USC's Athletics Department recorded a shortfall of $27 million during the 2020-21 fiscal year and expects a shortfall of $19 million for the next fiscal year, athletics director Ray Tanner said.
The Athletics Department will receive $23.3 million from the SEC, and the university will provide funds to make up for the shortfalls, Kelly Epting, associate VP for finance and budget, said. A repayment plan will be put in place and acted on in the 2024 fiscal year.
The 2020-21 revised budget expected a total revenue of about $69 million. The budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year is about $114 million.
"Going through this," Tanner said, "was challenging. We made some concessions internally, our staff did with furloughs and pay cuts and trying to limit the way we traveled and the things that we did."
There will be no tuition increase for the 2022 fiscal year. Actual revenue for the overall USC fiscal year 2021 was $49 million higher than the predicted revenue.
The board named Jason Stacy interim chief health officer on June 8 to replace Deborah Beck, who left the position earlier this month. Prior to this, Stacy served as director of the Student Health Service's sports medicine and physical therapy departments at USC.
A national search for a permanent chief health officer is underway. Currently, USC has no permanent president, head health officer or provost. It also has five interim deans.
University architect Derek S. Gruner presented an improvement plan to the board. The plan is a list of projects for the next five fiscal years, with estimated costs to USC exceeding $1 million.
The Columbia campus could see $19 million used this year for renovations, maintenance and repairs, according to Gruner. The final amount of money is subject to change upon approval by the state legislature.
Other USC campuses will receive a total of $64-70 billion for maintenance, renovation and replacements. Gruner said "relative to previous years, this is an extraordinary amount."
-- Holly Poag contributed to reporting in this article.