Other universities and states wrestle budget woes, too
It
hasn't been easy for legislators in Raleigh who by law must come
up annually with a balanced state budget. For a third straight
year, inadequate tax revenues have forced them to trim budgets
throughout state government to fulfill that charge.
They have tweaked and squeezed and skimped where they could, and
raised revenues where they could by keeping some special taxes
in place that had been set to expire or by raising student tuition
and fees.
At the same time, it hasn't been easy to be a state employee these
past three years. Last year, legislators granted permanent full-time
employees 10 days of paid vacation days in lieu of a raise. This
year, they offered the same 10 bonus days, on top of a flat one-time
$550 bonus.
If there is no silver lining to be found in these lean years,
there may be some solace in knowing that North Carolina is not
the only state -- and Carolina not the only major public university
-- that have been caught in their vise.
The "Chronicle of Higher Education," in its July 2 issue, revealed
the results of a national survey conducted by the State Higher
Education Executive Officers, a nonprofit group based in Denver.
The results showed that 24 states expect to spend less in the
upcoming fiscal year, with an average reduction of 5 percent.
And it could be far worse. Consider California and the plight
of its employees.
Here, at the end of June facing a partial state shut down, the
General Assembly and Gov. Mike Easley managed to approve and sign
a budget before the fiscal year that started July 1. In California,
the governor and legislators still are wrestling with a budget
shortfall projected to be $38 billion -- an amount that is two-and-a-half
times as big as North Carolina's total budget of $14.8 billion.
And even drastic measures there yield only a fraction of the savings
needed.
On July 1, California Gov. Gray Davis issued an order to chop
$250 million from the budget by eliminating 20,000 vacant government
jobs. The same day, he extended for two years a hiring freeze
that he first imposed in October of 2001 -- a move expected to
yield another $300 million. That's big bucks, to be sure, but
only a smidgen when it comes to plugging a budget shortfall measured
in billions.
On July 1, Richard C. Atkinson, president of the University of
California system, laid out for system employees how much bleaker
the situation could turn.
Along with deep cuts already approved, Atkinson wrote, both houses
of the legislature had agreed on $80 million in additional cuts,
while several Republican proposals had been made to cut several
hundred million more from the UC system.
On July 2, Atkinson issued another warning: Deeper budget cuts
from the legislature could well leave the system no choice but
to begin cutting back its plans to accommodate an additional 5,000
students in the 2004-05 academic year.
Not only is there the real risk of losing their jobs, employees
could see their salaries slashed under the edict of a recent court
order that would allow the state to pay employees at minimum wage
if there is no approved budget in place by the end of August.
On July 1, Robert M. Berdahl, chancellor of the University of
California at Berkeley, sent out a campus message warning of more
cuts and higher fees once the continuing state budget impasse
is resolved.
"Whatever
the final resolution, all areas of the campus will surely feel
the effects," Berdahl said.
The University of Michigan, meanwhile, has been left scrambling
to find ways to reduce spending by several million dollars.
The move is in response to a proposal from Michigan Gov. Jennifer
Granholm to reduce state aid to higher education by 10 percent
in order to close the state's anticipated budget gap.
Closer to home in Virginia, legislators imposed a 5 percent cap
on tuition increases for in-state undergraduates -- a move that
has limited the University of Virginia's ability to generate revenue
to offset state budget cuts that amounted to more than $52 million
for the 2003-04 fiscal year.
The cap follows a decision last year by the University of Virginia's
Board of Visitors to raise tuition and fees in fall of 2002 by
roughly 9 percent. In addition, the Board of Visitors added a
$385 surcharge for the spring 2003 semester.
