State audit: FAMU lost $1.4M in tuition and fees in 2015-2016, mainly due to enrollment drop

The enrollment decline continued to hurt FAMU’s budget last fiscal year.

The "Management's Discussion and Analysis" section of the recent FAMU financial statement audit said that the enrollment drop was the main factor that caused FAMU to lose more than a million dollars in tuition and fees in 2015-2016.

“Net student tuition and fees decreased by $1.4 million, or 3.1 percent, as compared to the 2014-15 fiscal year,” the section said. “This decrease was due primarily to a decline in enrollment.” 

FAMU’s enrollment fell for the fifth consecutive fiscal year in 2016. The university’s 12-month unduplicated headcount for July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016 was 11,178. That was a decline of 312 students from the previous fiscal year, when the total enrollment was 11,490.

The $1.4M number is another financial strain on FAMU, but it’s not as big as the $9M+ number that the FAMU Division of Finance and Administration presented to the Board of Trustees (BOT) back in May, 2016.

“The significant enrollment decline which occurred in the current fiscal year resulted in a decline in tuition and fees revenues in excess of $9 million,” the division said in a BOT workbook.

FAMU said it lost $9.2M in tuition and fees in 2014-2015, which was also mainly caused by the enrollment drop.

The administration of former President Elmira Mangum said it expected FAMU to lose about another $10.5M in tuition and fees due to its projected enrollment of 9,000 in Fall 2016, a loss of 920 students from Fall 2015.

But the Fall 2016 enrollment wasn’t as bad as expected. FAMU had 9,612 students for Fall 2016. That’s more than originally projected, but it's still a loss of 308 students from the previous fall.

The total amount of tuition and fee money FAMU will lose isn’t clear. But it could still end up being in the millions.