This was the message that Voldemar Innus, senior vice president for university services, delivered to the UB Council at its Sept. 21 meeting.

Innus outlined a number of measures that university officials have taken in response to the $8.2 million budget reduction, including higher fees for students, the early retirement incentive program and a reduction in library acquisitions.

"This year we've changed fundamentally how we're funded. We're now more than 50 percent revenue funded," said Innus, who explained that the majority of the university's funding now comes from tuition and fees.

UB has worked hard-and successfully-to meet its student enrollment targets, he said. In addition, this fall students were charged an additional $166 in fees, including a new technology fee and higher costs for services that include living in residence halls, meal plans, health care and parking.

Approximately 140 faculty and staff took advantage of the early retirement incentive program, which will save the university about $6.6 million in salaries. Those savings, however, are partially offset by the cost of the retirement incentives and the loss of approximately $2.4 million in funding conducted by those researchers.

Other cost-saving measures that have been implemented, Innus said, involve management efficiencies such as outsourcing some services and increased use of technology to offset losses of personnel.

As a result of the 1995-96 budget, 142 course sections, 47 full-time faculty positions, 52 part-time faculty positions and 27 staff positions have been eliminated; 75 degree programs have been impacted by the cuts.

And the cuts for 1995-96 probably won't stop here, Innus said. "SUNY has been informed that we should expect an additional cut at mid-year, probably more than the one percent we've faced before."

In his report to the council, UB President William R. Greiner also discussed the impact of the 1995-96 budget, its ramifications on the future of the university, and the new face of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

"There isn't enough tax money to support the SUNY system as we now know it." Greiner said. As a result, the trustees and campus officials all around the state are rethinking the State University system, especially its business and administrative functions.

"We are more nearly in control of our own destiny than in any other time in our 30 years as a state institution," he said, adding "the down side is the loss of state funding."

He told the council that he and the presidents of Buffalo State College, Geneseo, Brockport and Fredonia have proposed a regional centralization of budget functions that would relieve the administration of SUNY Central of "those routine things that are so necessary."

He said he sees the UB of the future as an institution modeled more after a Midwestern university than a Big East institution, and added that he will be discussing the UB of the future during his message to the voting faculty, which will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9 in the University Gallery, Center for the Arts.

In other business, the council referred to the Student Life Committee a measure proposed by student representative Michael Pierce, who wants the UB Foundation to create a $2 million fund that would provide financial aid to needy students.

His proposal did not come without controversy, however. Pierce's intention to raise the issue has been featured at length this fall in The Spectrum, In submitting his proposal, Pierce said he personally knows 20 students who were unable to return to school this year because they couldn't afford the higher tuition. He called the proposal "a moral commitment to students so no one is denied the opportunity to succeed."

"It is unimaginable that some students would not be able to achieve their dream because they couldn't afford it," he said.