Report shows JSU only has enough cash to operate for a week


bluedog

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JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - According to a report revealed by the IHL, Jackson State University has only enough cash on hand to operate for a week.

JSU's cash reserves have been reduced by 89% over the past 5 years, dwindling from $37 million in 2012 to $4.2 million in 2016.


The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning hired a CPA firm, Matthews, Cutrer and Lindsay, P.A. who determined that JSU owes $8.74 in debt for every $1 held in their unrestricted fund balance, after adjusting for net pension liability.

The system average is $1.32 in debt for every $1 held.

According to the report, JSU has enough money to stay in operation for 7.77 days.

http://m.msnewsnow.com/msnewsnow/db_330626/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=jJPGF1qg
 
This is definitely not good news. It would be interested to see what major projects caused the school to spend more than it was generating. With just $4.2 million in reserves, JSU has to make sure there's enough revenue for it to remain open through the fall semester. I'm sure one pay period of paying its employees could easily wipe out that $4.2 million. This is what you call a school remaining open from pay check to pay check.

JSU’s cash reserves go from $37M to $4.2M in 5 years, IHL says
http://www.wapt.com/article/jsus-ca...r37m-to-dollar42m-in-5-years-ihl-says/6963218
 
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Didn't JSU enrollment explode during that time period? Didn't they need additional housing to accomodate? WE need more facts to understand how they got like this. Is it growing pains...as many businesses also face...or was it fiscal mismanagement. Tell the truth!
 
CT, tell the truth and shame the devil! How in the world the reserves drop like that? Reserves are just that, reserves for emergency purposes or to cover expenses that have grown with inflation. But to go from $37mil to $4mil someone over spent somewhere. At least I hope that or at least mismanagement is the problem. Already saw where one high ranking official had his hand in the cookie jar. Hope there aren't any more doing the same.
 
Didn't JSU enrollment explode during that time period? Didn't they need additional housing to accomodate? WE need more facts to understand how they got like this. Is it growing pains...as many businesses also face...or was it fiscal mismanagement. Tell the truth!

It sounds like, in order for the school to grow its enrollment, it might have accepted too many deferred compensations or IOU's without any way of getting its monies in case a student's financial aid gets rejected. I know when I attended SU, the school would not approve any deferred compensations unless they had an official letter from the federal agency issuing the monies that the student's financial aid was approved and will be issued at a later date.
 
Sounds like the University has no oversight. A CPA/Internal Auditor should have nipped this in the bud, per say.
 
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An automatic fix is to placed a freeze on all non-essential spending and just hope & pray that no major crisis happens during the freeze period.
 
It sounds like, in order for the school to grow its enrollment, it might have accepted too many deferred compensations or IOU's without any way of getting its monies in case a student's financial aid gets rejected. I know when I attended SU, the school would not approve any deferred compensations unless they had an official letter from the federal agency issuing the monies that the student's financial aid was approved and will be issued at a later date.

Yup same here with my scholarship for grad school. They had to have the letter stating it for the entire year.
 
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The Alcorn news is a sports-specific story. That's why it stayed on the sports board.

I agree that the JSU story is not sports related, but this could possibly affect JSU's athletic programs in the future.
 
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Actually, the Alcorn person compared what is called SMALL talk to what is called BIG talk. He said nothing about the Alcorn story being on the Sports Board.
 
Who responsibility is it to manage the school's cash flow??? Is it JSU or IHL???
The IHL. It's the entity that's responsible for project approval and auditing, so it seems they dropped the ball somewhere along the way since the last annual audit.
It's almost impossible to lose that much money in one year.

Here is the full statement from JSU:

Jackson State University is aware of financial issues as they currently stand. The university has taken the necessary steps to restore cash reserves. These measures include:

  • Unfilled Education and General-funded positions across the university will remain vacant;
  • Purchasing and travel will be limited to critical and justifiable needs;
  • Any and all excess revenue will be held in reserve; and
  • Facility Management will begin retrofitting the residence halls with energy conservation lighting.
Based on projections from the first quarter, with these measures in place, we will add $10 million in cash reserves by the end of the fiscal year.

It is important to emphasize that the news release from IHL applies to the university’s cash reserves – its savings account. This in no way affects the daily operating budget of the university. At no time, past or present, has the university been under any threat of insolvency. We will continue to meet our obligations including payroll, scholarships and operating expenses.

Our priorities remain taking care of our students, faculty and staff and providing a world-class education expected from a major research institution.
 
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One thing we must remember is when it comes to HBCU'S the media makes it look worse than what the problem really is. I seriously doubt the problem is really bad for the university.
 
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