???When UB was slapped with a 10.3 percent cut in funding from the state this fall, school administrators sought ways to reduce spending without impacting the quality of students' education.
Provost Tripathi's plan
???Facing a cut of $21 million, Provost Satish Tripathi first enacted a university-wide hiring and spending moratorium that makes exceptions only for the most necessary maneuvers, and which is in effect indefinitely.
???After compiling the suggestions of the campus community and of the financial advisory group he created to address the budget problem, Tripathi made clear his intent to avoid cuts to the academic aspects of the university as much as possible.
??? "Our goal was to have our educational mission not impacted, so cuts are more on the support side than on the academic side," Tripathi said.
???The academic support area of the campus includes external affairs, administration, buildings and grounds and information technology support.
???In an address to the voting faculty earlier this month, President John B. Simpson stated that academic support would likely be cut twice as much as the core educational divisions - which include the colleges, professors, and research - according to a Nov. 5th article in the UB Reporter.
A dean's perspective
???Cuts to the educational area of school are unavoidable though, as evidenced by the almost $3.5 million reduction in funding to the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) this year.
???According to Bruce McCombe, CAS Dean, the 27 departments that make up the largest college on campus will deal with the cuts by increasing efficiencies.
???"We're trying to do it in ways that do not affect seriously faculty and students," he said.
???The college intends to keep the courses it currently offers intact, and do "everything we can think of short of yard sales" to bring in money to make up the difference in the budget.
???Philanthropy and research grants from the government are two arenas the college hopes to expand. More immediate actions have been taken, though.
???The travel fund that sends professors to educational conferences has been reduced, as has a fund for instructional equipment that replaces broken lab equipment and buys improved teaching tools. The system of refreshing worn down computers every four years has been put on hold.
???"To some extent you can get away with this for a while, but sooner or later if you keep doing this, then things like teaching labs will disintegrate," McCombe said. "Sooner or later you have to replace things."
???The school has resorted to hiring less faculty as one of its biggest money savers. While they expect to lose around 18 to 20 faculty members by the fall 2009 semester for normal turnover reasons, it can only afford to replace about 10 of them. By comparison, last year saw 25 new hires, according to McCombe.
???The dean assured students, however, that fewer teachers won't result in the elimination of any core courses and effects of less faculty won't likely be felt until the fall 2009 semester, if at all.
???"In the spring semester there won't be any obvious effect in the CAS," McCombe said. "Next year it might be more noticeable."
???Some faculty may have to take on more courses, he said, and temporary hires would be made to fill in the gaps. Some special topics courses could be offered less often. Class size could increase to incorporate multiple sections of some courses, but there are no plans to do that at the moment.
???While administrators feel the university is able to absorb these budget cuts with minimal impact to students, any further setbacks could have a damaging effect on the educational quality.
???"If further cuts come, we'd be talking about the student to faculty ratio going up," Tripathi said.
???McCombe said that as of now the CAS can avoid any layoffs of its faculty.
???"But if things remain as serious as they are this year for another year or two, then it's going to get much, much worse. We'd take more serious measures," he said.
The future of tuition
???The $600 tuition increase to State University of New York (SUNY) schools proposed by Gov. David A. Paterson, which could begin with a $300 rise in the spring semester if approved, could help prevent more cuts to SUNY spending, according to President John B. Simpson.
???This money, however, would provide few direct benefits to students.
???"You as a student are going to pay more and get less than a year ago because the university is financially less well off," if the budget plan is passed, Simpson said.
???As much as 90 percent of the money from the tuition increase would go directly to the state, according to Tripathi.
???The Rational Tuition Plan endorsed in October by the Student Assembly, which would have brought gradual increases to tuition annually, has been put on the back burner.
???"Tuition increase has come along historically in SUNY when the state has budget problems," Simpson said. "It's not about improving educational quality, it's more in the realm of the state dealing with a major budget deficit. One way to raise money is to increase tuition."
???A special session of the state legislature will convene this week to discuss the proposal.
???Regardless of whether or not the tuition increase occurs, the budget cuts to UB have forced the university to try to find a way to spend less money without negatively influencing education.
???"That 10 percent is gone, baby, gone. That's your nightmare as a student," Simpson said. "I'm being asked to provide an education with 10 percent less state resource."
