Story By: Elise Kidd & Cypris Wilkinson 

MONTEVALLO, Ala. — For most of the spring 2025 semester, the University of Montevallo’s finances have been in the spotlight. 

It began in February 2025 when the UM board of trustees voted to raise tuition for the first time after seven years. This was quickly followed by campus-wide budget cuts, staff layoffs, and an announced departmental merger for theatre and music, which has since been postponed. These rapid-fire financial decisions caused concern among students, faculty and staff. 

We contacted sources across campus, ranging from UM administrators to students in high-level leadership positions, to gain clarification on the university’s financial situation and the decisions being discussed. All responses from administration and student officials referenced a budget “shortfall.” 

Increases in operating costs

Former SGA President Colton Rodano said he, then-SGA Vice President Caleb Jerigan, and Student Trustee Kendall Miller met with University of Montevallo President John Stewart on April 8, 2025,  to discuss the financial situation. “I know there was a $7 million shortfall in their budget this year,” Rodano said. “SGA, faculty and staff are all aware.” (Rodano was SGA president at the time of their discussion. Jerigan is now the SGA president.)

“The main thing is, we’re spending more than the revenue that we’re making,” Miller said. “So, that’s why all of this is happening right now.”

During the public portion of a board of trustees meeting on April 10, 2025, the shortfall was discussed, and the number was said to be closer to $8 million. 

I know there was a $7 million shortfall in their budget this year. SGA, faculty and staff are all aware.

Colton Rodano, Former SGA President

We met with Dr. John Stewart on April 16, 2025, at 11:15 a.m. to discuss the rumors circulating around campus; the tuition increase; how budgets are being cut across campus; the impact on faculty, staff, and students; and the goals for UM moving forward.

Dr. Stewart attributed the shortfall to significant increases in UM’s operating costs.

“To be honest, I didn’t fully appreciate how much the increase was until we got the audit in February [2025]. … Our operating cost has gone up significantly,” President Stewart said. “And as we looked at it and spoke with campus constituents and with the senior administrative team, we realized it wasn’t sustainable to keep doing what we’d been doing.” 

According to President Stewart, some of the increased operating costs include: 

  • Utilities, such as gas, electricity and energy, now totalling over $4 million
  • Insurance premiums now at $400,000
  • Mandated state insurance that has doubled to $900,000 over the last four years

President Stewart originally stated the financial shortfall that came to light in February 2025 built up over the course of a year. However, when asked again, President Stewart said, “I mean, I think it was all happening a little more than one year. I think that was probably over two or three years.”

Investing in employees and capital improvement

Other increases cited by President Stewart were tied to faculty and staff compensation, including:

  • A 2% salary increase for faculty and staff, which added $1 million to the budget 
  • Salary adjustments for promoted faculty and tenured faculty, which he said cost an estimated $580,000
  • Increasing salaries for some of the lowest-earning employees across campus. (According to an HR representative, that number was confirmed to be $250,000.)

The president also noted that freezing tuition for seven years contributed to the current financial situation.

“We were one of the last schools in the state that hadn’t raised tuition. … Even though enrollment has been great, the fall class sizes have been great, and residence halls have been filled up, the cost began to outstrip revenue because a lot of our revenue is from student tuition,” said President Stewart.

To increase UM’s housing capacity, the university purchased apartments and renovated them. The College Park apartments were purchased in 2023 for $1 million.  

Over the past decade, the university also significantly invested in capital projects. “We spent a lot of money on campus. …We’ve done a lot of things that you don’t see and some things you do see,” President Stewart said. 

Dr. DeAnna Smith, UM’s interim chief financial officer, said these projects had to be completed for safety reasons. “The University had significant deferred maintenance that needed to be done – such as roofs on our numerous structures for safety,” she wrote via email on April 27.

One of the significant expenses that students don’t see is actually under their feet as they walk across campus. For the last several years, UM has been replacing corroded high voltage underground wiring that Dr. Smith said had been used long past its original lifespan.

“Without that project, we were at risk for a major power failure that could affect our operations and students’ education negatively due to closures and delays,” she said.

Staff and budget cuts: ‘A really difficult decision’

When the shortfall became apparent in February, President Stewart said the situation required “decisive action” to save money and put the university on better financial footing for the next fiscal year.

 “We made a really difficult decision to cut some budgets and even have a small reduction in force – small in number, but we understand it is not small to the people who are involved. It’s terrible, and we hate it.”

Staff cuts began the week of March 17, the week before spring break. At the board of trustees meeting on April 10, UM officials reported that 20 individuals were approached about dismissal from employment with the university. Officials said the employment cuts have been staff heavy due to faculty protections related to tenure. 

 We made a really difficult decision to cut some budgets and even have a small reduction in force – small in number, but we understand it is not small to the people who are involved. It’s terrible, and we hate it.

Dr. John Stewart, University of Montevallo President

“ I want to make sure people know that anybody that was involved in the reduction in force got an offer of some kind of severance package,” President Stewart said. “It wasn’t like we just sent them home.”

The size of these severance packages was dependent on the individual’s time with UM. In the board of trustees meeting on April 10, Dr. Smith said it would take approximately three months until the last severance package finished being paid out. 

Decisions about cuts were made based on criteria that the president said would allow UM to continue to focus on teaching and learning.

“We don’t want to cut a program,” President Stewart said. “So, we’d do other budget cuts and cuts to personnel to keep the emphasis and resources on teaching and learning. And that’s really a hard decision and as president. It’s kind of on me.” 

Departments across campus were informed of budget reductions in early February after the audit was presented to the board. Student Trustee Kendall Miller said the original goal was to cut all departments by 15%. 

“They wanted budget cuts to be 15% across the board, but some budgets couldn’t take 15%,” Miller said. “Because if they took 15% off, that program or department maybe wouldn’t be able to run. Some departments lost a little bit less, and then other departments could run with more than 15% taken off, so a higher amount would be taken from them.” 

This 15% cut was for each department’s current 2024-2025 fiscal year budget, which runs through the end of September. According to Dr. Courtney Bentley, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs, the 15% cut, which was to materials and supplies, saved approximately $700,000 across academic departments.

President Stewart explained that cuts for the current fiscal year are being adjusted on an individual department basis. “There’s people who can take this cut and some people who can’t,” he said. “Some people just have, like, paper clips in a budget. Other people just have, you know, more that they can give back. The president’s office, I think we took 40% out of our budget.” (Sources familiar with presentations given to faculty and staff say the number presented was 35%.) 

“We’re working on what’s an appropriate across-the-board budget cut for the campus,” President Stewart said. “Obviously, you know, there are some programs like athletics – you can’t take travel away from athletics. … I mean, there’s some things that you just can’t cut.” 

When we reached out to Athletic Department officials asking if they would be willing to meet for an interview, a spokesperson from their office gave us the following official statement:

“Athletics will share in the reduction of expenses along with the rest of campus. We believe this can be managed without reducing athletic opportunities, the competitive nature of our athletic programs or the student-athlete experience at UM.” 

Athletics will share in the reduction of expenses along with the rest of campus. We believe this can be managed without reducing athletic opportunities, the competitive nature of our athletic programs or the student-athlete experience at UM.

Statement from UM Athletics spokesperson

Dr. Bentley said an amount for departmental budget cuts for the upcoming fiscal year has not yet been finalized. “ [Academic Affairs] is looking at 20% cuts, but then also looking at 25%. So, we’re running both, but we have not decided what the cut should be. We’re just planning contingencies for both, and then once Business Affairs continue to run revenue, we are able to have a balanced budget for FY 26, which is our next fiscal year, we’ll see which one of those models we will require.” 

According to Dr. Smith, campus-wide efforts are underway to identify where costs can be cut with minimal impact. “We will analyze those options first,” she wrote, “and then determine any remaining gap and devise a plan of how we get there. It is my hope that we can prevent some of the more difficult decisions. However, ultimately, it is also our burden as stewards of this university to ensure its longevity.”

Interim CFO Dr. DeAnna Smith

Multiple people we interviewed, including President Stewart and Student Trustee Miller, said to expect more clarification about UM’s finances as Dr. DeAnna Smith digs deeper into the university’s books. In addition to her role as interim CFO, Dr. Smith is also an assistant professor of accounting in the Stephens College of Business.

At the April 10 board of trustees meeting, Dr. Smith said she is still evaluating the university’s financial status following the audit and the February retirement of the former CFO, Susan Hayes. 

In her email to VVN, she wrote, “Given the significant escalation in expenditures, we are literally reviewing every revenue and expense line in the budget to ensure we get realistic budgets. As we get through that review, I will be able to update our campus community with additional information.”

Dr. Smith emphasized that the reason there are so many uncertainties is because there is more information to discover. 

“A budget is always an estimate and should really be a living document as new knowledge is acquired. This number is always fluid,” Dr. Smith wrote. “My next step is to complete the intensive review of the budget with the help of the Business Affairs staff and confirm our financial position.”

Could more cuts happen? 

As the financial status continues to be evaluated, more cuts – including staff, budget and programs – could follow, according to Dr. Smith’s remarks at the board meeting and our interview with President Stewart.

“As Dr. Smith digs in and, and gets us more working knowledge of the finances, it’s my hope that any more staff reductions would be minimum,” President Stewart said during our April 16 interview. “But I can’t promise that there won’t be more.”

President Stewart said if more staff reductions are needed, his goal would be to have them completed by early June. “I know people need a kind of a time to breathe a sigh of relief on campus,” he added. 

Student Trustee Miller said the impacts on faculty and staff are tough but necessary decisions that administration had to make.

“It’s not fun for anybody to lay off people. I know that they didn’t want to do this,” she said. “It wasn’t a ‘Oh, we need to make up some money. Let’s just lay off people.’ It was a hard decision for them, too. So, I think it’s important for students to know that they weren’t just abusing power.” 

Pay cuts for executive cabinet

In addition to the reduction in force and budget cuts, UM’s executive cabinet is taking a pay cut. 

Dr. Stewart’s executive cabinet officers are made up of seven individuals, including himself. The positions that make up the executive cabinet can be found in UM’s organizational chart. A more detailed breakdown can be found in the Faculty Handbook. 

 The executive cabinet officers are as follows:

Executive cabinet members took a 10% pay cut. The president is taking a 20% cut. “I make the most money,” President Stewart said, “so I should take the most off.”

University payroll is public knowledge due to the Freedom of Information Act in the 2024 code of Alabama, section 16-13A-6. The university Expense Reporting System lists everyone included on the university’s payroll. Exact totals can be found at this page.

During the April board of trustees meeting, the topic of possible salary reductions for faculty was briefly mentioned, but it was not discussed. 

“I don’t see that happening,” President Stewart said during our interview, “but I would never say never. That’s the honest answer. The times are so uncertain. … I want students to know this is not just about dealing with the cost increase, it’s also all the uncertainty.”

Uncertainty ahead: Higher Ed “under siege” and the changing college landscape

Higher education as a whole is being impacted across the nation by a variety of factors. According to an article in The Alabamian’s final edition of the semester, both the expiration of COVID-19 funding and uncertainty about funding from the federal government are reasons UM is being “more mindful of its fiscal position.”

“Now that the Department of Education is being broken up by the current administration in Washington, imagine if student loans were disrupted, if Pell Grants were. … We’d have to carry that as an institution for a while,” President Stewart said in our interview. 

“We have to be ready for some uncertainty, like the endowment right now, and the Foundation is down because of the stock with the tariffs. The stock market has been down, that’s fewer scholarship dollars that the university’s going to have to try to bridge and make up,” the president said. “So, there’s a lot happening out in the world right now that we also want to prepare for. And, you know, higher education’s kind of under siege.” 

Dr. Smith also referenced the uncertainties on a state and national level. “We aren’t sure what may happen regarding possible changes to federal and state funding and the current financial aid system,” she wrote. “Our current plans are to ensure we have a realistic and balanced budget, to diligently monitor economic conditions, and to respond appropriately, while being as transparent as possible with our campus community.” 

President Stewart also noted how the landscape of higher education has changed since coming to UM in 2010. When UM lost a potential student back then, it was often to another university in Alabama. Today, the question isn’t where someone is going to college – it is if they are going to college.

“Now when we lose a student, more often than not, it’s students who have decided not to go to college at all. And that’s very difficult to compete against because that’s a national trend,” said President Stewart. “There are lots of uncertainties and fewer college students.”

Universities across the country are preparing to combat the upcoming “enrollment cliff,” which refers to a projected 15% decline in U.S. college students expected between the years of 2025-2029 due to a decrease in birth rates following the global 2008 recession. The cliff is predicted to have a national impact on enrollment and revenue.

“We know the enrollment cliff is something that could end up impacting enrollment,” President Stewart said, “and that’s going to impact how much is coming in from tuition.”

How students are affected 

Miller, Rodano and President Stewart all confirmed student organization budgets, like SGA, are not being affected by the university’s financial adjustments. Student employment is also not at risk. 

“Something to think about is the fact that though this isn’t really a student issue directly,” Rodano said. “It does affect us in the way that we have staff members and faculty members we care about. We have people that we can be concerned for. But the administration, for the most part, has been an ally to the students in negotiation of tuition and freezing of tuition for seven years. So, it’s important to remember that historically they have been on our side, even if it’s currently tough for faculty and staff.” 

However, SGA and other student leaders anticipate that the board of trustees will continue to discuss and raise tuition as needed.

“I think that tuition is going to continue to just incrementally increase, like other universities do,” Miller said, “just small amounts every year to help with inflation and rising cost.”

Miller acknowledged that while students won’t necessarily be happy about future tuition increases, it will ultimately be good for UM overall.

“I’m not going to sit in the board of trustees meeting saying ‘Raise tuition.’ I’m still going to sit there and try to keep it as small as possible,” she said, “but I think it’s just going to have to happen every year.” 

According to Rodano, students should expect to know more next spring. “Next February is, like, the big thing to mark on your calendar,” he explained, “because that’s the next board meeting where they discuss tuition increases.” 

Due to the increased cost of living, the discovered shortfall in university finances, and the rapidly changing educational climate, state and nationwide, UM is having to re-evaluate past procedures done in relation to scholarships. 

In the April 10 board of trustees meeting, a scholarship “discount rate” was discussed.  

We met with Dr. Bentley on April 28 at 10:35 a.m. to learn what this would mean for UM students. 

“Discount rate is the institutional scholarship,” she explained. “So, if the university, through institutional funds, is providing a scholarship, the industry terminology is a ‘discount rate’, because that means for all intents and purposes, the university sets a tuition rate, and if we scholarship it, we’re discounting it.” The only scholarships not included in this are ones through the UM Foundation or outside agencies. 

The board of trustees meeting on April 10 discussed lowering this rate from 53% to 35% over the next several years. The first students to see changes will be the incoming class in fall 2026. Dr. Bentley confirmed that it would take five years for all UM students to be under the new scholarship structure.  

“The students that are starting this fall are under our current award structure,” she said. “Theoretically, it’s going to take them at least four years to graduate. … So, it takes graduating a class and then bringing a new one in, and that’s going to be five years at least.” 

What’s next for UM?

According to Dr. Bentley, UM will operate for the upcoming fiscal year with a balanced budget, and it will take about 18 months to ensure expenses don’t exceed that budget.

“ I want students to know that we have a really solid plan,” she said, “and I’m very encouraged by the data that Dr. Smith has provided with the measures that we’ve put in place that not only are we going to bridge that gap, but be stronger and better as we move forward.”

At the end of the day, this situation is resulting in a lot of self-reflection, which Dr. Bently said will lead to positive changes for UM.

“This is really prompting us to have conversations about areas that we have become complacent, where we could improve, and people are motivated to make those improvements and look at those decisions,” she said. “So, I’m optimistic that, while this is challenging and the uncertainty is unsettling for many people, that we have a really good plan. We have a timeline, and we believe the outcome is going to be an improvement.” 

This is not the only time UM has endured lean financial times. In the email from Dr. Smith, she wrote, “In my first year as Vice President of Business Affairs, I faced the economic recession of 2008. UM received approximately $24 million in state funding during my first year, and the appropriation was reduced to only $17.7 million the following year.” 

She said these types of economic cycles create hardships that require attention.

“I was so impressed with the support of the Montevallo family when we have had to weather tough economic periods in the past and know that we can also work together to get through this one,” Dr. Smith wrote. “We are working hard to try to balance the budget and improve financial health for the institution’s future, focusing on trying to lessen any burden on faculty, staff, and students while striving to maintain high academic quality and a positive student experience.”

We are working hard to try to balance the budget and improve financial health for the institution’s future, focusing on trying to lessen any burden on faculty, staff, and students while striving to maintain high academic quality and a positive student experience.

Dr. DeAnna Smith, Interim Chief Financial Officer

There are also other positive financial signs on the horizon for later this year.

As a public institution, UM receives an appropriation from the Alabama Legislature each year. According to the State of Alabama Executive Budget, UM requested $31.93 million for operations and maintenance for the 2026 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2025. The document shows that Governor Ivey recommended an appropriation of just over $31 million – which Dr. Smith confirmed is a 7.45% increase from this year. 

The Alabama House approved a version of the state’s $10 billion Education Trust Fund budget on April 24, according to al.com. If the Senate approves the House’s changes, it will go to the governor for her signature. 

Montevallo has been strong for 130 years. Our faculty has been doing a great job of teaching and students have been doing a great job of learning for 130 years.

Dr. John Stewart, University of Montevallo President

Meanwhile, President Stewart said he is focused on UM’s goals.

“With campus in general, I think the primary goal, first of all, would be to have a balanced budget and to keep the emphasis on the classroom, the work, and to keep enrollment robust, which it has been,” President Stewart said. “The fall class looks really good. Last year was near record.”

The fall 2024 freshmen class of 592 students was the largest since 2012 and a 5.4% increase from fall 2023. 

“Montevallo has been strong for 130 years,” President Stewart said. “Our faculty has been doing a great job of teaching and students have been doing a great job of learning for 130 years.”

Update: This article as been updated to reflect that the statement from the Athletics Department was an official statement from their spokesperson.