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UB taking action to manage budget crisis
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“These are very challenging times, and as a university, we have the responsibility to make some very difficult decisions.”
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The cuts have been deep: $6 million in April/May 2008, $15 million in July/August 2008, another $6 million last April/May.
Now, with Gov. David Paterson’s announcement last month of another $90 million cut to SUNY as part of a two-year, $5 billion deficit reduction plan—which translates to $13 million for UB—the grand total so far has been a $40 million permanent reduction in UB’s state operating budget over the past two years. That’s close to 20 percent of the support UB receives on campus to spend from the state, slightly less than 11 percent of UB’s total operating budget.
And the outlook for the 2010-11 fiscal year is even bleaker. According to documents supplied by the Office of the Provost, the governor and the Department of the Budget project a state deficit of $6.8 billion on top of the $3.2 billion deficit expected for the current 2009-10 fiscal year.
The outlook for SUNY and UB remains grim, with the institutions bracing for further reductions. SUNY budget officials expect no funding for utilities inflation or negotiated salary increases in the 2010-11 budget, as well as the prospect of another $90 million, mid-year cut. That would mean as much as another $15-$20 million reduction to UB. for 2010-11.
Despite the dire financial news, UB remains committed to UB 2020 and maintaining its long-term vision of becoming a premier research institution, Provost Satish K. Tripathi stresses. This includes providing “an academically rigorous, progressive and transformative education for our current and future students,” he says, while continuing to retain and recruit top faculty.
“These are very challenging times,” Tripathi says, “and as a university, we have the responsibility to make some very difficult decisions. We, as a university community, must commit to making the right choices for our university so we can achieve our UB 2020 aspirations,” he says.
In developing strategies for managing the budget reductions, Tripathi notes that he and President John B. Simpson have received advice from a variety of campus sources, including the vice presidents and deans; the Faculty Senate Executive, Budget Priorities and Academic Planning committees; and the University-wide Strategic Financial Management Advisory Group, as well as from the university community at large.
Strategies developed so far have included maintaining the purchasing and hiring moratoriums instituted when the first budget reductions were announced 18 months ago, distributed budget cuts that hit support units harder in an attempt to protect the academic units (cuts averaged 7.8 percent for academic units versus 9.3 percent for support units), dipping into reserves and increasing revenues through such initiatives as expanded summer sessions.
In addition, the IT, human resources and development organizations have been restructured to increase efficiencies and save money, he says.
Other actions have been taken in the wake of the most recent reductions:
• The Office of the Vice President for Research has suspended three faculty research funding programs: the UB 2020 Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund, UB 2020 Scholars Fund and Multi-Investigator Proposal Support program.
• The College of Arts and Sciences has established a minimum enrollment of 21 for undergraduate courses and seven for graduate courses taught in the college. Sections that do not obtain the minimum enrollment will be collapsed into other sections or cancelled, which could lead to reductions in new faculty hires, adjunct faculty and teaching assistants. The college stresses that required courses for the major will continue to be offered so students remain on track for graduation.
Tripathi says that while there is great student demand in units such as Arts and Sciences, Nursing and Management, UB now has 30 fewer FTE faculty members than in 2008, and has revised its hiring plans downward for the current academic year and next year as well. Although UB had achieved remarkable faculty growth through the strategic strengths initiatives over the past four years, “we can’t maintain that growth trajectory under these current fiscal conditions,” he says. He further notes that once the fiscal situation improves, suspended programs will be reactivated.
“The financial foundation for UB 2020 is eroding,” he says. “To propel the university forward, we need investment in the academic mission. We’re losing momentum.”
In an effort to keep the university community informed about the budget situation, a Web site has been created to provide additional details.
“We will update the site as changes occur,” Tripathi says, “and we invite the UB community to post suggestions and feedback.
The Web site may be found at http://www.provost.buffalo.edu/budget.
The UB 2020 Strategic Financial Advisory Committee also wants to hear from the UB community regarding the budget situation. Share your ideas for reducing costs, increasing revenues, and becoming a more efficient university.
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