Site search
sponsored by
News
Sports
Higher education is waiting with bated breath, as the state legislature continues to grapple with how to balance a limited budget. The question isn’t will Colorado State University see financial cuts, but rather just how steep those cuts will be and where exactly they will be made.
Colorado State University administration is anticipating an overall $13.1 million shortfall for the 2009 fiscal year, including the $6.7 million that CSU has been asked to give back to the state general fund. Declines in the state treasury, increased benefit costs and slight declines in nonresident enrollment have contributed to $6.35 million in shortfalls.
In a memo sent to the campus community last week, Interim President Tony Frank announced a 3 percent average cut to all academic departments and a 6 percent average cut to administrative services. These cuts will likely translate into some layoffs, though it’s too early to say exactly how many. Officials estimate less than 1 percent of CSU’s permanent, nonfaculty workforce will be affected.
Rich Schweigert, chief financial officer for the CSU system, said every department and service on campus has been asked to identify inefficiencies and to determine where cost savings can be made. This process was started in October but has been revisited more seriously in recent weeks. Frank will go through each plan submitted and make the final decisions on what CSU will cut.
“In this climate right now, it’s just so hard to tell what will happen,” Schweigert said. “There’s always potential for layoffs. It’s one of those things where there are so many unknowns.”
Schweigert and other CSU officials are hoping the picture will become clearer after the state releases its third quarter revenue forecast on March 20. By then, the university should also have a better idea of what the 2010 fiscal year budget will look like. Rick Miranda, CSU’s interim provost and executive vice president, said the university is planning for budget cuts at the same level or higher for fiscal year 2010, which starts July 1.
“I think overall the level of cuts here will be comparable in percentage to other institutions in the state,” Miranda said. “I am aware of universities all over the country — public and private — that are being affected by the recession in a negative way.”
The CSU system was getting about $147 million from state tax money this year, with about $130 million designated to the Fort Collins campus and about $17 million going to the Pueblo campus.
State Sen. Bob Bacon, a Fort Collins Democrat, said the future for higher education funding is bleak. Spending increases for higher education are not constitutionally mandated, unlike K-12.
“Higher education is what we call the elastic part of the general fund,” he said. “When we find ourselves with less money coming in, higher education seems to be one of the things we don’t have money for. With this economy, it’s really hard to know how long this drought is going to occur.”
He said this recession is somewhat worse than the one in 2003 because at that time, the state had other funds to borrow from. This time around, the state does not have the same flexibility.
“I’m not really sure that we have or at least the predictors have been as pessimistic as they needed to be,” Bacon said. “We may even need to cut more.”
Foreseeing troubled waters ahead, Frank cut $1.5 million from the administration budget last fall, as a preemptive measure. In his memo, Frank said CSU will also pull $2.6 million reserves and $500,000 from stock holdings. Furloughs have not been completely ruled out yet, though Frank has said he will not institute mandatory furloughs for the 2009 fiscal year. The decision whether or not to implement furloughs for the next fiscal year will be made no later than June.
As another preemptive measure, the CSU administration instituted a hiring freeze for all noncritical classified, administrative and hourly staff positions on Oct. 1 of last year. That freeze remains in place.
“As months go by, the hiring freeze is getting a little frostier,” Miranda said. “It’s getting stricter. We have been making some exceptions, but are now in the position where we need to make fewer exceptions.”
Although times are tough, Miranda and Schweigert say the federal stimulus package offers a little hope. There is the potential that some of the funds could be filtered to CSU, giving a bit of relief.
“(The budget cuts) will be a bit of a setback, but I don’t want to complain too much because the whole country and world is suffering,” Miranda said. “We will come out of this a stronger campus.”
Colorado State University administration is anticipating an overall $13.1 million shortfall for the 2009 fiscal year, including the $6.7 million that CSU has been asked to give back to the state general fund. Declines in the state treasury, increased benefit costs and slight declines in nonresident enrollment have contributed to $6.35 million in shortfalls.
In a memo sent to the campus community last week, Interim President Tony Frank announced a 3 percent average cut to all academic departments and a 6 percent average cut to administrative services. These cuts will likely translate into some layoffs, though it’s too early to say exactly how many. Officials estimate less than 1 percent of CSU’s permanent, nonfaculty workforce will be affected.
Rich Schweigert, chief financial officer for the CSU system, said every department and service on campus has been asked to identify inefficiencies and to determine where cost savings can be made. This process was started in October but has been revisited more seriously in recent weeks. Frank will go through each plan submitted and make the final decisions on what CSU will cut.
“In this climate right now, it’s just so hard to tell what will happen,” Schweigert said. “There’s always potential for layoffs. It’s one of those things where there are so many unknowns.”
Schweigert and other CSU officials are hoping the picture will become clearer after the state releases its third quarter revenue forecast on March 20. By then, the university should also have a better idea of what the 2010 fiscal year budget will look like. Rick Miranda, CSU’s interim provost and executive vice president, said the university is planning for budget cuts at the same level or higher for fiscal year 2010, which starts July 1.
“I think overall the level of cuts here will be comparable in percentage to other institutions in the state,” Miranda said. “I am aware of universities all over the country — public and private — that are being affected by the recession in a negative way.”
The CSU system was getting about $147 million from state tax money this year, with about $130 million designated to the Fort Collins campus and about $17 million going to the Pueblo campus.
State Sen. Bob Bacon, a Fort Collins Democrat, said the future for higher education funding is bleak. Spending increases for higher education are not constitutionally mandated, unlike K-12.
“Higher education is what we call the elastic part of the general fund,” he said. “When we find ourselves with less money coming in, higher education seems to be one of the things we don’t have money for. With this economy, it’s really hard to know how long this drought is going to occur.”
He said this recession is somewhat worse than the one in 2003 because at that time, the state had other funds to borrow from. This time around, the state does not have the same flexibility.
“I’m not really sure that we have or at least the predictors have been as pessimistic as they needed to be,” Bacon said. “We may even need to cut more.”
Foreseeing troubled waters ahead, Frank cut $1.5 million from the administration budget last fall, as a preemptive measure. In his memo, Frank said CSU will also pull $2.6 million reserves and $500,000 from stock holdings. Furloughs have not been completely ruled out yet, though Frank has said he will not institute mandatory furloughs for the 2009 fiscal year. The decision whether or not to implement furloughs for the next fiscal year will be made no later than June.
As another preemptive measure, the CSU administration instituted a hiring freeze for all noncritical classified, administrative and hourly staff positions on Oct. 1 of last year. That freeze remains in place.
“As months go by, the hiring freeze is getting a little frostier,” Miranda said. “It’s getting stricter. We have been making some exceptions, but are now in the position where we need to make fewer exceptions.”
Although times are tough, Miranda and Schweigert say the federal stimulus package offers a little hope. There is the potential that some of the funds could be filtered to CSU, giving a bit of relief.
“(The budget cuts) will be a bit of a setback, but I don’t want to complain too much because the whole country and world is suffering,” Miranda said. “We will come out of this a stronger campus.”
Want to Know More?
» CSU’s financial accountability report is available online at http://busfin.colostate.edu/finstmt.aspx.
» CSU’s annual budget hearing is scheduled for March 11 at the Hilton, 425 W. Prospect Road. |
