Rider’s financial deficit persists, tax forms show
By Grace Bertrand
Rider remains in a financial deficit, ending fiscal year 2024 with a deficit of approximately $21.8 million, according to the university’s most recent federal tax forms, which also indicated former Rider President Gregory Dell’Omo remained the school’s top earner.
This places the university at an estimated $1.2 million less in deficit than fiscal year 2023, with a deficit of approximately $23 million.
In a Feb. 5 issue of The Rider News, Chief Financial Officer Jim Hartman said, “The plan is, ultimately, to get to the point where [the deficit] is a surplus. The challenge here is that, included in [the $21.3 million deficit] and included in your expenses is depreciation. We have about $12 million or so of depreciation.”
Spanning from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, the tax forms also reveal Rider’s top-earners for fiscal 2024; Dell’Omo at $596,489 in salary and benefits, men’s basketball Head Coach Kevin Baggett at $388,633, Hartman at $282,307, former Provost DonnaJean Fredeen at $271,199, Rider’s Legal Affairs Vice President Mark Solomon at $261,337 and Vice President of Enrollment Engagement Drew Aromando at $211,466.
The documents show Dell’Omo experienced a $39,342 raise in his salary and benefits in fiscal year 2024, a shift from the $104,789 pandemic-related cut he endured the previous year. Along with Dell’Omo, Baggett also received an increase in pay of $2,205. Other top-earners received cuts in their pay.
Recently selected in May 2025, current President John Loyack’s salary is not shown on the Rider tax forms. Vice President of External Affairs Kristine Brown declined to reveal Loyack’s salary.
At Alvernia University, Loyack’s previous employer, his salary and benefits totalled $556,092, according to a 2024 federal tax form filed by Alvernia.
In an email to The Rider News on Aug. 29, Brown explained that she could not further discuss Rider’s financial situation, writing “[The required IRS filing] is the format we are relying on for sharing financial details such as budget and compensation, and we don’t have additional information to provide beyond what is in those documents at this time.”
Hartman did not respond to multiple requests to answer questions on Rider’s IRS filings.
For the first time since 2018, an associate professor was also listed as one of the university’s highest-paid employees, according to ProPublica’s database of Rider tax forms. Mary Haywood-Sullivan, an accounting associate professor, received $226,027 in salary and benefits in fiscal year 2024.
Haywood-Sullivan theorized her raise in pay was a result of teaching extra courses during the semesters, along with teaching in the summer and J-Term. In an Aug. 28 email to The Rider News, Haywood-Sullivan said, “I’m surprised I made the list [of top-earners]. Just like all of the Rider professors, my base pay has barely changed over the last 10 years.”
The biggest source of revenue for Rider continued to be tuition and board, with an estimated $173.5 million, while their biggest expense listed at an estimated $71.9 million was grants and financial aid to students according to the tax forms filed in May 2025.
Rider also reported gifts and grants worth nearly $12 million in fiscal year 2024.
Some of the university’s largest expenses to outside vendors were $8.6 million to Compass Group for food services; $5.8 million to Ellucian Co. for information technology expenses; $3.5 million to Cushman and Wakefield for custodial services; $3.5 million to Princeton Partners for advertising and public relations; and $1.4 million to Premier Enterprises for construction.
In an interview with The Rider News on April 14, Dell’Omo shared his hopes for Rider to break even on its financial deficit by the end of the next fiscal year through fundraising efforts, which have yet to be announced.
