2016-2017 Budget

Message from the President
March 8, 2016

Dear LMU Students:

As I complete my first year as your president, I am impressed by your wondrous accomplishments and excited by your futures and the future we are building for Loyola Marymount University. LMU remains on a sound academic and fiscal track. Yesterday, our Board of Trustees met and approved the budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17.

As part of next year’s budget, tuition will increase 3.94 percent and housing fees will increase 0.75 percent. Some of the more significant increased costs within our budget include higher contractual costs (including funding associated with health care), increased utility expenses, and maintenance for new technology capital projects, which will continue to enhance your educational experience. Also, we recently crossed the $80 million threshold in our $100 million Scholarship Initiative, allowing us to assist more students pursuing an LMU education.

Our twin strategies of setting a course of global imagination and ensuring that an LMU education remains cost effective are working. LMU is strengthening our connections to Los Angeles and the global community: Our plans to move some of our creative SFTV programs to a Playa Vista location are progressing; we launched WPI@LMU, a joint initiative of the university and the World Policy Institute in New York; we honored President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree; and we are actively increasing our visibility and building a university brand to reflect the extraordinary people, place, and experience of LMU. The university has also committed to support Loyola Law School’s strategic plan to remain competitive by reducing its class size and investing in financial aid. These initiatives, among others, will enhance LMU’s reputation to the benefit of our current students, prospective students, and alumni. The type of teaching and educational environment that LMU delivers every day is exceptional, admitting no low-cost substitute. Our student-teacher ratio remains 11 to 1, and the average class size is 20, which supports our teacher-scholar model and strengthens our academic environment. We continue enrolling talented and diverse students. For fall 2016, we received over 13,300 freshman applications—a record high. Notably, we received applications from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, for the first time ever, along with applications from more than 100 countries. The quality of our applicants also continues to rise, with higher average SAT scores and greater diversity.

Nearly half of our current first-year students came to us with a GPA of 3.8 or higher. Also, this year, we boast 13 Fulbright finalists, our most ever and among the most of any institution in the U.S. And, critically— daily—our faculty and student development professionals shepherd transformation of our impressive students, helping them become leaders who serve for and with others.

As I have gotten to know you this year, I have experienced great joy, whether sitting in the bleachers with some of you, sharing a meal, or greeting you as I walk across campus. At LMU, in support of one another, we go about the serious business of education with good humor, deep compassion, and faith. Please know that I and our faculty, student development professionals, staff, and administrators are doing all we can to make your educational transformation bright, while seeking to increase the value of an LMU degree for our many alumni. An LMU education is unmatched and you are the reason.

With sincere appreciation and thanks,

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President