“The university has worked extremely hard since last fall to develop a base budget reduction plan that maintains our top priority of student learning,” said George Ross, Finance and Administrative Services vice president.

As part of the budget, trustees approved an increase in tuition and required fees of $471 for a full-time, in-state undergraduate student for the 2003-04 academic year.

Under the new rates, CMU undergraduate students from Michigan will pay $148.75 per credit hour, compared to $133.05 last year. Annual combined tuition and required fees for in-state, undergraduates who enroll for 30 credit hours during the year will be $5,218.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposal for a 6.75-percent cut to CMU could be reduced to 0.7 percent, if she agrees to the House/Senate conference committee’s suggestion.

If the 6.75-percent proposal is approved, CMU will have a balanced budget, Ross said. If the 0.7-percent proposal is approved, the remaining monies would be used as a contingency fund.

“The economic conditions in the country are not going to change that quickly. Economics in Michigan are still uncertain,” Ross said.

CMU's program cuts

Click the image to the left to view a slideshow of what and how much was cut out of the budget.

CMU students have differing opinions on the tuition hike.

“They keep raising tuition and prices and college is becoming a business,” said Bryan Krause, Garden City senior. “The rainy-day fund is a good idea, though.”

Tanya Sherman, Niles junior, said it’s just a normal economic occurrence.

“Costs will keep going up because that’s just the way the economy works,” she said. “It’s really not a big deal to me.”

Departmental cuts were made after a long process of examining all departments on campus, Ross said.

“The senior staff budget advisory group spent more than six months reviewing every account on campus. We hosted open forums to gather feedback and answer questions, and we solicited ideas from students, faculty and staff for budget cutting,” he said.

University President Michael Rao said the process to decide which budget cuts to make was very selective.

“All of these cuts were difficult and presented a challenge,” Rao said. “For every cut made there probably is a legitimate reason not to make the cut. But, CMU is not alone in facing the budget challenge. States throughout the nation are suffering revenue declines, and universities are sharing in the reductions.”

Ross said each department was examined.

“All reductions were programmatic, not across-the-board, and reductions to the academic colleges were approximately one-third of the cuts made to non-teaching administrative and support units,” he said. “The reductions to the colleges was approximately 4 percent, while the administrative and support units suffered reductions in excess of 10 percent. The President’s Office, for example, saw the elimination of two positions and an 11.8-percent reduction to its budget.”

The budget reduction process began in October, and Ross joined the process in December.

State employees are taking $350 million in voluntary concessions, and that is a large chunk. The higher education budget is small in comparison, he said.

CMU’s contingency fund today has enough for three days’ expenditures. Because of this, the opening of the Health Professions Building will be pushed back. The opening will be phased in to save money, Ross said.

“Throughout this challenging and difficult process, the university was able to maintain, without reducing, the number of regular faculty positions at CMU,” he said.

Rao said he has kept his promise of not affecting the teaching arena.

“Non-teaching units would be targeted first for reductions. I was pretty fixed on maintaining the teaching faculty,” he said.

The reductions in positions and unit budgets will result in reduced levels of services in many areas, including:

The elimination of free off-campus dial-up Internet access for students, faculty and staff
A reduction in health services as a result of the elimination of the general fund subsidy of University Health Services
The closing of the Center for Learning Assessment Services
The elimination of centralized funding for the Between the Ponds, Artists Course and Speaker Series arts programs
The elimination of receptions following commencement ceremonies
Reductions in capital projects, janitorial services, university travel, publications and internal accounting services

The 2003-04 budget includes an increase in spending of more than $750,000 for student financial aid. The university’s $17.25 million commitment to scholarships and financial aid represents 8.9 percent of the operating budget, the highest level ever for CMU.