California Lutheran University administrators announced a $25 million fundraising campaign and new enrollment strategies at an Oct. 28 Town Hall for students, faculty and staff, addressing budgetary challenges stemming from seven consecutive years of declining enrollment. 

The meeting marked Nunes’ first Town Hall since his inauguration in October. In an interview with The Echo, Nunes said his goal was to be “starkly candid” with the campus community as his executive cabinet presented preliminary headcount trends and plans to expand the university’s programming. 

“We’ve got to get people’s attention,” Nunes said. “They’ve got to understand that we’re moving from apathy — which is when we’re asleep—to urgency—where we can fight for this mission, but not take them over into anxiety. We’re trying to raise the temperature and … [understand] the urgency of the moment in which we find ourselves.”

Leanne Neilson, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, presented a chart detailing the university’s student, full-time faculty, adjunct faculty and staff/administration headcount over the span of 2009 to 2025. Official graphical information will be announced at the next Town Hall on Dec. 10, Nunes said.

Neilson said Cal Lutheran has a headcount of 3,144 full-time and part-time students this year, marking a 6% decrease from 3,351 students last year and a 27% decrease from 2019’s 4,303 enrolled students, per fall census personnel data. 

The university budgeted for about 3,700 students in 2025, an overprojection of about 500 students, according to Dave Lawrence, newly appointed vice president for administration and finance.

“Before we fix the problem, we need to determine what is the source of the problem, like, ‘How did we miss that badly?’ and we’re doing that now,” Nunes said. “I am confident that we will not miss like that again.”

The shortfall in forecasted headcount has cost the university an additional $2.6 million on top of an anticipated $4.3 million deficit, Lawrence said. 

“Fortunately, we were able to make adjustments after the census to still be at $4.3 million,” Lawrence said. 

Nunes said some of these adjustments included “cuts and efficiencies,” but didn’t go into further detail.

Lawrence said the class of 2029’s low enrollment has the potential to “ripple,” or leave a lasting impact, on the university’s headcount and budget over the subsequent four years. Lawrence also said if Cal Lutheran recruits 410 first-year students in 2026, matching this year’s total, the university would still face a $2 million deficit because of the cycle.

“We are entering a space where we’re going to have to do, one, a better job at how we budget for students, and how to do a better job at how we do our forecasts,” Lawrence said.

Despite the decrease in enrollment, Neilson said the university’s faculty headcount nearly mirrors 2011’s total, with 157 full-time and 209 adjunct faculty despite 800 fewer students.

Staff and administrative positions jumped from 347 to 412 in 2025, which she said could be attributed to compliance regulations and additional athletics teams brought to campus. 

“This is one of the pieces that we’re going to be digging into, but you can see how the lines are not matching the student drop,” Neilson said. “We’re still crunching and it might look a little bit different in some future iterations.”

Laureen Hill, executive partner for strategic planning and business development, said two of the university’s three graduate school programs experienced double-digit-percentage enrollment declines, while the Graduate School of Psychology saw an enrollment increase of 14.9%.

Hill also discussed recruitment tactics, as she said the university received its highest number of traditional undergraduate student applications since at least 2020 with 6,030, but only 9.6% of the 4,603 admits enrolled, its lowest yield in that time frame. This was paired with the most “aggressive” awarding of financial aid offered to students in 2025 despite the low yield.

Campus visits, however, were found to have a positive impact on first-year applicants, according to Hill, with 36% yield, compared to a 5% yield without a trip to campus.

Beyond promoting tours, Hill said recruitment strategies will focus on building a pipeline with local high schools, adopting “intensive and early personalized outreach” with applicants and utilizing Cal Lutheran’s alumni network to grow their reach. The university also plans to apply principles used by Athletics to other areas in an effort to emulate its productivity.

“[Athletics] do a spectacular job recruiting and yielding their teams and their students,” Hill said. “They come with a common purpose. They’re connected to a community. They have captains of their teams, they’re dialed in with coaches, there’s a lot of interaction.” 

In addition to refining recruitment tactics, Neilson presented new plans to expand Cal Lutheran’s programming. 

Cal Lutheran will launch an esports program with an anticipated start date of fall 2026, Neilson said.

The academic value of esports was emphasized by Neilson, who said it involves “complex, fast-paced games that require players to problem solve. They have to make high-stakes decisions under pressure — sounds kind of like critical thinking to me.”

Neilson provided examples of successful esports models at institutions including the University of Redlands, which launched its esports arena three years ago and has brought in 25 new students annually specifically for esports. The program will look to include competitions and a potential connection to the sports management program, which is considering adding a concentration for interested students, Neilson said.

Neilson said the university plans to implement a number of summer programs looking to roll out in 2026 as pilot programs. Proposed courses include shortened, two-week intensive courses, classes for incoming first-year students and high school students, expanding online course offerings and hosting professional bootcamps. 

“Our summer classes have really low enrollments, and I’m talking primarily about our traditional undergraduate programs,” Neilson said. “We have capacity here to bring people on campus, our own students, high school students, community members, and we see this as an area where we could generate more revenue.”

The university also plans to introduce “micro-credentials” as described by Neilson as a “kind of a mini minor,” consisting of multiple one-credit classes that can be grouped together to earn the certificate. There are talks to introduce the micro-credentials in the Graduate School of Education and the area of athletic leadership.

After reducing Cal Lutheran’s study abroad locations to six earlier this year, Neilson provided an update regarding the university’s application process to the International Student Exchange Program. Cal Lutheran will shift away from direct enrollment, instead leaving tuition to pass through host institutions and exchanging students so each university retains its own tuition revenue.  

“At our peak, before the pandemic, we were transferring about $1.8 million of student tuition from students who were studying abroad,” Neilson said. “They were paying us and then we were turning and paying the other institutions.”

Regina Biddings-Muro, vice president for University Advancement, ended the Town Hall by outlining a proposed $25 million fundraising effort, with the funds going toward renovations to Samuelson Chapel, an on-campus track & field facility and new scholarships for students. 

$3 million of the raised funds will go toward repairing the roof of the university’s “centerpiece” Samuelson Chapel, repairing what Biddings-Muro said was “longstanding” water damage. Approximately $800,000 will go toward interior repairs, while $1.2 million will go toward a new roof itself. The remaining $1 million will go toward a maintenance endowment. 

$10 million will be put toward an on-campus track and field facility. The university has not had a dedicated track on campus since its opening in 1959, according to past Echo coverage.

$3 million will go underground, preparing the land for drainage and other needs. The other $7 million will go toward a track, a soccer field in the middle, a scoreboard, bleachers, and a storage shed, among other elements. 

Biddings-Muro said building a track is “necessary,” and that the university sees it as a “very, very significant” source of revenue following its construction. Biddings-Muro said if the university is able to raise 60% of the necessary funds, ground will be broken in the next 11 months. 

The remaining $12 million will go toward additional scholarship opportunities for students, Biddings-Muro said. She also said the university has begun discussions with existing donors and alumni to help build “incredible momentum” toward their goal. Biddings-Muro said an anonymous donor approached the university with an offer: a $590,000 matching donation if Cal Lutheran could raise that amount itself before Dec. 31. 

The Town Hall meeting was extended from its original 60-minute time frame to 90 minutes to allow more time for dialogue from attendees throughout. Nunes concluded the meeting promptly at 5 p.m. without taking additional questions, but sent a follow-up email tentatively scheduling the next Town Hall for Wednesday, Dec. 10, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

“We hear your concerns, particularly those related to workload. Many of us are feeling the strain as we balance the realities of a smaller workforce with the increasing demands on our time and energy. The Cabinet has begun important conversations about this dual challenge, as we plan to make it a central topic at our next Town Hall,” Nunes said.

While Hill said her work is “incremental,” she and Lawrence hope their strategic initiatives generate $1.4 million above their base case projection if successful. 

“We’re in a ditch, we’re not in a hole,” Hill said. “The hole, you can’t see the light of day. The ditch, we’re just off the road a little bit. We can dig out.”

Nunes said the current goal is to cut the university’s deficit in half to $2 million in 2026-27, to break even in 2027-28 and to ultimately be in the positive in 2028-29.

“Some people think that’s a virtue, like, to be a best kept secret, … it’s not, it’s actually a failure,” Nunes said. “There’s no virtue in not telling our story and not permitting students to benefit from all of the good that is here.”