MTSU has implemented budget cuts for the 2008-09 fiscal year that will allow the university to manage the challenge of state funding reductions and still protect its core mission of educating students, President Sidney A. McPhee said.
“Obviously this was a very difficult process for all of us, coming on the heels of the significant cuts that were made in 2003,” the president said. “We are a growing university that manages its resources very well, but you can’t make these kinds of cuts without having a significant impact on operations.”
Declining tax revenues led legislators this spring to cut higher-education dollars statewide for the new fiscal year. On July 1, MTSU lost 6.1 percent, or $6.156 million, in state appropriations.
The university prepared for the losses early by asking each college, department and division for budget-trimming recommendations to help cushion the blow.
“I have been so very impressed with how our vice presidents, deans, chairs and program directors have responded to this challenge,” McPhee said. “While it’s been painful, they clearly understood the importance of the economic situation we’re all in. People really stood up to the challenge and kept in mind our core mission of academics and instruction.”
As a result of the cuts, 44 positions have been eliminated campus-wide, including 16 teaching positions, but no MTSU employees lost their jobs. The affected positions either had been unfilled or vacated by retirement, or the employees were given the opportunity to transfer to another lateral position on campus, McPhee said.
The university first trimmed central campus administration budgets and pool accounts, saving $2.25 million, and then turned to the other budget divisions for the balance of the reductions.
The Division of Academic Affairs, which comprises 68.5 percent of MTSU’s total discretionary budget, was reduced by $2.25 million, or 2.4 percent. All other division discretionary budgets were cut by 3.5 percent, with the exceptions of the Division of Business and Finance, which trimmed its accounts by 3.7 percent, and the Facilities Services Department’s operating and maintenance budget, which was reduced by 5 percent.
In a nutshell, the changes in academic affairs will mean some larger class sizes and reduced faculty release time, research grants and travel this year, McPhee said. Departments and activities outside academics will see less professional travel and training and some reductions in equipment and services as a result of the trims to operating budgets.
The impact
Managing the budget will have a campus-wide impact, the president said.
For example:
• In the Division of Student Affairs, Enrollment and Academic Services, the Department of Cooperative Education was eliminated and its responsibilities shifted to the Career and Employment Center. One position in the Office of Leadership and Service was eliminated, and two clerical positions were cut in other offices. Some student support programs and offices also are being consolidated.
• Alumni, donors and friends may see an impact in the university’s response time to their needs as a result of cuts in the Division of Development and University Relations’ base budget. The changes also will affect university fundraising efforts.
• Budget reductions in MTSU’s Information Technology Division have eliminated some professional staff positions, despite comparative data showing that ITD is understaffed and underfunded to serve the 23,000-plus students and more than 2,000 faculty and staff members on campus. McPhee said that means ITD responses to service requests will be slowed and, in some cases, may not be available.
• Cuts in business and finance areas will reduce service support to academics, students and other areas of campus. Students will feel the impact of those reductions when they have to wait in longer lines to pay fees at the Bursar’s Office, and students, faculty and staff will be affected by the decision to reduce office cleaning to one day per week.
• On- and off-campus users of campus facilities also will pay higher rental fees and costs for services, and the Tennessee Livestock Center will become a quasi-auxiliary facility that will charge higher rates.
• Athletics departmental budget cuts will affect team travel and recruiting.
Tuition for 2008-09
The 6 percent tuition increase for students, approved June 26 by the Tennessee Board of Regents, won’t be used to replace the lost state funds, McPhee said, because the university must first pay the increased costs directly tied to tuition, fee and fixed-cost increases. That increased cost includes required graduate-assistant fee waivers, athletic scholarships, state employee and teacher tuition discount programs, employee fee waivers and dependent discounts, as well as fixed-cost expenses such as library acquisitions, faculty promotions, utility increases, software maintenance increases, benefits costs for previous-year salary increases and some scholarship increases.
The remaining tuition-increase funds will be used for some limited new dollars for each division, McPhee said, with academic affairs receiving the largest portion. Some money also has been set aside in case of additional state-funding reductions or impoundments.
Funding for capital projects
Since the state Legislature did not fund higher-education capital outlay projects for 2008-09, MTSU will not receive the anticipated $115 million for its new science building. McPhee said, however, that state officials, including the governor’s office, have vowed that the building will be at the top of the priority list when higher-ed capital outlay dollars once again become available.
Funding for renovations at the Homer Pittard Campus School was appropriated, the president added, but no other capital maintenance funding was approved. As a result, he said, some capital maintenance projects at MTSU facilities won’t be done in 2008-09 unless the dollars have already been made available.
“We want our university community and the surrounding community to know what impact this economic situation is having on our university and how we are managing it,” McPhee said.
“We want everyone who’s paying increased tuition to understand where their dollars are going. And we want to thank our administrators who’ve worked so hard to protect our academic programs and remain true to our mission of educating our students. It’s taking a lot out of everyone to manage this crisis, but we will come through this.”
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