A Reimagined Jewell
A reimagined Jewell aligns costs to revenues while improving our agility and ability to meet student demand. We are focused on ensuring relevance and maintaining excellence for students, employers and our Greater Kansas City community long into the future.
Our Challenge
Like many small liberal arts colleges across the country with modest enrollments and endowments, Jewell is facing significant financial challenges brought about by increasing costs.
There have been many strategic innovations in the last several years including a tuition re-pricing, diversified enrollment growth, and the In Pursuit campaign. Despite these efforts which led to increased enrollment, the cost of operations has increasingly exceeded the pace of revenue. It’s essential that we confront inefficiencies to build a solid foundation for future growth and sustainability.
What is the Reimagined Jewell?
Understanding the needs of the region and learners, the College has been reorganized into two distinct colleges serving complementary missions.
College of Arts and Sciences: Continues to focus on undergraduate programs, undergirded by a core curriculum steeped in the liberal arts tradition of understanding oneself in an ever-changing world, that prepare students for careers. Innovative programs in Business, STEM fields, Nursing, and Health Sciences have been reimagined to include flexible pathways that allow students to double major and achieve their academic goals sooner at lower cost.
College of Graduate and Innovative Programs: Focuses on serving learners at every stage through new graduate and certificate programs:
- Reaching Up: The College will continue to add graduate programs that meet the needs of the region and learners. The College has added an Entrepreneurial MBA program and an M.S.Ed. in Transformative Teaching and Learning. We are in pursuit of more programs to continue to expand the portfolio of in-demand graduate offerings.
- Reaching Down: Embracing “real world learning,” the College established the Collegiate Nursing Academy, a Certified Nursing Assistant pathway and CIPHER Cybersecurity Certificate, creating high school-to-college pipelines. Additional certificate programs for high school students are being explored.
- Reaching Out: Flexible programs for adult learners and workforce development. Releasing soon: 90 credit hour degree programs that will create more opportunity for all types of students to earn a Jewell degree faster, and at a lower cost.
Our Work
In the Fall of 2024, a committee comprised of Faculty and members of the Board of Trustees were tasked with evaluating departments, programs, and majors in the context of marketplace demands and needs of today’s prospective students.
The efforts to Reimagine Jewell addressed changes in three core areas:
Academics. Student enrollment trends have signaled for some time that the portfolio of Jewell’s academic programs needed to change. Extensive work has been done developing a flexible, adaptable curriculum that ensures Jewell’s relevance long into the future.
Athletics. A working team and task force of alumni, athletics staff, and members of the Board worked together to inform a more viable athletic aid strategy, and a sustainable and strategic fundraising plan. The work also informed plans for program additions and adaptations and laid important groundwork for athletic facility improvements.
Administrative. An interdepartmental team worked to find reductions in campus-wide operational spending through vendor contracts, energy conservation, and technology infrastructure while also targeting revenue growth via summer activity, campus facilities and strategic partnerships. The work also included ensuring a sustainable but enriching co-curricular experience that meets students’ expectations for student life, campus living and student organizations.
Our Results
Our efforts to reimagine Jewell have yielded immediate results beyond cost savings and strategic reorganization. Jewell has built momentum for the future and enthusiastic support from our community.
- Phase One of the "Reimagine Jewell" campaign yielded $9 million of the $25 million goal in just six months powered by generous gifts from the Pillsbury Foundation, William T. Kemper Foundation, and nearly $6 million from Alumni and individual donors.
- A $1.99M federal school improvement grant represents external validation of institutional quality and strategic direction. The grant funds student success programs: academic support, mentoring, tutoring, advising and retention strategies for underrepresented and first-generation students.
- Total student enrollment has increased significantly. Approximately 700 traditional undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students are enrolled for the 26-27 academic year. The largest population of Jewell students in more than a decade.
Necessary Measures
Following extensive analysis and thoughtful deliberation, the William Jewell College Board of Trustees declared financial exigency in December 2024. In doing so, the Board deployed an important tool that enables reallocation of resources, restructuring of academic programs, scholarships and significant reductions in force. Exigency provided leadership the ability to restructure the college programs to better align with the student population and demand. Jewell exited financial exigency August 13, 2026, with demonstrated operational stability, financial discipline and strategic alignment. Exiting financial exigency does not mean every challenge is behind us, but it is an important milestone that reflects the meaningful progress made over the past 18 months and provides a stronger foundation for the work ahead.