State budget is a strain for UB, Wagner, Headrick tell FSEC

Tech fee rises, tuition remains at '95-96 levels

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor

Committee members were updated on the status of UB's budget at the group's first session of the year, Aug. 21.

So, now, the message that university officers are trying to get through to the state Department of Budget, Headrick said, is "You're not going to find (more) great savings at the State University. You've squeezed us as far as we can go....Turn us free in terms of our potential to raise funds from other sources. Give us flexibility so there's incentive to put some effort into doing this."

Wagner echoed the provost's sentiments. "As resources go down, we have to look at what tools are available," he said. And if the budget picture doesn't change, he said, the university may have to charge additional fees in order to meet student needs.

From a student's perspective, for this year, little has changed, according to Wagner. Tuition has remained at the 1995-96 level. With the exception of the technology fee, which rose by more than double from $60 to $125 per semester, fees also remained stable.

Funding provided by the Tu- ition Assistance Program (TAP), which the governor's budget initially threatened to slash, also was restored to the 1995-96 level, although students will be required to achieve at least a "C" grade level to maintain eligibility.

The technology fee increase is expected to bring in to UB funds of about $2 million, Wagner said, which will be used to further the university's investment in technology. The fee increase "is not a substitute for the budget reduction," Wagner stressed, and will be used to augment UB's academic hardware, software and access to databases. Even with this year's technology fee increase, he added, "the sense is we still are underinvested in technology."

There are positive aspects to the 1996-97 budget. While UB did receive a $2.3 million reduction to its operating budget, the cut could have been as high as $14 million, Wagner reminded the FSEC. And SUNY's Educational Opportunity Centers, which the executive budget proposed to move under the aegis of the state Department of Labor, remains part of the State University.

Although few items of flexibility were enacted, the budget allows the creation of stabilization accounts, which will allow two-year carry-overs of fund balances. The budget also includes an appropriation for the State University Tuition Reimbursable Account (SUTRA).

Unfortunately, a mid-year budget reduction is likely, according to Wagner. "This fall is election time. Following that, there probably will be a reduction to the budget." The university has set aside $1 million to offset the anticipated mid-year cut, he said.

"There's not very good news to the capital-budget side," Wagner noted. System-wide, capital equipment funding was cut to $5 million in 1996-97 from $20.9 million in 1995-96. "Our support goes from $4 million to $1 million. We've got a major shortfall in capital equipment funding for '96-97," he said. "This is an item that has great budget implications."

To deal with the budget cuts, units are being assessed a 3 percent reduction; the university will reassess its finances "at midyear, probably in December," Wagner said.

Errol Meidinger, UB professor of law, asked how unstable are the budget restorations and how turbulent is the upcoming situation.

"If you go back and track over the last 10 years, there's been an almost straight-line decline," responded Headrick. "It's hard to paint a picture of the election changing that very much. It's hard to think we're going to get a reversal. The current posture on this is, stabilize it (the budget)."

In his report to the FSEC, Chair Claude E. Welch Jr. noted his concern over the impact of the 1995 National Research Council (NRC) ratings of doctoral programs.

Welch said that the problems indicated in the report "are not just of our doing. Ten budget cuts in 8 years have been a significant issue." Welch told senators that when UB was inducted into the AAU, it entered at same time as Emory University, which recently was singled out "in a very interesting article" in Change magazine as having among the most significant increases in its academic quality. However, the Change article also noted that at the same time UB has had a significant decline, and has, in fact, declined by more ordinal positions than any other school.

Welch added that "there are some significant problems with the NRC study...but I am concerned." Stony Brook, which has suffered the same degree of budget constraints, scored ahead of UB, and "we're barely ahead of Albany. We're supposed to be the flagship campus and I'm really concerned," Welch said. Even with GRI, the university has not made the kind of progress it should have made, he added.

The Faculty Senate through its academic role should be helping, leading in this role of examining ourselves and trying to improve UB's academic quality, Welch said.

Jack Meacham, professor of psychology, offered a different perspective. "It's not that we've declined, but our rate of improvement has not kept up with the other schools. So our programs might well be better than they were, say, five years ago but other institutions have improved their programs so much more that, relatively speaking, perhaps we don't look quite as attractive."

In other business, Welch told the FSEC that as chair he has scheduled monthly meetings with the president, provost and senior vice president so that they may stay alert to each other's concerns and to have the opportunity for dialogue. "I try to do this because of the powers and responsibilities we have as a Senate." The Faculty Senate is an advisory group, he noted, but historically its role is more significant since the Senate deals with issues such as admissions criteria, graduation requirements and curriculum. "We need to be very much concerned with the quality and effectiveness of student life," Welch said. "Without satisfied and high quality students, our life as academics would be exceedingly difficult."

The FSEC also discussed a draft resolution from the FSEC's Budget Priorities Committee on the budgetary implications of resolutions from the Faculty Senate. The draft resolution will be discussed by the full Faculty Senate at its October meeting.