March to Sustainability Plan

Dear Rider Community,
 
I am writing to share with you the decisions made by the Rider University Board of Trustees at its Oct. 30 meeting to initiate restructuring of the University in response to its financial challenges and establish a new foundation for a strong and enduring Rider. The Board of Trustees, our leadership team and I share the vision of a reimagined Rider. I am personally grateful to the many voices we have heard from across the community who have conveyed their ideas, emphatic understanding of the painful choices involved and the importance of Rider’s student experience. Members of the administration and I have engaged with AAUP and AFSCME leadership to discuss this plan, and those conversations are ongoing.

I must stress that the administration continues to be intentional about doing everything possible to minimize the impacts of a potential restructuring on our students. We intend to ensure that every student can take the classes they need to complete their intended major and earn their degree as they have planned.

As I have shared previously, the steps to this reimagined future must begin by directly addressing the financial risks that have grown increasingly serious in recent years and have intensified in severity in recent months. We are considering these steps with deep regret, knowing that the people who define this community have already made numerous sacrifices as the University has sought to change its financial trajectory over the last several years. We also are considering these steps only after thoroughly analyzing the facts and the possible options before us.

In voting unanimously to approve the March to Sustainability Plan, the Board endorsed a restructuring plan aimed at restoring Rider’s financial health, safeguarding the University’s mission and prioritizing its students and their student experience. The Board’s decision confronts the reality that, unless transformative steps are taken, the University will have insufficient resources to meet its payroll and other obligations before the end of the current fiscal year next June.

New and unforeseen developments in recent months have affected expenses and cash flow, resulting in a significant cash shortfall. With no liquidity and the recent loss of an open line of credit, the University’s only option to overcome cash deficits is to make urgent and severe choices. The Board has authorized the administration to initiate the restructuring necessary to address this current cash shortfall. It also provides the administration with the time required to implement future growth initiatives that will enable the University to build liquidity and borrowing capacity, and ultimately invest essential resources in programs and facilities that strengthen Rider’s future.

By approving the March to Sustainability Plan, the Board authorized the administration to take the following actions, among others:

• Rider would adjust employees’ compensation by reducing the base pay of employees by 14%, or by taking other actions that produce the same financial savings, beginning December 1, 2025. Salaries would be reset and then frozen at this level.
• Effective December 1, 2025, Rider’s retirement contribution would be suspended indefinitely.
• The University would immediately begin planning to adjust faculty workload as soon as feasible as follows: (i) the workload for full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty would increase to a 4-4, (ii) the workload for full-time lecturers would increase to a 5-5 workload, and (iii) the workload for chairpersons would increase to a 3-3 workload.
• The University would notify 35-40 full-time faculty that their positions are eliminated, effective December 31, 2025. These layoffs would primarily be determined based on a performance analysis of related annual reports, using such criteria as merit, leadership contributions and academic area of discipline. 
• The University would end the faculty tuition remission benefit beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
• The University would reduce paid faculty development opportunities and benefits beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
• The University would eliminate priority adjunct benefits beginning January 1, 2026.
• To streamline our administrative structure, we would eliminate several senior positions.

These steps will also enable the University to address the concerns of our accrediting body, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which recently advised us that it has placed Rider on probation due to the University’s financial situation. The Office of the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) has been informed of this development. Rider remains accredited while on probation. The steps required of the University as a result of Middle States’ decision will be addressed, along with many other topics, in FAQs that are available at rider.edu/march-to-sustainability.

Later today, Human Resources will provide additional information to support the well-being of our employees to help navigate the emotional and practical implications of this plan.

I would like to acknowledge the faculty and administrators whose positions may be eliminated as part of this challenging process. We would only make these especially painful changes if no other actions would sufficiently meet our budgetary realities and ensure Rider has a future.

The significant and challenging steps outlined here would put Rider on a firmer financial footing, allowing us to immediately begin reimagining Rider by expanding the academic and athletic program mix, developing new experiential learning opportunities, improving facilities and enhancing the experience of every Rider student. These investments would enhance Rider’s competitive standing, strengthening recruitment and retention and, most importantly, increasing Rider’s value to students. Having analyzed Rider’s situation from every angle, we are confident that a promising future is possible, only if these steps are taken.  
 
All of us involved are aware that this moment brings pain, frustration, fear and uncertainty. We profoundly wish the financial situation were otherwise. We also know that the time has come to make the difficult choices required to secure the very future of the University and the students we serve. Across generations, this University community has done its very best to live up to its many vital responsibilities, and we must now do everything possible to preserve Rider for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and the communities we serve.

You are welcome to share questions at univcomm@rider.edu, and we will continue to update the FAQs page with new information in response to those questions.

I invite you to join me and other senior leaders to discuss these decisions as a community at a campus forum we will be scheduling for November 13. An invitation to that meeting will be sent out shortly.

On Friday of this week, I will be meeting with the leadership of the Student Government Association (SGA) to discuss the March to Sustainability Plan. I will offer for members of the administration to schedule or attend a student forum at a time and place of their choosing so all students have the opportunity to hear about the plan and ask questions.

Before we get to a final decision point, we want to know what you think. This Wednesday, in advance of the campus forum, we will send you a full copy of the March to Sustainability Plan that we have developed to faithfully meet our financial challenges and ensure Rider’s future success. Then, next Monday, we will distribute an anonymous survey to allow you to express your view of the Plan. The survey will be open until Tuesday, November 25. We urge you to take this survey immediately upon receiving it. Thank you.

As we enter this challenging time, I am confident that Rider will meet this moment thanks to the resilience and determination that have come to define this community and that will ensure Rider continues to fulfill its educational mission, with our students as our greatest priority.  

Sincerely,

John R. Loyack, CPA, MBA
President