http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/02/19/news/01uwl.txt
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The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will likely cut $5 million from its budget in the next two years.
UW-L’s administration had been planning for cuts anywhere from $2 million to $6 million.
UW-La Crosse senior Nicole Holden takes notes during her Program Planning in Recreation class Wednesday at Wimberly Hall. UW-la Crosse is expected to cut $5 million of their budget over the next two years but aims to preserve a quality classroom experience when doing so. PETER THOMSON photo
“It is like going to the doctor when you have a problem,” said UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow. “You hope it’s not as bad as it might be — our problem is: It is as bad as it might be.”
Gow said while he can’t rule out staffing cuts, he hopes enough savings can be found elsewhere.
Five million dollars is about 6 percent of UW-L’s $82 million general program revenue budget.
UW-L will have to deal with cuts, while trying to grow enrollment and continuing hiring through the Growth, Quality and Access plan.
“We want to protect the classroom experience for students,” said Gow. “We’ll need to take a careful look at all the other things we do.”
UW-L will evaluate vacant positions. If that doesn’t produce enough savings, the university could be forced to layoff workers, said Gow.
“Personally, that is the hardest part of this situation and the biggest challenge that anyone that is leading a university will face,” said Gow. “We are going to make every effort to get though this with minimal job loss.”
Since the UW System Regents have yet to set tuition levels for the next two years, UW-L isn’t sure how much will be offset by increased tuition. UW-L officials estimated the $5 million based on possible 5.5 percent tuition increases each year over the next two years.
The budget calculations also figure in money from the federal stimulus package.
“People had hoped the federal money would soften impact,” Gow. “But this recession is so severe that even with federal money we will still need to make cuts.”
UW-L will continue Growth, Quality and Access hiring with an emphasis on classroom teachers, said Gow.
“We’ve made a commitment to students. The tuition was increased to provide them more teachers, more sections of classes and smaller classes, and we have to live up to that commitment,” said Gow.
Other schools, for the most part, aren’t hiring so UW-L is attracting some amazing candidates, said Gow.
“That is the only silver lining in this whole thing,” he said.
Building plans at UW-L such as the stadium, academic building and residence halls are not funded though the state’s operating budget, and aren’t affected, Gow said.
Western Technical College has calculated a possible impact of $350,000 in cuts over the next two years, said Western President Lee Rasch.
The college will know more after details come from the system. It hopes any staffing cuts will be through attrition, he said.
“The challenge will be trying to increase capacity to serve more students, particularly dislocated workers,” said Rasch.
Although Viterbo University was not directly affected by the governor’s budget, President Rick Artman said he was grateful for the governor’s support through the three percent increase over the next two years in the Wisconsin Tuition Grant for need-based students attending private colleges in Wisconsin.
History
In the last three bienniums, UW-L has had budget cuts amounting to $9.5 million and a total loss of 70 faculty and staff positions.
2001-03 biennium: UW System had $55 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $2 million for UW-L.
2003-05 biennium: UW System had $100 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $4.2 million for UW-L.
2005-07 biennium: UW System had $90 million in cuts, meaning a loss of $3.3 million for UW-L.
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