Lakeland Community College is in financial trouble and needs to correct its course quickly in order to avoid further trouble, the Ohio Auditor of State said in an audit issued April 16.
The community college in Kirtland had 4,245 students enrolled for the spring 2024 semester according to the school. That's a drop of more than half since 2012. Meanwhile, staffing has not been cut back adequately to fit that new normal, new facilities have been acquired, and many courses continue to be offered despite major under-enrollment, the audit found.
“We have serious concerns about the college’s ability to continue to serve the residents of Lake County,” Auditor Keith Faber said in a release. “LKCC’s trajectory is unsustainable.”
The audit also said that members of the board of trustees reported “they were unaware of the deteriorating financial condition of the college,” and lacked insight into operating decisions.
The college and the board of trustees issued two statements in response to the report. The trustees are “committed to implementing changes,” according to a statement from Board Chair Ellen Foley Kessler.
“The board has provided for a balanced budget for this year and will in all future years while increasing financial reserves,” she wrote. “Our Board of Trustees will make every change as recommended by the Auditor. Lakeland will remain a top community college in the State of Ohio.”
Lakeland is “committed to being a responsible steward of public resources” and will focus on efficiencies and containing costs, college spokesperson Tracy Shook said
“We sincerely appreciate the work of the Auditor of State and look forward to incorporating their recommendations into our strategies and policies as we move forward,” she wrote.
The college is “overstaffed, burdened with debt related to facilities that are significantly underutilized, and is offering hundreds” of courses that don’t meet minimum enrollment standards each semester, the audit found.
The audit questioned why the college broke ground on a 16,000-foot expansion on its main campus despite the decline in enrollment and a shift to online learning; meanwhile, it said the Holden University Center, which Lakeland purchased in 2014 for $13.5 million, was mothballed during the course of the audit.
The college did cut 25 faculty and administrative positions in December 2023, while about 30 employees chose to take a buy out through a voluntary separation program.
Lakeland should consider a number of steps to reign in operations, including developing a policy to cancel low-enrolled courses, cutting health insurance costs, and renegotiating faculty salary schedules and summer pay, the audit argued.
