To: The NYU Community

From: NYU Provost Katherine E. Fleming and Executive Vice President Martin Dorph

Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2019

Introduction

Pending Board of Trustees approval in June, the expense operating budget for fiscal year 2019-20 (for all parts of the University other than NYU Langone Health) is $3.4 billion, 3.7% greater than this year. The increase is largely due to routine growth in salaries and other University expenses, and planned growth in programs and priorities, as well as expected growth in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai.

The proposed capital plan—for major multi-year investments in new facilities, technologies, and equipment—projects spending of about $816 million in 2019-2020 and $2.715 billion for FY2021 through FY2028.

The Operating Budget

The proposed operating budget for 2019-20 represents ongoing annual spending for programs, personnel, goods, and services, and programmatic and institutional priorities. Among the priorities that will shape the coming year’s operating budget are affordability measures (including a fourth year of restrained growth in undergraduate charges); investment in research development and faculty engagement and development through the Provost’s Office; investments related to the creation of a new High Performance Computing Cluster; and key academic priorities across several schools.

Cost-of-Attendance and Affordability: Mindful of the ongoing focus President Andrew Hamilton first declared in 2016 on affordability, for 2019-20 we are once again proposing to restrain the increase in cost-of-attendance (tuition, fees, room, and board) for most undergraduate programs; for 2019-20, the overall increase will be 2.9%. This reflects an increase in tuition and fees of 2.9%, and an increase in room and board of 2.9% for most entering freshmen.

The result of restraining increases over the last four years is the lowest four-year increase in more than 20 years. It is also considerably lower than the increases posted for the comparable period by the private colleges and universities against which we typically compete for students. The chart below shows the cumulative effect of NYU’s (far left) restraining the growth in tuition and fees.

NYU's efforts in restraining cost of attendance increases is lower than that of its peer schools, at 8% between 2016-2019

NYU's efforts in restraining cost of attendance increases is lower than that of its peer schools, at 8% between 2016-2019

Rates of Increase for Undergraduate Tuition and Fees (FY16 to FY19)

Scholarship Aid: The undergraduate scholarship aid budget—which currently is $445 million—will increase by 5.3%—or $24 million—for 2019-20.

Stipends for fully-funded PhD students are expected to increase by 2.25% for 2019-20.

Annual Increases and Other Compensation: For 2019-20, the annual merit increase (AMI) pool will be 2.5% for tenured and tenure-track faculty and full-time continuing contract faculty, and the AMI pool will be 2.5% for administrators.

Unionized employees—adjunct faculty, clerical workers, public safety officers, and graduate workers, among others— will receive increases in line with their collective bargaining agreements.

Fundraising and Endowment: In 2017-18, NYU raised $716 million. With 2018-19 only partway finished, NYU has already raised $339 million.

The value of the endowment as of August 31, 2018 was $4.3 billion, up from $4.1 billion a year prior. The endowment is expected to contribute approximately $134 million to the University’s annual operating budget.

The Capital Plan

Major ongoing and planned future projects include:

  • A new High-Performance Computing Cluster, which will increase the University's data center capacity to serve an ever-increasing demand for high speed, low latency research computing while consolidating/reducing our data center footprint within NYC. This will provide improved computing capabilities for NYU faculty—vital for research areas such as data science and artificial intelligence—and allow for more academic and strategic use of our Manhattan footprint through the relocation of data centers.
  • 370 Jay St., which will serve as a hub for media, technology, and the arts in Brooklyn. Its first occupants have already moved in. The remaining occupants are expected to move in over the course of the coming summer, with the building’s public-facing spaces expected to open in 2020.
  • Construction for 181 Mercer St.—a major new facility for the University that will provide dozens of new classrooms; new, specialized performing arts instructional spaces, including a 350-seat theatre; student housing; faculty housing; and a replacement athletics facility for Coles—is progressing well. The building is anticipated to open in fall 2022.
  • 708 Broadway/404 Lafayette St., which will be the home for the College of Global Public Health. The facility is anticipated to open in fall 2020.
  • Rogers Hall, a principal instructional and lab building at the Tandon School of Engineering, will be renovated and upgraded.
  • The Co-Generation Plant, which will be upgraded and expanded to allow for additional high-efficiency, low-emission electrical generation capacity for the superblocks along Mercer St.
  • FAS Science Facilities, which will entail renovations in the Waverly, Brown, and Silver Buildings.
  • Ongoing Renewal and Replacement of information technology, infrastructure, and equipment in existing buildings.

Debt rating reaffirmed: Earlier this year, both Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s reaffirmed their ratings of NYU’s bonds (Aa2 and AA-, respectively) and indicated a Stable Outlook.