Corporation approves $1.69 billion budget in May meeting

The Corporation, the University’s highest governing body, approved a $1.69 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2024 in its May meetings, according to a Today@Brown message from President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20. 

Drafted by the University Resources Committee, the budget allocates 44% of funds to “salaries, wages and benefits,” while funding for financial aid and other student support comprises another 27%, Paxson wrote.

The budget allocates $452.3 million to financial aid and student support, an 8.3% increase over the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, with $202.6 million for undergraduates and $230.6 million for graduate students. The increase tracks slightly behind the 9% increase projected at the previous Corporation meeting in February. 

Bolstered by fundraising campaigns aimed at expanding tuition support for middle-income families, inflation-adjusted investments into undergraduate financial aid have increased by 62% since 2013, and the University permanently eliminated undergraduate loans from financial aid packages this spring after six years without them.

“Student financial aid has for many years been among the fastest-growing areas of the University’s budget as part of an increasingly broad array of support measures to ensure we can attract and enroll students from every income level,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. The BrownTogether campaign and recent endowment performance have been “instrumental” in this growth, he added.

Clark noted that the move to need-blind admissions for international students — which is expected to take full effect beginning with the Class of 2029 — as one of “the next major goals we have for financial aid.”

Endowment spending in Fiscal Year 2024 increased by 22% to $277.8 million, including $25 million in investments for research growth. The expenditures come six months after the University released a five- to seven-year plan to increase research output through investments in faculty, research-oriented facilities and student opportunities. Those investments will fund improvements and maintenance of library collections, research facility renovations, staff hiring and implementation of “new information technology and data infrastructure systems,” according to the letter.

The budget also covers the fall opening of The Lindemann Performing Arts Center, which has been under construction since November 2019, and Chen and Danoff Halls on Brook Street.

Paxson described how the University is striving to proceed with caution amid ever-changing market conditions. “Like many institutions, Brown may face significant financial headwinds, including capital market uncertainty, inflationary pressures and competition in higher education labor markets,” she wrote. “We will continue to balance investments in compensation and benefits for faculty and staff, facilities across campus, and financial aid and support for our students with a base of revenue that is growing more slowly than in recent years.”

The Corporation also approved senior chair appointments for 20 faculty, and three additional instructors — Onésimo Almeida, Kevin Quashie and Roberto Zenit — were named Royce Family Professors of Teaching Excellence. Nine faculty were named junior chairs.

Corporation members also formally accepted more than $120 million in large gifts made since February. Such gifts, totaling $1 million or more, are traditionally reviewed and accepted individually by the Corporation at each of its tri-annual meetings.

The Corporation additionally established 11 named professorships, some of which were created using funds from current professorships whose endowments had increased significantly in value. The reallocation of endowment funds represents “an example of ongoing efforts to deploy endowed resources in an effective manner,” according to the letter.