Budget shortfall to cost universities $25 million

by Jacquelyn Ryberg

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 00:00

The University of Wisconsin System will suffer a $25 million budget cut this academic year, which will likely lead to challenges for some state campuses.

Due to a faltering national economy, the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated a general shortfall of $652 million throughout the state by the end of June 2009.

In response to this projection, a budget repair bill was enacted to supplement the fund shortfall and bring the budget back into balance.

According to David Giroux, a UW System spokesperson, the system lapse will be absorbed by utilizing energy conservation techniques, managing utility budgets, cutting back on travel and holding vacant positions for longer periods of time to save money that would otherwise be paid to new hires.

Giroux said UW cannot yet predict how much each institution will be required to cut.

“It is too early for us to determine what share of the $25 million will go to UW-Madison,” Giroux said. “If we distribute this equitably based on the size and budget of each institution, UW-Madison is significantly larger; hence, it will probably take a larger cut, but it will be proportional to their resources.”

But Colleene Thomas, a UW System student regent, said if smaller adjustments within the administration are arranged, the cuts could directly affect students.

“Look at the geography department. You had five professors leave in the last three years, and now you cannot hire any new professors to fill the positions because you have to save money,” Thomas said. “So, classes that geography students need to take to complete their major are not as readily available, and students have to spend a longer time in school in order to graduate.”

According to Board of Regents President Mark Bradley, the millions of dollars returned to the state will make adhering to the UW System Growth Agenda a difficult task.

The Growth Agenda is a systemwide initiative that seeks to improve access to higher education for Wisconsin residents.

Despite the budget cuts, Bradley said it is necessary to concentrate on the goals of the Growth Agenda in order to keep up with the global economy.

“Everyone agrees the only way Wisconsin is going to prosper in this economy is by increasing the percentage of residents who have a baccalaureate degree,” Bradley said. “We need to be creative and work very hard at fulfilling our pledge to the state, and at the same time do our part in a bad economy.”

More than 15 state agencies will also experience lapses in the coming year. While transportation will take the largest cut at $103 million, the governor’s office will assume the smallest cut at $100,000.

An editing error in the original copy was corrected. “UW-Madison” was missing a hyphen.