University President Ellen Granberg announced Tuesday that officials are developing a multiyear plan to strengthen GW’s long-term financial health amid shifting federal policies — a process that will review operations and could potentially result in additional layoffs.
Granberg said in an email and video to community members that the GW Foundational Excellence Initiative will focus on strengthening GW’s financial health by identifying opportunities to manage costs and grow revenue for the University, as well as improving how the school operates overall as an organization. The initiative’s website states the move as an “urgent” response to the ongoing financial headwinds universities nationwide are facing, like decreased international student enrollment and shifting federal policies.
“Let me be clear that this initiative is more than a response to financial challenges,” Granberg said in a video message. “It is a commitment to lasting change in support of our mission.”
The plan will provide steps to clear the University’s current structural deficit and invest in the strategic framework, which the website hints could lead to additional layoffs. The disclosure comes after officials laid off 43 staff members at the end of September due to budget cuts — the first round of University-wide layoffs since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“GW will likely need to get smaller and will aim, to the greatest extent possible, to do this through attrition and by eliminating vacancies,” the website reads.
GW last reported in August that the University’s structural deficit stood at $24 million in July, and officials have declined to provide an updated number since. Officials told the Faculty Senate in December they expect GW to operate at or near breakeven in FY2026 after operating expenses exceeded revenue by $75 million in the prior fiscal year.
GW is currently in the process of creating a new budget model, which they plan to implement during FY2027.
The initiative will supplement the budget scenarios officials asked school and unit leaders to develop in anticipation of potential 5, 10 and 15 percent budget cuts for fiscal year 2027, according to the website. The website states the initiative is focused on developing a multiyear plan to improve GW’s operations, identify new revenue options and ensure the University’s organizational structure supports these plans.
“As short-term measures are considered, University leadership will bear in mind their potential impact on the effectiveness of the long-term plan being developed in this initiative,” the website reads.
Granberg said in the video message that the initiative came about as officials were developing GW’s strategic framework — which they launched last fall — because they realized the University needed to improve it functions and strengthen GW’s financial health to meet the framework’s goals. GW launched its first strategic blueprint since 2020, “Raising Higher: OneGW’s Path to Preeminence,” in October, outlining three key priorities and 12 goals officials aim to achieve in the next five to seven years.
The third priority, strengthening the University’s foundation, is directly supported by the new initiative, according to its website. Granberg said in an interview with The Hatchet at the time that officials added the strategic framework’s third priority — “Strengthening Our Foundation for Excellence” — after soliciting feedback from faculty and staff.
“It was only after we talked to students and faculty and staff that we realized we needed that third area to improve the foundation, to make it easier to do creative things, interesting things, new things that came straight from the community,” Granberg said in the interview.
A steering committee for the initiative has 14 community members, including Chief of Staff Scott Mory, School of Engineering & Applied Science Interim Dean Jason Zara, University Registrar Katie Cloud, seven faculty members and four staff members. The committee will coordinate planning for the initiative and will seek “expertise and input” through GW’s administrative processes and governance structures, like the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government Association, per the website.
Huron Consulting Group, who officials hired in summer 2025 and has a reputation for recommending layoffs, will support the committee by conducting listening sessions, analyzing data, looking at data from GW’s peer institutions, modeling financial scenarios and sharing “best practices” from other universities, per the website. The website confirms that University officials will have the final say on any decisions resulting from the initiative.
Officials expect to prepare a finalized plan by this fall, after soliciting feedback through the website and meeting with members of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and SGA, according to the website.