Consultant’s report warns of financial ‘crisis’ at Danbury’s WCSU

Danbury-based Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) is in a state of “crisis” due to plummeting enrollment and skyrocketing operating costs, according to a national consultancy.

WTNH.com reported investigators from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems recommended that WCSU cut its personal expenditures by $10 million through the elimination of part-time faculty positions and other “difficult reduction decisions.” The consultancy estimated that higher-than-normal spending per on-campus student in a school where 75% of students are commuters has created a situation where the school”™s financial reserves were “negative by an estimated $2.3 million.”

“The institution is still somewhat in a state of shock over the late ‘discovery’ of the true extent of the financial challenges the University faces,” the consultancy stated. “WCSU remains an institution in crisis. WCSU simply does not have the luxury of time … it cannot afford to hesitate in making bold decisions or to permit key decision-making processes to drag on interminably.”™”™