The Board of Visitors Finance Committee met Friday to hear an annual report from the University Investment Management Company. The Committee also unanimously approved all seven action items on the agenda, including the University’s 6-year institutional plan, state budget requests and approval for major capital plans.
The Finance Committee, which is currently chaired by University Rector Rachel Sheridan, reviews and approves the annual budget and sets rates for tuition and other fees. Sheridan is serving as Finance Committee chair pro tempore because of five vacancies on the Board of Visitors, which opened up in June after the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to block the appointments made by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Robert Durden, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of UVIMCO, delivered an annual report to the Committee. UVIMCO is an independent non-stock corporation that manages and invests the University’s different endowments and has a close contractual relationship with the University.
Despite a fiscal year of uncertainty across the higher education sector, Durden said he is pleased with the endowment’s 12.4 percent return on investment for the year.
“‘Did we take advantage of the opportunities that the market served up to us,’ and I think last year I would rate ourselves pretty highly the things that were within our control,” Durden said.
Based on figures from June, UVIMCO’s assets under management have reached $15.5 billion, compared to $14.2 billion during the last fiscal year.
The Finance Committee also discussed several action items that need Committee approval. The first was the University’s 6-year plan, which outlines institutional strategy, tuition costs and financial aid and is required to be reported to the State Council on Higher Education.
Finance Committee member Doug Wetmore then asked Jennifer Wagner Davis, executive vice president and chief operating officer, how uncertainties around federal funding may impact the University’s long-term planning.
“I assume that 6-year planning is struggling with these sorts of issues right now,” Wetmore said. “There’s articles in the paper every day about universities having to make major operating expense cuts.”
Davis responded that she and her team are already planning for fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27. Davis also said that they are monitoring the possibility of a federal government shutdown.
“The six year plan came in with basic, broad planning assumptions that did not take into account the more dynamic environment we're living through,” Davis said. “Just this week, we put out a message from the leadership team to all [University] employees, really focused on cost control measures.”
The Committee then moved on to requests for the state’s biannual budget, which the General Assembly enacts in even-numbered years. The requests presented by Davis amounted to just under $52 million for fiscal year 2027 and just under $44 million for FY28.
One initiative covered by the funding request is U.Va. Innovates, which Davis said has enormous potential for both the University and the state. U.Va. Innovates was launched last September with the goal of spurring innovation and entrepreneurship at the University.
“We are very, very excited about the prospect of [U.Va. Innovates], both in terms of job creation and economic stimulation throughout the commonwealth,” Davis said. [There] seems to be a lot of interest in the initiative.”
Next on the agenda was Committee approval for four major capital projects — two at the University and two at the College at Wise. Davis said that the University plans to ask the state for $205 million to build the Center for the Arts and $5 million for the planning phase of a new Engineering academic building. Davis also said that the College at Wise has requests of $35.8 million to renovate Darden Hall and $78.4 million for a technology classroom.
The Finance Committee also authorized Davis to negotiate contracts on behalf of the School of Medicine for items and services like lab testing and warehouse logistics, approved a new public safety agreement with Charlottesville and Albemarle County allowing law enforcement to cross jurisdictional lines, authorized the leasing of the Oak Lawn property to the City of Charlottesville for administrative offices or student services and granted $14.5 million worth of Strategic Investment Fund Awards, including to the Manning Institute of Biotechnology.
In her closing remarks, Davis emphasized the uncertain fiscal landscape affecting all universities and how the University will respond to it.
“For the fiscal year 26 budget, we put in a series of what I’d call financial control measures … underscoring the need to be fiscally conservative,” Davis said. “We are spending a lot of time in the audit and regulatory response space.”
The Committee will reconvene during the Dec. 4 and 5 Board meetings.
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