Slippery Rock University is “in the black” for the year as the school's Council of Trustees approved a balanced budget for the next fiscal year at a meeting Friday.

“It takes a team effort to do this, especially from Amir (Mohammadi) and Molly (Mercer),” said Trustee Bill McCarrier, who serves as chairman for the financial committee. “They do an excellent job.”

Molly Mercer, chief financial officer for SRU, presented the finance committee with figures from fiscal year 2018-19, which included a net surplus of $616,144 with spending around $142.9 million.

Mercer attributed the surplus to increased enrollment and a 2.99 percent tuition increase applied to this year.

Mercer said balancing the budget for fiscal year 2019-20 was more difficult due to a tuition freeze for next year that was passed by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in July.

“We'll have to rely a little more on personal savings and managing our costs throughout the year,” Mercer said.

An increase of $859,935 in appropriations from the state and a more selective approach to hiring will help offset a lack of additional revenue from tuition.

Tuition brings in the largest portion of the school's revenue every year. In 2018-19, the school brought in $79.9 million from tuition.

President William Behre opposed the tuition freeze at the Board of Governors meeting, but he said SRU is better equipped financially to cope with the freeze than other universities.

“It's not devastating for us,” Behre said. “If this were to happen multiple years in a row, we'd have a real problem.”

Slippery Rock University has continued preparing to take control of its own tuition rates, possibly as early as 2020.

Behre said SRU could improve its financial health by focusing on student retention, which could help further bolster its finances by focusing on retention in the future, which they have taken steps to achieve.

“Anyone who runs any kind of business will tell you it's smarter and easier and more cost-effective to keep a current customer than get a new one,” Behre said.

Behre said starting next year, the university will set aside a portion of tuition revenue for retention grants that could assist those who plan on leaving SRU because of a financial obstacle.

Behre said studies showed financial obstacles are one of two reasons students typically leave. He said the other reason involved mental health issues for students.

Regarding the latter, Behre said SRU has hired four professionals to serve in mental health positions.

“We know that mental health is a serious issue,” Behre said. “We know we're not immune to these issues.”

Behre said estimated that every 100 students retained adds a net revenue of $1 million to SRU's bottom line.

Behre said SRU's retention rate is in the 80 percentile, but he wants to see it reach 90 percent.