On Tuesday, March 2, occurring at lower RTUC, President Patrick White, along with other Millikin University faculty members, spoke at an open campus forum informational in order to discuss the erection of the new University Center, and the total amount of freshman, transfer students and overall student occupation due to the current financial situation of the university.

The main focus of the forum was the University Center. “The University Center will be built in, and through, and around Staley Library,” President White said. Furthermore,

White said that, in order to educate both students and faculty members of Millikin University, on March 19, the architects who are designing the new University Center will hold a presentation and discuss the specific details of the new University Center.

Additionally, during the forum, a projection of Millikin University’s financial health, as well as the projected enrollment of students, was discussed.

According to the forum, Millikin University experienced an increase of freshmen students this last semester, as there was an incoming lot of 477 traditional freshmen students, which surpassed the original estimation of 455. In accordance with first year students, Millikin University also experienced an increase of transfer students, ending up with a total of 122, exceeding the estimated number of 115 transfer students.

Overall, Millikin University experienced a larger amount of students than was originally predicted during the following school year. Based on estimations, the administrators of Millikin University had expected 1,750 students; however, during this school year, Millikin University experienced a sharp increase from the original numbers, as the total number of students for this school year averaged out to 1,783.

Further according to the senior staff, because the total number of students exceeded the predicted number, the percentage of the predicted student tuition discount will experience a minor decrease. Instead of providing students with a discount of 50.4 percent, the predicted discount, students will now receive a 50.1 percent discount.

Additionally, Millikin University’s PACE program will be granted with a $2.3  million budget. However, other various programs of Millikin University will experience financial cutbacks.

Compensation, which was predicted to be $26.2 million, will only be $25.8 million. The Woods budget will also decrease from a projected $2.1 million, to now $1.8 million.

Overall, the annual debt increased from $2.5 million to $2.8 million; however, the revenue the campus has received was higher, from $46.1 million to $46.3 million.