Stop Cutting, Start Designing: A Future-State Approach to Fiscal Sustainability

Phil Schmoyer - Principal, Baker Tilly Advisory Group

Community colleges and regional institutions are facing a difficult reality: rising costs, fluctuating enrollment, and increasing pressure to improve student outcomes—all at once. Too often, the response defaults to across-the-board cost cutting, which may provide short-term relief but can create long-term organizational fragility.

This session introduces a practical, repeatable operational excellence approach that helps institutions move beyond reactive budgeting toward a more intentional and sustainable operating model. The framework combines stakeholder insight—capturing what is actually happening in day-to-day work—with targeted analytics that reveal performance patterns, cost drivers, and capacity constraints. Together, these insights create a credible, actionable roadmap that leadership teams can implement with confidence.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the key factors driving missed tuition payments.
2. Learn how cross-functional collaboration improves student financial support.
3. Explore technology solutions that streamline tuition payments and communications.

CPE Available

• 1 Credit: Finance