Board of Trustees to Meet Next Weekend; Will Discuss Budget and Tuition Rates

Brendan W. Clark ’21

Editor-in-Chief

Trinity’s Board of Trustees will be meeting Apr. 23-Apr. 24 to consider the College’s F.Y. 2022 budget and also review undergraduate tuition. Chief of Staff to the President Jason Rojas told the Tripod that the Board “will vote on the budget and set the tuition rate for next year.” However, he added, “final adoption…will take place later in the spring which will allow for additional time to continue working with the Planning and Budget Council to collect additional information that will inform a final decision.”

A copy of the agenda, reviewed by the Tripod, indicates that the Board of Trustees will begin their meeting by hearing from the President’s Commission on Trinity’s Future. The Commission, which generated ire from some in the faculty around its composition last April, released a report at the October Board meeting. In October, Rojas declined to release the Commission’s report, citing that it was considered “in-progress and therefore not appropriate for distribution at this time,” and noted that it would not be made available to the public or the faculty.

At the time, Berger-Sweeney pledged to engage the community around Trinity’s future. Since that announcement in October, Berger-Sweeney indicated that there would be small group meetings in April to discuss the Commission’s suggestions.

On Friday, the Board will also include a discussion of student enrollment and faculty diversity led by the Academic and Campus Affairs Committee as well as a discussion of the new debt and approval process led by the Financial and Physical Resources Committee.

On Saturday, a plenary session will be led by former Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success Angel Perez and Director of Career Development Joseph Catrino on the topic of “design thinking.” Perez and Catrino previously taught a course on the subject to undergraduates.

Last year, the Board did not set a budget in April and drew on its full $10 million line of credit with J.P. Morgan Chase amidst the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, the College projected a deficit of $7 million and a loss of $120 million in early April. However, these losses were later tempered by the strong recovery of financial markets. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board also announced a decision last April to keep tuition and room and board rates unchanged.