Dear Campus Community,
My hope is that this note finds you enjoying the summer and all that it brings for you and your families. As has been my practice over the last several years, I want to provide a “real time” note about the work of our Board of Trustees as it fulfills its responsibility to guide, support, and provide oversight for our beloved Grand Valley as it did in today’s board meeting. This is consistent with our continued focus on deeper engagement and information sharing within our broader university community.
This morning, the board considered and passed the fiscal year 2027 budget, designed to align resources with institutional priorities and the needs of our learners. It reflects the spirit of stewardship that has shaped much of our conversation and the work of Reach Higher Together. This balanced budget prioritizes our people, particularly those we serve, our learners, and reflects significant and ongoing work across all university divisions. Investments in the largest financial aid budget ever at GVSU and critical target investments support and strengthen our student experience through Blue Dot, student advisors, sustaining the growth in nursing and augmenting our public safety.
While some other Michigan colleges and universities are conducting significant and formal reductions in force, reducing staff and making steep cuts, Grand Valley can rely upon our solid foundation, strong strategy and prudent budgeting to sustain our position as a university of choice for students, faculty and staff. Our responsibility now is to protect and build upon that foundation with care and purpose.
Today’s board actions demonstrate what long-term stewardship requires. It means aligning resources with mission rather than tradition. It means investing where students and communities need us most. It means asking not whether our assets are familiar, but whether they are advancing the future Grand Valley is called to build.
And a budget is more than a financial plan; it is a statement of purpose. It is a plan to position Grand Valley to create the greatest value for students and the state both today and for the next generation. Not losing focus on this point is even more critical today because higher education is facing real headwinds. Enrollment patterns are changing and here at GVSU, we are likely to see at best a flat enrollment this year and may very well experience some decline as MSU and UM dig much deeper in their applicant pools to respond to shifting government funding and a constricting international student population.
In addition, as I shared in my note on July 3rd, our state funding for this year is incredibly disappointing and actually less than what GVSU received 2 years ago. Our allocation is up only 1% from last year and is only one-time dollars. Again, these are real headwinds impacting our entire sector that require us to lean into stewardship like never before.
We cannot lead as if the old conditions will simply return. We have to make disciplined choices and strategic investments. We have to serve the students of today while preparing for the learners of tomorrow.
In support of that future, the board also took steps today, consistent with two regional plans, in Grand Rapids and Detroit with the sale of the Detroit Center and the purchase of the John Russell/Consumers Energy building in downtown Grand Rapids.
In Detroit, our comprehensive support for learners must meet them where they live, work, and learn today and into the future. It means aligning our programs with the geography of people’s lives and with the momentum of the city’s economy. And it means living into our role as a keystone university — not anchored to one location, but intentionally connecting learners, employers, neighborhoods, and opportunity across an ecosystem. Our existing and expanding partnerships with the Wayne County Community College District, Anchor Detroit and its campuses, and Michigan Central root our engagement with our learners in a way that our current Detroit Center cannot. The Board’s approval of the sale of the Detroit Center today is not part of a real estate strategy but rather central to our education strategy. It is a student success strategy. It is a talent strategy for Michigan. It is a strategy bearing fewer overhead costs with greater impact opportunity.
The same stewardship lens applies to our investment in the Consumers Building in Grand Rapids, which was also approved by the Board today. This investment is not only about the needs of the moment. It supports the continued progression of our Campus Master Plan, strengthens our City Campus, and gives us capacity to support the programs, partnerships, and learning environments that advance empowered education and lifelong learning in a changing economy.
The timing of these two decisions is important. The sale of the Detroit building and the purchase of the Consumers Building allow us to act on a disciplined analysis of our assets. In Detroit, that analysis tells us our impact will be stronger through a flexible, partnership-based strategy that meets learners and employers across the city’s ecosystem rather than relying on a single building to define our presence. In Grand Rapids, that analysis tells us the Consumers Building strengthens the continued progression of our Campus Master Plan, expands capacity on our City Campus, and supports the programs, partnerships, and learning environments that will serve students and the region for decades.
As I have said before, we must remain steadfast in our mission, adapting with purpose and resolve: to empower learners in their pursuits, professions, and purpose, and to enrich society. That commitment continues to guide us, even in a shifting context, and we must continue to work together in leading through this moment.
I know the Board shares my optimism and enthusiasm for the ongoing success and stability of GVSU, relying in part on our shared work of stewardship during this complex chapter of our institution. Stewardship is not simply preserving what we have inherited. It is the responsibility to strengthen that inheritance for those who will come after us. Each of us serves this institution for only a season. Grand Valley is meant to endure. Our responsibility is to leave it stronger than we found it.
I am grateful to have thousands of faculty and staff who share a deep passion for our university and its learners. Enjoy the remainder of the summer season here in Michigan, and I look forward to the start of the Fall semester.
In gratitude and partnership,
Philly
