Charting Our Future: Questions and Answers
After several years of operating with a structural cash flow operating budget deficit, Earlham College is taking significant, carefully considered steps to secure its long-term financial sustainability and preserve the transformative education that has defined it for generations.
Guided by our Quaker values and deep commitment to our students, we are working to align our resources with our mission by reducing expenses, exploring new revenue opportunities, and positioning Earlham to thrive in a changing higher education landscape.
The process is challenging and will involve difficult decisions, but our goal is clear: to emerge as a stronger, more resilient Earlham that continues to provide an exceptional liberal arts education rooted in respect for persons, integrity, peace and justice, simplicity, and community.
I: Process and purpose
While we had hoped that investments over the last decade to stand up new academic and athletic programs, including the construction of new facilities, would attract enough enrollment interest to offset rising costs, this has not been the case. Our expenses have continued to exceed the revenue we bring in each year.
Higher education has faced steep headwinds in recent years. Demographic shifts and declines in the number of students graduating high school, particularly in the Midwest — a key recruiting region for Earlham — have meant increased competition among our peer institutions for enrollment. International enrollment, which faced steep challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, declined this year due to new U.S. restrictions on global entry from some countries and challenges to students’ ability to access visa appointments. The problems of the wider world have compounded these pressures, as institutions across the country, including Earlham, continue to feel the effects of inflation, tariffs, and other economic forces.
To secure Earlham’s future so that new generations of students can continue to benefit from an Earlham education, we need to make hard decisions now regarding how we spend our resources and consider ways to build a more sustainable future for Earlham.
President Paul Sniegowski convened the Consultative Working Group for a New Earlham (CWG) in fall 2025, following a consensus recommendation that emerged from a Board of Trustees June retreat. Charged with addressing Earlham’s financial challenges and helping to plan a sustainable future, the CWG met weekly throughout the fall semester, with President Sniegowski providing regular updates to faculty and staff. The group’s membership grew out of June 2025 retreat participants and included a broad representation of teaching faculty, administrative faculty, and staff from the College and School of Religion.
The CWG determined shared principles and criteria rooted in Earlham’s longstanding values to inclusively guide decisions across campus related to its charge. Using criteria that the CWG developed, the faculty-led Curricular Policy Committee and Faculty Affairs Committee, as outlined in the Faculty Handbook, developed new curricular models and made recommendations to President Paul Sniegowski and the Board of Trustees for specific academic program changes and associated personnel reductions. Vice presidents and the dean of the Earlham School of Religion followed a similar process, using CWG criteria to offer recommendations to President Sniegowski and the Board for administrative restructuring and reductions. All these collaborative efforts aim to position Earlham for long-term strength and stability.
Beginning in the spring, the CWG transitioned into a new group, the Strategic Plan Working Group (SPWG), and now includes student representatives. The SPWG meets weekly as it engages in the College’s first comprehensive strategic planning process since 2015. Its members will consult widely with faculty, student, and staff committees and groups and will hold numerous campus-wide forums throughout the semester as we shape, as a community, a new strategic plan for Earlham.
Charge to the Strategic Plan Working Group (SPWG)
The SPWG will serve as Earlham’s core consultative group in developing, with the Earlham community, administration, and Board, a new multiyear strategic plan that addresses Earlham’s challenges and opportunities and is adopted before or early in the 2026-27 academic year.
The new strategic plan will be based on the draft pillars presented to the Earlham faculty and staff in fall 2025:
I. Build on Earlham’s history of academic excellence to position Earlham as a preeminent and sustainable national liberal arts institution whose curricular and co-curricular programs serve its students’ futures lives and careers, the nation, and the world.
II. Position Earlham for long-term financial health through effective governance of streamlined academic programs and administrative structures that emphasize shared resources and work across the institution. Develop new revenue streams that will support Earlham’s liberal arts mission.
III. Emphasize and continually monitor data-informed marketing approaches for Earlham that coordinate closely with enrollment and advancement to promote national and international student and family demand for admission to Earlham as a top liberal arts institution.
IV. Promote Earlham’s core values of respect for persons, simplicity, integrity, peace and justice, and community through academic dialogue with the region, the nation, and the world. Reestablish and sustain academic opportunities for Earlham undergraduates to study the tenets and practices of Quakerism on campus.
V. Foster the well-being of students, faculty, and staff through a supportive campus culture that includes lively venues for informal social interaction and frequent, regularly communicated opportunities for participation in and attendance at guest lectures, artistic performances and exhibits, athletic events, and other all-campus social occasions.
VI. Continue and enhance partnership with Richmond on Revitalize Richmond and other joint initiatives, fostering further development and attractiveness of Richmond to Earlham students and families, faculty, staff, and future residents.
The strategic plan will lay out an overall vision and specific, attainable goals for the short, medium, and long term for Earlham related to the pillars along with anticipated approaches for attaining those goals. The plan will include annual assessments of progress toward those goals, clear structures of accountability for progress, and mechanisms for periodic adjustment of approaches as warranted.
The strategic plan will be based both on internal data at Earlham and on data on the changing landscape of liberal arts education nationally and internationally, including trends in enrollment and other relevant data.
The new strategic plan will bring forward foundational values and approaches from Earlham’s long history while embracing innovation and change to set Earlham on a course for long-term sustainability and continued success. The plan will, once adopted, serve as the primary general reference in future decisions about academic and administrative initiatives at all levels at Earlham.
Earlham aims to achieve a balanced cash flow operating budget by 2030, as mandated by its Board of Trustees, as well as develop a forward-looking strategic plan that will secure Earlham’s future as a strong national liberal arts college for future generations of students.
The SPWG’s charge, deliberations, and meeting minutes are now available to the Earlham community on a new website that is updated regularly by committee members. Members of the Earlham community will have the opportunity to engage in the SPWG’s consultative strategic planning process through all-campus forums this year, and they are invited to share ideas with the SPWG through this Qualtrics form. General updates about the strategic planning process will be offered regularly in these FAQs.
Beginning this spring, student representatives are participating directly as members of the SPWG to shape the future direction of the College. Ongoing student input is also welcome at President Paul Sniegowski’s weekly open office hours on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.
Student liaisons also attend Board of Trustees meetings, and representatives from student government and the student newspaper are welcome at weekly faculty meetings, where many conversations about Earlham’s future take place.
Students are also encouraged to share questions, perspectives, and ideas at any time through this Qualtrics form.
Last fall, students were invited to share their thoughts with members of the CWG during two all-student forums in November organized by Earlham Student Government and the President’s Student Advisory Group.
Yes. Input from students is an important part of the process to secure and shape Earlham’s future. Ideas can be submitted at any time using this Qualtrics form.
Submissions will be reviewed regularly by the SPWG. Ideas that should be considered in strategic planning are documented and routed to the appropriate working teams.
Last fall, the Consultative Working Group for a New Earlham collaboratively developed criteria to guide recommendations determined by the Curricular Policy Committee, the Faculty Affairs Committee, vice presidents and the dean of the Earlham School of Religion for changes to the academic program, with the goal of continuing academic offerings that remain strong, distinctive, and aligned with student interests. Criteria prioritized the following:
- Student interest and enrollment – prioritizing majors with high graduation numbers and strong primary interest among prospective students.
- Distinctive strengths – continuing programs historically distinctive to Earlham that reflect what makes Earlham unique in spirit and practice.
- Interdisciplinary connects — how well a program supports collaboration across disciplines and areas of study.
Last fall, the Consultative Working Group for a New Earlham collaboratively developed criteria to guide recommendations put forth by the Curricular Policy Committee, the Faculty Affairs Committee, vice presidents and the dean of the Earlham School of Religion for administrative reductions and realignments. Criteria prioritized the following:
- Efficiency and collaboration – organizing units to streamline functions and foster cross-unit teamwork.
- Student impact – enhancing both the enrolled student experience and prospective student appeal.
- Strategic alignment – ensuring that administrative units support the pillars of the strategic plan and maintain compliance and essential services.
- Financial sustainability – keeping net revenue generation and responsible resource use as central considerations.
Yes. President Paul Sniegowski has been in contact with leaders at peer Quaker institutions and with alumni who work in Quaker organizations and governance. Their insights are helping us think about the process of securing financial sustainability and shaping our future through a Quaker lens — collaborative, humane and grounded in care for people.
We are also working closely with Quaker high schools to strengthen our recruitment pipeline and deepen relationships within the Quaker educational community. One example of that is a new partnership with Friends School of Baltimore. Friends School graduates with a 3.25 GPA or higher are eligible for guaranteed admission, including a significant merit scholarship.
Earlham’s strength has always come from its people — alumni, families, friends, and community partners who believe in the power of an Earlham education. There are several meaningful ways to help Earlham during this pivotal time:
Engage and share: Follow Earlham on social media, amplify our stories, and help us share the message of Earlham’s enduring impact.
Stay connected: Attend Earlham events, volunteer, and keep in touch with classmates and the College. A strong, active alumni network strengthens Earlham’s visibility and reach.
Give: Philanthropic support is critical as we align our resources for a sustainable future. Gifts of any size make a difference by directly supporting students, faculty, and the distinctive programs that define the Earlham experience.
Refer students: Encourage prospective students who would thrive here. Personal referrals remain one of the most effective ways to reach new students.
II: Enrollment and the future of Earlham
Enrollment for the fall 2025 entering class totaled 671 students, including 169 new first-year students and 14 new transfer students. These numbers are consistent with overall enrollment for the past five years and represent a decline in our historical enrollment of around 1,200 students. Earlham’s enrollment challenges mirror those facing many small colleges, with fewer high school graduates choosing college and changing attitudes about the value of a college education. International recruitment has also become harder due to travel restrictions, visa delays, and rising costs that make it more difficult for students to arrive on time or at all.
In the past several years, Earlham focused on recruitment and outreach to students from Indiana and surrounding states. We are proud to educate students from our region. We also have recognized that such a recruitment strategy has limited our reach and placed us in greater competition with large regional state universities instead of with national liberal arts colleges whom we consider our true peers. Moving forward, under the leadership of new Vice President for Enrollment Management, Marketing, and Communications Jeff Perkins ’94, we plan to rebuild our national and international profile while also strengthening our local and regional presence.
There is no plan or intention to close Earlham College. The steps being considered to balance Earlham’s cash flow operating budget are intended to prevent that outcome and to secure a smaller but stronger institution for the years ahead.
III: Financial overview
Earlham has been running a structural cash flow deficit in its operating budget of around $15 million annually over the last decade and relying on draws from its endowment to cover operating costs all while trying to increase enrollment. Earlham’s Board of Trustees has mandated that Earlham have a balanced cash flow operating budget by the year 2030. To achieve this, Earlham will eliminate $18 million from its structural cash flow operating budget deficit in stages: $6 million during the 2025-26 fiscal year, $6 million in 2026-27, $4 million in 2027-28, and $2 million in 2028-29. This represents a reduction of about 32% relative to Earlham’s 2024-25 budget.
In a welcome development, non-personnel expense reductions and adjustments to revenue realized over the late spring and summer 2025 reduced the targeted deficit reduction for years one and two of our balanced budget plan from its original value of $12M to $10.5M by the beginning of the fall semester 2025. Accordingly, our personnel expense reduction options of 35%, 40%, and 45% were designed to bracket this $10.5M target, with 40% calculated to hit the target. The elements of this calculation have some uncertainty to them such that the percentages are not guaranteed to be exact but instead represent our best estimates in a complex and fluid budget situation.
At more than $400 million, Earlham is fortunate to have an endowment that is larger than donated assets at many small colleges. However, most of our funds are restricted, meaning they can only be used for the purpose specified by the donor. While these contribute significantly to the operation of Earlham, they cannot be used to cover cash flow operating budget deficits.
In recent years, Earlham has relied too heavily on extraordinary draws from the endowment’s unrestricted funds to remain operational. The depleted state of Earlham’s unrestricted endowment has reached a point where, under Indiana law, we are no longer permitted to make additional extraordinary withdrawals.
To continue supporting operations while we work to correct the structural cash flow operating budget deficit and achieve a balanced cash flow operating budget within the next four years, Earlham has filed a legal petition with the Wayne County Court seeking an exception to that law. This petition requests permission to spend $40 million of the inflation adjusted historical gift value from Earlham’s unrestricted endowment. If the court does not grant the petition, Earlham has the right to appeal the decision, up to the Indiana Supreme Court if necessary.
We are exploring multiple paths to strengthen revenue, including:
- Developing new graduate programs in fields with strong market demand, such as a Physician’s Assistant (PA) master’s program
- Developing a bachelor’s degree program in nursing, potentially in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College.
- Increasing summer revenue through camps, conferences and academic programs when campus is underutilized
These initiatives will help diversify Earlham’s revenue beyond that provided by its current undergraduate profile.
Earlham’s efforts to reduce personnel expenses have resulted in savings of about $9.9 million off the structural deficit. This was achieved through a hiring freeze implemented in May, voluntary separations and incentivized retirements offered this fall, and 47 position eliminations and non-renewals.
IV: Impact on programs and people
To meet the Board of Trustees’ directive to achieve a balanced budget and address the College’s long-standing structural cash flow operating budget deficit, we could not limit reductions to a single department, program, or offering. The scale of the challenge requires a shared impact.
In making these difficult decisions, we sought to do so with the greatest clarity, consultation, and sensitivity possible. The goal has been not to simply reduce expenses, but to position Earlham to thrive in the future while honoring our values and treating people with care and respect. On December 18, 2025, Earlham notified 47 individuals that their positions were eliminated or not renewed.
These notifications, combined with attrition from the hiring freeze since May (31 positions), voluntary separations and incentivized retirements this fall (22 positions), and other recent retirements (nine positions) will result in an Earlham workforce that is smaller by 109 roles: 64 representing administrative faculty or hourly staff and 45 representing teaching faculty.
The reductions in personnel expenses affect all areas of the College, including academic programs, athletics, administrative faculty, teaching faculty, staff, and the Earlham School of Religion.
These changes, resulting in a 37% reduction of annual personnel expenses totaling $9.9M in savings off the structural deficit, will better align our workforce expenses with the size of our student body, as our workforce has remained steady in size even as our enrollment has drastically decreased.
Personnel decisions are private, and the College will handle all information about staffing changes with care and discretion. Faculty and staff whose positions were eliminated are not required to discuss their status, and managers may not discuss personnel actions involving their direct reports — formally or informally — with anyone who does not have a business need to know.
Of the 47 position eliminations and non-renewals, 22 represent administrative faculty and staff and 25 represent teaching faculty, including five tenured teaching faculty. Among the tenured teaching faculty whose positions are being eliminated, those who are eligible for retirement are being offered the opportunity to accept retirement instead.
Teaching faculty who accepted a voluntary separation package or early retirement will depart the College by June 30, 2026. Administrative faculty and hourly staff who accepted voluntary separation packages departed the College by December 31, 2025.
Hourly staff, administrative faculty, and non-tenured teaching faculty affected have received more than six months of advance notice of termination or non-renewal; their last date of employment will be June 30, 2026. Tenured teaching faculty have received more than fifteen months of notice, with a last employment date of June 30, 2027. These timeframes align with the academic calendar and are intended to provide a helpful period of transition for employees to consider their next steps. All tenure-line teaching faculty whose positions have been eliminated will have the option to return to their positions if the College elects to reinstate those positions within three years of the effective date of termination.
Hourly staff, administrative faculty, and non-tenured teaching faculty received more than six months of advance notice of termination; their last date of employment will be June 30, 2026. Tenured teaching faculty received more than 15 months of notice, with a last employment date of June 30, 2027. These timeframes align with the academic calendar and are intended to provide meaningful runway for employees to consider their next steps. Earlham is providing these employees with job placement resources and, where applicable, the continuation of tuition remission benefits for dependents.
These personnel reductions also necessitated changes to our academic program. The Curricular Policy Committee and Faculty Affairs Committee offered general models for changes in November 2025. On March 27, 2026, after extensive consultation with faculty, CPC communicated to the president its recommendations for specific changes to the academic program. On March 30, the president shared with the Earlham community his decision to stay fully faithful to the CPC’s recommendations.
This decision means some majors are being discontinued and closed to new declarations, and some are being folded into other majors as tracks. Earlham will work to support every enrolled student on their pathway to degree completion in their chosen field, consistent with how it has historically addressed changes to academic programs.
What will not change at Earlham is our commitment to our Quaker values that are guiding us through this challenging time, as well as our dedication to the success of our students as they pursue their degrees and meaningful work in the world. This includes our commitment to making Earlham affordable for its students.
The Earlham School of Religion will see an administrative realignment that continues a shift already underway in recent years: moving ESR’s administrative framework more fully into the undergraduate College while preserving the School’s academic and spiritual mission. Earlham School of Religion will remain an embedded seminary on the Earlham campus, continuing as a professional school just as it does today. Students will continue to receive a rigorous, spiritually grounded education shaped by Quaker principles and practices, which remain central to Earlham’s identity and distinctiveness.
Additional academic integration between ESR and the undergraduate College is also planned, allowing a broader community of learners to access Quaker-grounded education while preserving the integrity, vocation-focused nature of the seminary.
ESR faculty will continue their separate faculty meeting governance model, and some faculty may also contribute to undergraduate education through the Department of Religion via joint appointments to be decided upon and established in the coming years.
We are also committed to strengthening ESR’s chaplaincy program. Approximately 40 percent of students pursuing the Master of Divinity seek chaplaincy pathways, and work is underway to expand curricular offerings, including new certificate programs to meet the evolving needs of these students.
As recommended by the Curricular Policy Committee, the following majors will continue: Art; African and African American Studies; Biochemistry; Biology; Business; Chemistry; Computer Science; Creative Writing; Data Science; Engineering; English; Environmental Sustainability; Exercise, Sport, and Health Studies; History; Japanese Studies; Museum Studies; Music; Music Studies; Neuroscience; Peace and Global Studies; Politics; Pre-Engineering; Psychology; Social Services; Theatre Arts; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
As recommended by the Curricular Policy Committee, the following majors will be discontinued (that is, closed to new declarations): Accounting; Ancient and Classical Studies; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Economics; French; International Studies (to be folded into Politics as a track); Mathematics; Media and Communications; Philosophy; Physics and Astronomy; Public Policy (to be folded into Politics as a track); Quantitative Economics; Spanish and Hispanic Studies; Sociology/Anthropology.
The Religion major will be suspended (closed to new declarations) pending redesign to incorporate course contributions anticipated from Earlham School of Religion (ESR) faculty.
We recognize students will be affected by decisions to eliminate some administrative faculty, teaching faculty, and staff positions. These decisions may affect programs in which students are enrolled. Earlham is working to support every enrolled student on their pathway to degree completion in their chosen field.
Students should keep in mind the following:
- Even if a major is being discontinued, students who have already declared and been approved for that major will be able to fulfill its requirements with careful advising.
- The absence of a future major designation does not mean that subject-matter expertise in that area will disappear from the curriculum; faculty scholarship and interdisciplinary teaching will continue to shape a rich academic experience.
- Self-designed majors will continue to be an option that provides flexibility and choice for students.
Students with questions or concerns about their path to graduation should speak with their academic advisor during the spring semester or make an appointment with Jennifer Seely, academic dean for student success. Both can provide individualized guidance. If they are uncertain about a program or future course availability, they should speak directly with both their advisor and with faculty teaching in that program.
In November 2025, following section O of the Earlham College Faculty Handbook and Section N of the ESR Faculty Handbook, the faculty-led Curricular Policy Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee and the Earlham School of Religion faculty developed broad models for changes to academic programs. These models were shared with employees for feedback. Using criteria developed by the Consultative Working Group for a New Earlham, CPC and FAC then developed three detailed models for the College curriculum and faculty in consultation with the provost and divisional deans that offered options for levels of personnel expense reductions. CPC and FAC communicated these detailed models to the president on November 21. In late December, notices of position elimination were sent to affected faculty and staff following a presidential decision that reflected a hybrid of recommendations offered by CPC and FAC.
Since January 2026, CPC worked extensively to formulate detailed recommendations on the future of majors and academic programs in the College in light of the personnel reductions communicated in December 2025. This work included numerous consultations with departments and faculty to ensure that a wide range of perspectives, proposals, and possibilities were carefully considered. While this process took time, it reflected the College’s commitment to thoughtful, faculty-led decision making in curricular matters and to our enduring strength as a liberal arts institution.
On March 27, 2026, CPC submitted to the president its final recommendations regarding changes to the list of majors Earlham would continue to offer students. The president communicated his decision to the Earlham community on March 30, 2026. The College’s decisions regarding changes to the academic program were fully faithful to the CPC’s recommendations and will be submitted to Earlham’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), for notification in keeping with HLC’s Changes to Existing Programs policies. advisor and with faculty teaching in that program.
As with decisions about academic programs and administrative structures, decisions regarding athletic teams are in process. Coaches are being encouraged to communicate directly with their student-athletes regarding any team impacts.
No. Our programs evolve, as they always have, to meet the needs of our students. Earlham is proud of its tradition as a liberal arts institution that offers an education rooted in Quaker values. We believe the best way to prepare students for success in a complex, ever-changing world is through an education that gives students a broad foundation for innovation and adaptation and flexibility to embrace their curiosity. We do not intend to stray from that mission.
No. Revitalize Richmond is a five-year project funded by restricted grant dollars from Lilly Endowment Inc. ($25 million). Those funds can only be used for that initiative, which remains on track and is in its second year of implementation. An additional $83 million in cost-share funding comes from partnering organizations in Richmond and Wayne County.