Last Friday at our September 25 Board of Trustees meeting, PSU reached an important turning point.
Trustees approved my Presidential Goals for the upcoming 2026–27 year and authorized a major $10.8 million investment over three years to launch Start | Stay | Finish, a three-year plan for enrollment stabilization and growth.
These actions signal a strategic alignment across university leadership, our Board, and our campus community. Together, we share a clear direction: achieving long-term financial sustainability, reversing a decade of enrollment declines, and reinforcing PSU’s mission as an essential economic, social, and cultural driver for Portland and Oregon.
In partnership with Board leaders and my leadership team, I developed five core goals for the upcoming academic year. They are:
- Completing Bridge to the Future 2.0 financial sustainability plan during FY27 and submitting an FY28 budget requiring zero reserve spend for ongoing operations.
- Executing on a Strategic Enrollment Recovery Plan to reverse enrollment declines, elevate PSU’s brand awareness, and build regional partnerships.
- Collaborating with academic leadership to roll out targeted and scalable retention and graduation strategies.
- Working with the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, local leaders, and community colleges to deepen educational pathways.
- Partnering with the PSU Foundation to meet key FY27 fundraising targets.
In the same meeting, that second goal got a big boost when the Board also approved an important investment in enrollment marketing, recruitment, retention and community engagement.
External analysis confirmed what many on campus have felt: PSU’s enrollment and marketing infrastructure has been under-resourced compared to regional peers. To fix this, we came up with a plan requiring a dip into our E&G reserves that will be strategically deployed to turn our enrollment around.
This targeted investment focuses on three core pillars:
- The START pillar (84% of overall investment at $3.025M annually) will modernize recruitment pipelines, launch targeted digital campaigns across the region, and expand outreach to undergraduate, transfer, and graduate students.
- The STAY & FINISH pillar (9% of overall investment at $337.5K annually) upgrades persistence tracking and student analytics to remove administrative hurdles and help students reach degree completion.
- And the ENGAGE pillar (7% of overall at $245K annually) will enhance civic partnerships and community storytelling to highlight PSU's regional impact.
All of this comes with built-in accountability and quarterly KPI tracking. After stabilizing enrollment in the first year, the plan is projected to bring in 800 net new students and $14.5 million in revenue by FY30.
Although spending reserves while also cutting costs is a tricky balance, I believe this is the best path forward to returning PSU to a stable and growing university. The Board’s support of my goals and this calculated investment demonstrates immense trust in our institutional direction and vision, but realizing these ambitious goals will take a true team effort across our entire university community. I am grateful to the faculty, staff, students, trustees and partners who will join together in this effort. Together, we are building a sustainable, thriving future for PSU!