Colleges develop budget cut plans and schedules
November 10, 2003
In response to state cuts and university revenue shortfalls, $3.75 million in cuts were assigned to the eight colleges of the university. College deans are now forced to decide how to cut funds from their already-formed 2003—04 school year budgets.
The eight colleges have two sections to each of their budgets — the central budget and the department and unit budgets. The central budget includes money for programs, supplies and services within the overall college. Examples include student services, placement offices and international programs within a college.
The departments and units within the colleges have their own individual budgets. The deans of the colleges have been forced to decide where these cuts can come from and how much will come from each section of their budget. The deans received the amounts they must cut from their budgets in late October. They must report their finalized plans for cuts by Dec. 12.
College of Agriculture
Dean Catherine Woteki
Cut: $822,362 — 1.6 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: The 1.6 percent reversion was assigned to the College of Agriculture because the college has been disproportionately hit with budget cuts in recent history in comparison to the other colleges. Over the past four years, the College of Agriculture has experienced a 23.5 percent cut to its budget, whereas the other colleges have experienced an 8 percent cut, Woteki said.
Options for cuts to the central budget include transferring some faculty and staff salaries into contracts and grants, eliminating some vacant faculty positions and targeting reductions in research facilities. The additional reversions will come through an across-the-board cut to the departments and units within the college.
SCHEDULE: Woteki has given a goal percentage to the department chairs to consider and the chairs will report back to Dean Woteki with suggestions.
College of Education
Dean Walter Gmelch
Cut: $203,545 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: Half of the cuts will come from the central budget and the other half from the departments and units. Cuts have been spread differentially among departments and units. The College of Education will look more “opportunistically” toward this year’s cuts, attempting to protect personnel, merit staff, professional and scientific staff and graduate assistants as much as they can, Gmelch said.
“We do not anticipate layoffs within those lines,” he said.
The college does plan to temporarily cut current vacant faculty and staff positions for this year and may or may not bring that position back for the 2004—05 school year. For the 2004—05 school year, the College of Education plans to think “strategically,” evaluating both programs and personnel. Although permanent cuts to faculty positions are not planned for this year, Gmelch said cuts will occur next year.
“We honor our folks that we have, but we will look at strategic reductions,” he said.
SCHEDULE: Next Tuesday, department chairs will return to the dean to propose plans to cut 2 to 2.5 percent from their budget. The chairs and the dean will then consider which areas are most critical and should not receive cuts.
College of Business
Dean Labh Hira
Cut: $214,504 — 1.86 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: While the goal is to not lay anyone off, the College of Business is considering not hiring as many lecturers as it had hoped for the spring and not renewing graduate assistantships that run out after this semester.
“We are going to look at every bit of it. Our bottom line is going to result in fewer faculty and staff,” Hira said. “Hopefully we can accomplish that by not having any layoffs.”
Hira said the college will still cut back travel expenses, promotional material and other supplies and services, but this portion of the budget only accounts for 4 percent of the total budget for the college.
“[The cuts] are going to be a little bit here and a little bit there because in the middle of the year, you can’t do a whole lot,” he said.
SCHEDULE: The associate dean has been looking at the budget and will provide recommendations during an administrative cabinet meeting Monday. The administrative cabinet consists of Hira, two associate deans, three department chairs and a faculty representative.
The cabinet will discuss the cuts and the Dean’s Office will make the final decision. The cabinet will also consider student input organized by Davida Moffitt, president of the business council.
College of Design
Dean Mark Engelbrecht
Cut: $176,246 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: The central budget will cover one-third of the cut, while the departments and units of the college will handle the additional two-thirds.
Engelbrecht said the cut to the central budget will most likely include scaling back on the college’s 25th anniversary celebrations and making significant cutbacks in the college’s publication area.
“We hope we will not have to curtail any programs that are student-oriented,” Engelbrecht said.
The cuts among the departments and units are differential because some departments and units took larger cuts during the last round of budget reductions. To cover the other two-thirds of the reversion, Engelbrecht said some options the department chairs are considering include not filling faculty and staff positions the college had anticipated to fill and possibly cutting these positions permanently.
Engelbrecht said no required courses will be cut throughout the college, but elective courses might need to be cut.
“We know where we need to go and we can make relatively strategic cuts at this point,” he said. “It is just a question of how we move forward with fewer resources.”
SCHEDULE: Following a meeting with the department chairs and evaluating the numbers and projected cuts, Engelbrecht said the college “should have a good handle” on the decisions by Nov. 21.
College of Engineering
Dean James Melsa
Cut: $625,049 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: Percentage-wise, a much larger cut will come from the central budget than from the budget of the departments and units. This does not necessarily mean less money will be cut from the departments and units, though. The central budget is a smaller amount of money, so a 10 percent cut to the central budget would be equal to a much smaller cut to the academic budget.
The cuts will be assigned differentially among the units and departments of the college.
In a search for short-term answers, Melsa said he plans to identify specific critical areas within each department and make the cuts based on areas that are not as critical.
“Some units will have no cuts and others may see significantly high cuts,” Melsa said.
Melsa said it is highly unlikely the college would lay off faculty members or staff members in response to this year’s reversion, but layoffs can not be ruled out and must continue to be an option.
“The only major part of the budget is people,” he said. “There are ways to do it and we will do it, but it won’t be easy.”
Ways that funds could be reverted through salaries are convincing early retirement or convincing someone to work less than full time, he said.
“If it were $100,000, you could just shuffle the cards a little,” Melsa said. “Nothing is sacred in this process. We are going to look at everything we do and try to squeeze the money out.”
The real struggle, he said, is identifying what areas could be limited.
“We don’t see the cut as easy to achieve because we have already had to cut so much,” Melsa said.
The college will also consider changing the revenue side, asking for “soft money support” or having the faculty pay for part of their salary through research grants.
SCHEDULE: A committee consisting of an associate dean and two department chairs is currently drafting suggestions for the cuts, which will be presented to the department chairs by next Tuesday.
On Nov. 18, Melsa will meet with the department chairs to come up with a “close to final” answer to the reversions.
College of Family & Consumer Sciences
Interim Dean Pam White
Cut: $156,818 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: In order to tackle the short-term reversions, the college is looking for ways to reduce administratively so the departments do not suffer.
Each of the departments was assigned an equal percentage to revert. The departments will decide on an individual basis how to revert these funds.
On the long term, the college has formed a budget and finance committee to identify ways in which the college can save money in the 2004—05 academic year. White was unable to provide further information or specific numbers on the cuts.
SCHEDULE: No specific dates were set for meetings on the budget cuts. White said the college will follow university guidelines and have a final answer by Dec. 12.
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Interim Dean Michael Whiteford
Cut: $1,203,098 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: The central budget will handle one-third of the cuts, while the other two-thirds were assigned in 1.45-percent cuts to each department and unit within the college.
“The greatest way to keep the institution moving as smoothly as possible would be for us [in the central budget] to take the hit and to spare that from the departments,” Whiteford said. “That was our strategy.”
Similar to the effect of previous budget cuts, layoffs could be evident within the college, Whiteford said. While contracts protect the jobs of some faculty and lecturers for the spring semester, department chairs could be faced with terminating other positions such as professional and scientific staff, clerical and student hourly help.
“The possibility of layoffs is unfortunately a real possibility in some units that have no other way of meeting their part of the reversion,” Whiteford said. “So far, you’ve trimmed away everything and the only next thing you can do would be jobs.”
Most classes on the books will be taught this spring, but additional classes are not planned to be added, Whiteford said.
SCHEDULE: By next Friday, the department chairs will return a spreadsheet to Whiteford detailing the account, the amount and the impact the cuts will have on the department. The Dean’s Office will then review the numbers and package them with its cuts.
College of Veterinary Medicine
Dean Norman Cheville
Cut: $346,072 — 1.84 percent of its budget
THE PLAN: Half of the cuts will come from the central budget and the other half will come from departments and units within the college.
This most recent cut, coming on the heels of six previous reductions, hits at the heart of the college, Cheville said.
“For the first time, we have a very serious problem with eliminating programs and personnel,” Cheville said. “If we continue to make cuts, we place graduates at risk to practice competent medicine.”
The college is investing in the faculty to decide what is best for the students, he said.
Cheville said layoffs within the college are beginning to hit hard.
“We have had to lay off people all along,” he said. “Now people who are really critical to the education process will have to be considered.”
SCHEDULE: The department chairs are currently laying out the cuts and reductions. The college plans to meet on a weekly basis until the Dec. 12 deadline to get the cuts in line.
