A reimagined Jewell aligns costs to revenues while improving our agility and ability to meet student demand. We are focused on ensuring relevance and maintaining excellence for students, employers and our Greater Kansas City community long into the future.
Like many small liberal arts colleges across the country with modest enrollments and endowments, Jewell is facing significant financial challenges brought about by increasing costs.
There have been many strategic innovations in the last several years including a tuition re-pricing, diversified enrollment growth, and the In Pursuit campaign. Despite these efforts which led to increased enrollment, the cost of operations has increasingly exceeded the pace of revenue. It’s essential that we confront inefficiencies to build a solid foundation for future growth and sustainability.
Understanding the needs of the region and learners, the College has been reorganized into two distinct colleges serving complementary missions.
College of Arts and Sciences: Continues to focus on undergraduate programs, undergirded by a core curriculum steeped in the liberal arts tradition of understanding oneself in an ever-changing world, that prepare students for careers. Innovative programs in Business, STEM fields, Nursing, and Health Sciences have been reimagined to include flexible pathways that allow students to double major and achieve their academic goals sooner at lower cost.
College of Graduate and Innovative Programs: Focuses on serving learners at every stage through new graduate and certificate programs:
In the fall of 2024, a committee comprised of Faculty and members of the Board of Trustees were tasked with evaluating departments, programs, and majors in the context of marketplace demands and needs of today’s prospective students.
The efforts to Reimagine Jewell addressed changes in three core areas:
Academics. Student enrollment trends have signaled for some time that the portfolio of Jewell’s academic programs needed to change. Extensive work has been done developing a flexible, adaptable curriculum that ensures Jewell’s relevance long into the future.
Athletics. A working team and task force of alumni, athletics staff, and members of the Board worked together to inform a more viable athletic aid strategy, and a sustainable and strategic fundraising plan. The work also informed plans for program additions and adaptations and laid important groundwork for athletic facility improvements.
Administrative. An interdepartmental team worked to find reductions in campus-wide operational spending through vendor contracts, energy conservation, and technology infrastructure while also targeting revenue growth via summer activity, campus facilities and strategic partnerships. The work also included ensuring a sustainable but enriching co-curricular experience that meets students’ expectations for student life, campus living and student organizations.
Our efforts to reimagine Jewell have yielded immediate results beyond cost savings and strategic reorganization. Jewell has built momentum for the future and enthusiastic support from our community.
Following extensive analysis and thoughtful deliberation, the William Jewell College Board of Trustees declared financial exigency in December 2024. In doing so, the Board deployed an important tool that enables reallocation of resources, restructuring of academic programs, scholarships and significant reductions in force. Exigency provided leadership the ability to restructure the college programs to better align with the student population and demand. Jewell exited financial exigency August 13, 2026, with demonstrated operational stability, financial discipline and strategic alignment. Exiting financial exigency does not mean every challenge is behind us, but it is an important milestone that reflects the meaningful progress made over the past 18 months and provides a stronger foundation for the work ahead.
> August 2026: Jewell Unveils Reimagined Vision for Growth and Innovation news release
> June 2025: $9 million fundraising milestone
> February 2025: Academic realignment
> December 2024: The Path Forward news release
> December 2024: The Path Forward community message
Jewell’s leadership team hosts Town Halls for alumni and parents. These videos are summarized below in 20- to 30-minute presentations.
> Sept. 16 – Campus Update; Meet President Drew Van Horn
> June 24 – Reimagine Jewell Update
> April 24 – Athletics
> April 14 – Enrollment Strategy
> April 8 – Academics
> March 25 – How did we get here?
> Feb. 19 and March 18 – Reimagine Jewell overview
Financial exigency is an important tool that enables reallocation of resources, restructuring of academic programs and scholarships and significant reductions in force. As defined by the American Association of University Professors, exigency is a condition of financial distress caused by a substantial decline in income. The declaration of exigency is an intentional step toward creating financial stability and securing the path forward for the College. Through a comprehensive process, institutions can emerge stronger and more resilient. We will transition out of the financial exigency period in less than one year after efficiencies are being achieved according to plan.
Financial exigency is an important tool that enables reallocation of resources, restructuring of academic programs and scholarships and significant reductions in force. As defined by the American Association of University Professors, exigency is a condition of financial distress caused by a substantial decline in income. The declaration of exigency is an intentional step toward creating financial stability and securing the path forward for the College. Through a comprehensive process, institutions can emerge stronger and more resilient. We will transition out of the financial exigency period in less than one year after efficiencies are being achieved according to plan.
Yes. The College’s leadership—including the interim president, cabinet, faculty leadership and the Board of Trustees—previously implemented a variety of strategic cost-cutting measures to achieve efficiencies. These included asset sales, savings through improved procurement and sourcing, operational cost cuts, deferral of maintenance on non-essential properties and equipment, and most recently, a reduction in administrative staff. Despite these efforts, stronger measures and urgent changes are required to place Jewell on solid financial footing for the future. Additional immediate cost-saving measures must be implemented to balance our budget and ensure Jewell’s future success.
Our priority while we do this work is for as little disruption to the student experience as possible and we are committed to supporting them during this time. We will be able to update our community in much more detail early in 2025.
Further details will be shared in the coming weeks as the College’s leadership, faculty and staff act to deliver programs more cost effectively. This includes all our majors and athletic programs. All majors and course schedules will continue as planned for the spring 2025 semester. All athletic programs will continue as planned for spring as well while we complete the work developing a more viable athletic aid strategy, and a sustainable and strategic fundraising plan.
We are determined to sustain our mission as a critical-thinking, career-focused college. Declaring exigency reflects our commitment to improving Jewell for the future and is the first step in the process toward ensuring long-term stability. As we transform our business model, we are committed to communicating openly along the way and we welcome feedback and ideas from students and their families. Student enrollment trends have signaled for some time that the portfolio of Jewell’s academic programs needs to change. Many of these changes will be welcomed, but some will impact programs, services and traditions that, while valuable, do not have sufficient aggregate demand to continue in their current state. While this endeavor is focused on achieving financial and operating efficacy, our ultimate goal is to ensure relevance and maintain excellence for years to come. We welcome your feedback, questions and ideas directly to president@william.jewell.edu.
Further details will be shared in the coming weeks as the College’s leadership, faculty and staff act to deliver programs more cost effectively and responsive to marketplace demand, while maintaining our reputation for the quality education and highly developed critical thinking skills demonstrated by our graduates. We are committed to ensuring the Jewell community has the information it needs. As we take this journey together, we invite you to share your reactions, questions and ideas directly to president@william.jewell.edu.
The Board of Trustees has paused the presidential search to determine the most appropriate leadership needs during this period of transition. We will resume this search soon, after a re-evaluation of our leadership needs, with specific emphasis on financial health. Our interim president, Susan Chambers, remains committed to serving the College until longer-term leadership is identified.
We just welcomed our largest class since 2014, and we began this year with over 950 total learners which represents nearly a 30% increase from 2019. We’ve transformed our student population over the last five years and it now reflects the diversity of the Kansas City metro area in which we reside. There is demand for Jewell from employers for our graduates and from families who desire a well-ranked, quality academic experience. Every day work is being done on The Hill to shape students into the critical thought leaders our workforce and world needs. Continued unrestricted financial support from our alumni and donor community is more important now than ever. You can support a Jewell student’s journey today here.
