Muskegon Community College’s Board of Trustees approved a Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan at its Feb. 19 meeting as one of several strategies the College is taking to meet its financial needs in light of declining enrollment.
The plan, which was unanimously approved, is a one-time incentive available to all full-time faculty, Educational Support Staff (ESS), Administrative, Professional and Support Staff (APS), and Custodial/Maintenance employees who have a minimum of 10 years continuous full-time service at MCC as of January 1, 2020, and whose age plus continuous years of service, as of January 1, 2020, total 68 or greater.
In all, 69 of MCC’s 226 full-time employees qualify for the early retirement incentive, which is a one-time lump sum payment of 35 percent of the employee’s base salary. The deadline for submitting an acceptance of the incentive package is March 16, 2020 at 5 p.m.
Participating ESS, APS, and Custodial/Maintenance employees will retire by June 30, 2020 and faculty by August 14, 2020. Because of their potential impact, vacancies will be carefully weighed with institutional needs. MCC retains discretion to extend the end date based on the College’s business and educational priorities.
Within the next week, the College will provide eligible employees with individual packages containing estimated incentive payout summaries, along with guides and websites for considering early retirement and acceptance of the incentive. Meetings will be held with representatives from TIAA-CREF and Advantage Benefits Group. A consultant will be on campus to meet with employees on an individual basis to look at each person’s situation in regard to Social Security, Medicare, and other plans for which employees may be eligible.
Since 2013, when MCC last offered an early retirement incentive, the College has experienced an 18 percent drop in enrollment from 4,875 to 3,989 students.
“MCC, like many colleges in Michigan and around the nation, is anticipating greater financial challenges in the near future because of declining enrollment, limited federal and state funding, and slow-trending property taxes,” explained MCC Provost and Executive Vice President John Selmon.
“Under the Michigan funding model for community colleges, we primarily count on student enrollment, state appropriations, and local property taxes for our revenue to fund annual operational costs. So, in an effort to be proactive, one strategy to remain strong financially for MCC is to offer a voluntary early retirement incentive plan.”
MCC President Dale K. Nesbary concluded, “Combined with strategies to increase revenue such as recapturing the adult market, re-evaluating ways to reinforce workforce training to fuel the region’s talent pipeline, providing faster and more flexible options to gain credentials with labor market value, focusing on greater retention efforts, and fundraising, we plan to continue providing a high quality education for our community.”