Vassar College

“Under a shared governance model, the Board delegates responsibility, with accountability, of certain matters, to the faculty, students, the alumnae and alumni of the College.”

“The Board of Trustees delegates the responsibility of oversight of the preparation of form 990 to the Audit Committee which reviews the entire form 990 as a draft prior to the completion of the review by the College's certified public accountant. The final version, excluding Schedule B, is provided to all members of the Board of Trustees prior to submission.”

“Vassar College issues conflict of interest questionnaires to officers, directors, trustees and other members of the faculty and administration with significant budgetary responsibilities. Once the completed forms are submitted to the Secretary of the Board and reviewed by the Vice President for Finance and Administration, the Chair of the Board, and the Chair of the Audit Committee, the College responds to any disclosures with appropriate action including requiring persons to recuse themselves from involvement with any decisions for which the relationship would represent an actual or potential conflict of interest.”

“Vassar participates in a third party data collection process with 20 peer colleges. We submit data annually to a professional compensation analyst, who summarizes the data as a range with quartiles. The information is provided to the Personnel and Compensation Committee of the Board of Trustees, who will use this information to determine raises for all Senior Officers and reports their findings through the President and the Vice President for Technology and Human Resources and Chief Information Officer. Committee records are maintained by the Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the permanent files of the Board. We believe our policy meets the requirements of the rebuttable presumption.”

“Vassar publishes its governing documents in print and online, the conflict of interest policy is published online, and annual audited financial statements are available online and in print form by request.”

“The officers noted on Part VII are the corporate officers of the College who manage the daily operations and do not include Board officers who oversee the affairs of the College.”

“General Statement Regarding the COVID-19 Outbreak: In December 2019, an outbreak of a novel strain of Coronavirus ("COVID-19") emerged globally, and in March 2020 the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. As a result, the College's campus was closed in March 2020 and moved the remainder of the spring 2020 semester to virtual learning. Students received refunds and future statement credits for their unused housing, meal plans, and other mandatory fees through the end of the semester, resulting in lost revenue of $6,472,768, which would have been included in student tuition, fees, room and board, net on the statement of activities for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. The impact of the revenue loss was lessened by the expense reductions which included cancelled travel and events, lower utilities, and other operating expense constraints. During the fiscal years ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, the federal government provided higher education institutions with Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding ("HEERF"), which was allocated under various acts of Congress. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act ("CARES") was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and provided the College with funding under HEERF I. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act ("CRRSAA") was signed into law on December 27, 2020 and provided the College with funding under HEERF II. The American Rescue Plan ("ARP") was signed into law on March 11, 2021 and provided the College with funding under HEERF III. Each of these awards has a student aid portion and an institutional portion. The Department of Education provided required uses of the funds for both the student portion and institutional portion and until the conditions associated with those requirements are satisfied, revenue cannot be recognized, in accordance with ASU 2018-08. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have effects on higher education, global markets, supply chains, businesses, and communities. Specific to the College, COVID-19 has impacted various parts of its operations and financial results, including, but not limited to, declines in enrollment, loss of auxiliary revenues, additional bad debts, costs for increased use of technology and safety protocols, material supply shortages, or potential shortages of personnel. Management believes that the College is taking appropriate actions to mitigate the negative impact.”

“The total number of 1098-T forms included on this line = 3,180.”

“Post Retirement Benefits Changes Other than Net Periodic Benefits Cost $5,183,168; Adjustment to Minimum Pension Liability $12,500,081; Cumulative Effect of Adoption of Accounting Standard ASU 2016-02:Leases ($710,285); Total Other Changes in Net Assets $16,972,964”