University of Wisconsin System President Kevin P. Reilly announced yesterday to the state’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee an estimated $15 million could be saved annually through the aid of more than 250 cost-saving measures.
The measures include a variety of initiatives designed not only to cut costs but also to increase the efficiency of university functions, including reducing the time it takes students to earn a degree and improving electronic-data storage at all UW System campuses.
According to UW System spokesperson Doug Bradley, chancellors from various UW campuses have been developing the measures over the last two-and-a-half biennia.
“These are ongoing cuts and reductions,” Bradley said. “We have to sustain these cuts and keep things going.”
The plans also include Reilly’s own measures to restructure the UW System. The president plans to remove two vice-president positions and replace them with one executive position, which would result in a single administrative staff for the position, according to a release.
Reilly will also recommend the Board of Regents, which begins meeting next week, to allow the UW colleges and UW-Extension to be directed by a single chancellor, thus combining the administrative staff.
Last year’s budget cuts had clear impacts on the UW System, especially on students.
“The budget cuts have, among other things, made it necessary to cut a couple hundred courses,” UW Provost Peter Spear said. “Since we haven’t reduced the size of the student body, [class] size has increased.”
Bradley said the cost-saving measures are aimed at helping the university get on the governor’s and Legislature’s “good side,” and to aid in the upcoming governor’s executive budget proposal.
“When you look at the reductions in GPR we have faced, you can’t continue. We were good soldiers last time,” Bradley said. “[The state] wanted reinvestment and to keep tuition down. We’ve done our part. Let’s see if we can’t get more support from the government and Legislature.”
The UW System has already saved roughly $13.7 million over the last three biennia by reducing the number of administrative positions. Additionally, other UW institutions have saved an estimated $1.3 million, and the Board of Regents’ 2005-07 biennial budget request highlights more than $21 million in savings.
However, critics of the cost-saving measures are already questioning how the loss of jobs and educational quality may threaten the UW System’s prime goals.
“What’s the risk? We’re getting very close to compromising the service and quality our students expect,” Bradley said.
Spear added that when cuts reach a point where students, faculty and staff are no longer served in a way where students retain a first-rate education, cuts have gone too far.
However, this is not the only way in which the UW System saved money.
Technology, for example, has allowed the UW System to become efficient in areas like online registration, grading systems, system-wide software for libraries, human-resources records and course management.
In the future, the UW System plans to purchase consortia that will allow campuses to gain discounts through group purchasing and reducing insurance costs.
