Letter from the Vice President for Finance and Administration — Fiscal Year 2024

I am pleased to present the audited financial statements for Wheaton College for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. The College received a “clean” or unqualified audit opinion from our external auditors, which means the financial statements are presented fairly and are free from material misstatement.

As an industry, the market factors impacting higher education continue to be defined by both inspiring opportunities and discouraging trends and rising costs. Despite the ongoing disruptive factors for higher education, Wheaton has maintained stable enrollment, developed and sustained competitive academic facilities, grown its endowment and annual fundraising, and funded significant strategic investments for growth, including new academic programs and athletic teams. These investments for growth are showing signs of success including enrollment growth in fiscal year 2024. The College is focused on its integrated financial strategy to simultaneously grow and diversify total net revenues, improve operating margins, increase philanthropic support, sustain and grow its financial resources, increase debt capacity, and invest in campus renewal.

Wheaton ended the year with an unrestricted operating deficit of $8.42 million, a $.43 million favorable change over the prior year. This decrease in deficit represents the College’s first year without significant governmental pandemic relief. As fiscal year 2023’s operating loss included over $4 million in such pandemic relief, the $.43 million favorable improvement in fiscal year 2024 actually represents an over $4 million improvement in operations through revenue growth and cost reductions. The College’s balance sheet strengthened year over year with an $8 million increase in assets and a $1 million decrease in debt while maintaining over $19 million in cash reserves.

The fiscal year 2024 operating performance not only reflects the challenging operating environment for higher education institutions but also includes significant strategic start-up investments for new programs, including criminal justice, design, and nursing. Each of these programs enrolled their first students in fiscal year 2024. The College has also added women’s and men’s water polo, fencing, and men’s volleyball to our roster of NCAA teams. Finally, the College launched a new Life and Career Design Institute, an innovative program that takes a holistic approach to life and career planning by connecting experiential learning with students’ academic and co-curricular lives. It also envisions engaging the College’s alumni network as well as collaborating with businesses and nonprofit organizations. Investments such as these will continue to strengthen our program portfolio, student success, and operating performance.

The College’s endowment market value was $272.8 million at June 30, 2024, up approximately $16.6 million from June 30, 2023, due to net investment returns of $28.4 million and donor contributions of $2.8 million, offset by the annual endowment distribution of approximately $14.6 million to support the College’s operating budget. The endowment investment performance compares favorably to the respective market indices. The endowment distribution supports the College’s operations, providing funding for student scholarships, student experiential learning opportunities, faculty research, academic program support, capital improvements, and other strategic operating needs. The unrestricted quasi portion of the endowment portfolio was $48.3 million at June 30, 2024, up $1.9 million from June 30, 2023.

We are confident that our integrated strategic and financial plans will continue to help ensure the College’s long-term growth and sustainability.

Roger W. Stackpoole
Vice President for Finance and Administration

Audited financial statements