If it seems a bit more crowded on campus these days, it's with good reason. Fall enrollment is up over last year, including an increase of 4.5 percent in the freshmen class and a nice bump in transfer students. The professional programs are also healthy. While final numbers are not yet available, the trend is certainly moving in the right direction, and it appears we will be very close to our enrollment projections.

On Wednesday (8/21/02) I launched a process of developing a financial enhancement plan designed to improve our management of budget resources and address the current challenging economic environment. The economic challenges we face are not unique to Creighton -- public and private institutions across the country are wrestling with the same issues, as are state and municipal governments. The financial enhancement plan will include both expense reduction and revenue enhancement components.

To move forward as a university, we must ensure that we retain a faculty and staff of exceptional quality. Thus, we must ensure that next year's budget, and those in the future, contain the resources for merit increases for faculty and staff. In an institution in which faculty and staff salaries and benefits comprise 75 percent of our budget, this commitment will require fresh thinking and hard decisions. Notwithstanding those hard decisions, I am committed to ensuring that the faculty and staff at Creighton receive merit and other pay increases next year and in the future.

As part of this commitment, however, we must analyze the revenue and the cost structure of the University. And we must examine our basic way of doing business for the future; we cannot simply institute non-strategic freezes that do not address structural issues of university revenue and costs. Thus, the University will develop an integrated strategy and financial plan to ensure the quality of our programs next year and into the future. I have charged the University's Vice Presidents and Deans to examine our cost structure, and I am requiring that each area propose significant and specific long-term structural changes that will make us more efficient and more effective. These strategic moves will include new growth to improve efficiency and cost savings. Our goal is to be more efficient and to reallocate resources into those areas that will enhance our quality and support strategy for the future. Rather than simply cut costs, we will carefully evaluate how we spend scarce resources and where to allocate additional resources to best foster growth. As always, we will focus on our mission and quality, but all else is under review. We are also committed to communicating our plan with all of you as it develops. We must all be invested in this process if our University is to grow. Thank you for all you do on behalf of Creighton University.

John P. Schlegel, S.J.
President