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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowI’m concerned that the headline “AIT meltdown derails huge Marian gift” in the Aug. 6 edition of the IBJ may lead readers to believe that Marian University and our College of Osteopathic Medicine are financially challenged. Nothing could be further from the truth.
IBJ reporter John Russell accurately conveyed the university is solvent, we are coming off two consecutive years of record fundraising, we have never missed a bond payment, and that we are in no danger of doing so. Unfortunately, that message is buried deep in the story. More concerning is what is missing from the story: greater detail about our financial situation.
Marian University is projecting revenue for FY17 will be at or near $100 million, an increase of more than $10 million over last year. Net assets will increase from $67 million in FY16 to $80 million. When classes begin Aug. 22, enrollment will grow from 2,750 students to more than 3,000, the largest enrollment in the university’s 80-year history. We will have a record freshmen enrollment this fall, an increase of more than 20 percent over last year. And we will generate positive cash flow of $3 million as we invest in new facilities to support our growth and continue to pay down our long-term debt. Financially, Marian University has never been stronger.
We remain grateful to Michael Evans. Without the nearly $10 million he has already donated to Marian University, we would not have been able to open the state’s first new medical school in more than a century, and thousands of Hoosiers would be denied the health care services that graduates will begin providing when the first class graduates in May 2017.
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Daniel J. Elsener, president
Marian University
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