Editor’s note: This story is part one of a weekly series tracking Syracuse University’s Invest Syracuse initiative.

Invest Syracuse, Syracuse University’s $100 million fundraising initiative, was announced last July as a plan to improve SU’s academics, student life and financial aid opportunities.

Some Invest Syracuse initiatives, including the Euclid Shuttle and the Graham Fitness Center, have already been implemented. But the bulk of the plan will begin affecting campus during the 2018-19 academic year.

First-year students coming to SU beginning in the fall 2018 semester will pay an annual $3,300 tuition premium, which will help fund Invest Syracuse initiatives.

The initiative will be funded with $30 million from the tuition premium, $30 million in “administration spending” cuts and $40 million in fundraising between 2017 and 2019.

As part of Invest Syracuse, the university also plans to improve academic and career advising, increase support for mental health and wellness and bolster its research capabilities.

SU will use the $40 million from fundraising to support financial aid opportunities for students. Syverud said in January that the university was on track to raise half that amount by the end of Fiscal Year 2018, in September. This part of Invest Syracuse also includes a scholarship program for high school valedictorians and salutatorians.

Invest Syracuse is part of the Academic Strategic Plan, which sets an academic vision for SU and outlines how it can meet its goals. The ASP was rolled out in 2015 after Syverud became chancellor and has been approved by SU’s Board of Trustees.

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Student Association President Ghufran Salih and Vice President Kyle Rosenblum said during their spring 2018 campaign that they would encourage SU to be more transparent about where Invest Syracuse funds are being allocated. Rosenblum said he and Salih would push the university to release a detailed cost report showing where the funds are going.

The $3,300 tuition premium pushes the cost of tuition at SU to $50,230 for the 2018-19 academic year. Students who enrolled at SU before the current academic year will be grandfathered in and won’t have to pay the premium.

The university announced in August that it had exceeded its $150 million fundraising for Fiscal Year 2017 by nearly $90,000. More than $24 million of that amount was earmarked for Invest Syracuse.

SU officials have said that $20 million of the total $30 million in cuts has already been identified. Syverud has said that staff layoffs will not be part of the decrease in spending. The chancellor has also said the university identified $5 million in cuts in part by reducing the use of consultants across 14 administrative departments, among other things.

Published on September 9, 2018 at 8:31 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_