SUNY Fredonia’s enrollment level continues to be a concern for administrators.

Add to that the university’s financial woes — caused, in part, by the lower student body level — and it’s not surprising the latest meeting of the College Council took on a bit of a gloomy tone.

There is optimism among some administrators, however, that the worst is over.

The council, which meets four times a year, oversees the university. It heard some concerning updates when it met this week, leading council President Frank Pagano to ask some very pointed questions.

“We think we’ve found the bottom of the enrollment trends,” said David Starrett, the university’s executive vice president and provost.

Pagano asked him how retention of current students is going.

Noting that a university vice president is now solely devoted to retention, Starrett said, “We seem to have found out how to reduce loss of students from fall to spring. The important number is how many come back in the fall.”

Soon after, Pagano asked how many total students are expected to attend SUNY Fredonia in the fall 2022 semester. “I’m hesitant to give a number because you just don’t know what will happen between now and then,” Starrett said.

However, he soon said enrollment should be around what it was in fall 2021: about 3,800 students. That’s down more than 1,000 students from the all-time high.

Pagano wondered, “Is that an absolute bottom?” Stephen Kolison, president of the university, replied, “When you’ve already hit the floor, you can’t hit the floor anymore… we’re only going to go up at this point.”

Kolison said the current head count for students is about 3,600.

Starrett said no one should be alarmed that the campus lost students from fall 2021 to the current semester. “It’s true of every university, with every fall — that’s what happens,” he said.

There’s some optimism in the picture because the COVID-19 pandemic “is to some degree in the rear-view mirror,” Starrett continued. That makes in-person classes and events more attractive.

However, he noted, “We are competing in a shrinking market with an ever-increasing number of competitors.”

More recently, Starrett said, negative publicity from events on other SUNY campuses in Brockport and Buffalo recently led to a small number of students leaving SUNY Fredonia.

The student figures are a cause of the university’s financial shortfall. Michael Metzger, the school’s vice president of finance and administration, told the council later in Wednesday’s meeting that SUNY Fredonia ran a more than $16.3 million deficit in the fall semester.

However, various financial moves — including use of COVID-19 relief funding — made that up. “We’ve been working very hard to bring our operations to the level of the current enrollment,” Metzger said. He noted changes to food and facility services.

The sale of the College Lodge, closed two weeks ago, netted the university $300,000, he continued. “There will not be any unfunded shortfall this year,” he said. Work on the 2022-23 budget is beginning and “we will work very diligently…to ensure we can find whatever savings is appropriate.”

Pagano said to Metzger, “This year, we’re just going to make it. What are we going to do with an enrollment of 3,800 next year? We’re going to have a deficit again, and how are you going to fund that?”

Metzger replied, “Any deficit next year will be funded with a loan from the SUNY system … they would compensate us for any shortfall in a loan, which we would have to pay back over time.”

Pagano groaned in apparent disgust. “That is preliminary in terms of thinking. We are watching to see what the budget situation in Albany will be,” Kolison said. “I’m still hopeful that the enrollment numbers will be much, much stronger.

“I’m a little averse to a loan situation because what that does, it changes the relationship between the university and Albany…and so a loan situation would be a last resort,” he added.

“Do you think that Albany will come through with enough money to fund the deficit we have for next year?” Pagano asked Kolison.

The university president complained about unfunded state mandates and said the deficit isn’t just about enrollment alone, it’s about salaries and benefits as well.

“That is one thing for the state to negotiate a 2% raise for all employees … it’s another thing for the state to put in the money to cover these things,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said, the state budget looks “very encouraging … we’ll see.” Metzger said it was possible the deficit could get made up with an aid increase.

In fact, there is a proposal in the state Assembly to offer $200 million in additional operating aid to SUNY campuses within the next budget. The education union United University Professions released a statement Thursday declaring that more than 6,000 letters and 16,000 phone calls have been sent to state officials asking for the aid boost.

The union also backs a proposal to spend $88 million on hiring new faculty.