provide vital fuel for innovation and the promotion of our Kingdom work.

What is Wheaton’s current overall financial position?

Strong, and we are taking proactive steps to ensure its sustainability. The Thunder, Stronger initiative will help the College adapt to thrive, not merely reduce to survive. This effort will maintain the financial strength necessary to carry out our unique mission in the coming years.
We benefit from the careful stewardship of our Trustees, who insist that we maintain a balanced budget. Wheaton’s endowment per student is very significantly above the average of other Christian colleges, and our institutional debt is five times less per student than the average independent private college.
Our students remain extraordinary, both in spiritual commitment and academic caliber.

How will Thunder, Stronger affect Wheaton’s faculty and staff?

Around 20 staff members are affected by involuntary position eliminations with departure dates between the end of February and June 30. We are caring for departing employees with advance notice to support their transition, generous severance payments, and professional career transition services as they look for new job opportunities. Some of these employees may be qualified to pursue a limited number of open positions within their department or in other areas of the College. We will work closely with individuals applying for internal job openings. In addition, we have chosen not to fill 20 open staff positions.
We have managed as many reductions as possible through voluntary activities. In addition to not filling some current vacancies, we offered a Voluntary Exit Incentive Program in which 15 faculty members elected to participate.
For FY 2022, we will have a limited salary pool increase of 1 percent for faculty and staff, not including promotion-related increases. The Senior Administrative Cabinet’s voluntary salary reductions from last year will remain in effect.
Various benefits remain unchanged for employees, including the educational benefit and health insurance; last year’s reduction from a 2:1 to 1.5:1 employer match for the retirement plan will also remain in effect.
Wheaton benchmarks higher than peer institutions in total number of employees—a growing imbalance that these reductions will help address.