Carnegie Mellon braces for coronavirus financial losses, potential delay of fall semester

Carnegie Mellon University is freezing hiring and salaries and will reduce executive pay as the Pittsburgh school grapples with uncertainties created by the coronavirus pandemic, President Farnham Jahanian said Tuesday.

In a lengthy letter to the university community, Jahanian said officials also developed an array of contingency plans for the fall semester. Those potentially include delaying the start of the semester at the private research university by two to six weeks; adopting a hybrid operating model that would include a combination of smaller classes on campus and online learning; or staying with the online learning model it was forced to adopt last month when classrooms, dorms and labs were shuttered to limit the spread of covid-19.

Jahanian said he and CMU Provost Jim Garrett will take a 10% salary reduction in the coming academic year. CMU vice presidents, academic deans and its chief investment officers volunteered to take a 5% pay cut.

The most recent figures for CMU executive pay, from the 2017-18 year, pegged Jahanian’s salary at about $723,600.

Covid-19 related losses to CMU will total about $28 million by the end of the academic year, he estimated.

The university enrolls about 14,800 students and employs 6,200 faculty and staff. It listed revenues of about $1.3 billion and expenses of about $1.2 billion last year.

“Although there are no plans for across-the-board layoffs or furloughs at this time, units may need to make decisions regarding staffing to reduce expenses in anticipation of revenue losses,” Jahanian wrote.

Other areas likely to sustain losses include sponsored research, philanthropic support and fundraising. At the same time, Jahanian said there likely will be a demand for more financial aid as families struggle to find the resources to cover the cost of a CMU education — which is $77,000 a year.

Jahanian was hesitant to detail his concerns about the impact any decline in international enrollment would have on the university.

CMU is among the top 10 U.S. universities for international student enrollment. Fall enrollment numbers showed international students — most of them from China and India — account for nearly 44% of its total enrollment, or about 6,700 students.

“We understand the issues our international students face are significant and complex, and we will be sending more information regarding these concerns in the future,” Jahanian wrote.

He did not respond to a request for further comment.

Several blocks down Forbes Avenue in Oakland, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher also listed the return of international students, who make up about 10% of Pitt’s total enrollment, among his concerns.

The University of Connecticut, which hosted nearly 3,000 students from China last fall, is bracing for a 25% to 75% reduction in international students and losses of up to $70 million next year, the Associated Press reported.