Universities hoping other shoe won’t drop

Budget cuts already have put higher ed on shaky footing

Feeling the squeeze

Here is a list of some of the reductions already made by universities, according to the Kansas Board of Regents:

• KU-Lawrence — Eliminated 121 positions, 55 of which were teaching positions; eliminated Learning Communities Office, which helped improve student retention; eliminated 75 class sections in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; increased class sizes; shifted KU Continuing Education unit off state funding.

• KU Medical Center — Eliminated 79 positions; shifted portions of 363 positions to other funding sources; identified an additional 50 positions for elimination during the fiscal year.

• Kansas State University — Cut $13.5 million by reducing nonacademic units 10 percent and academic units 7 percent; held 200 positions vacant; delayed, combined or canceled approximately 75 sections; continuing to identify another $15 million in savings.

• Wichita State University — Eliminated 81 positions; laid off four; eliminated 30 seasonal and temporary positions; eliminated 20 percent of budget for student salaries; scheduled 142 fewer class sections for the fall.

• Emporia State University — Eliminated 32 positions; canceled 25 courses; eliminated 12 to 14 graduate teaching assistant positions; increased class sizes.

• Fort Hays State University — 30 positions eliminated or held vacant; student labor budget reduced; technology upgrades delayed or eliminated.

• Pittsburg State University — Eliminated or reduced 28 positions; scheduled 131 fewer classes; delayed major software acquisition.

Topeka ? In budget talk, there’s fat, there’s muscle, and there’s bone.

Officials at the state’s universities have implemented dozens of cost-cutting moves, but as state revenue news continues to get worse, they fear they are geting close to cutting bone.

Kansas University’s interim chancellor, Barbara Atkinson, said unpaid furloughs of university employees and temporary suspension of the school’s retirement contribution to employees may be the next steps if more cuts are needed.

“We are really out of choices,” she said.

When lawmakers finished the 2008 legislative session, they appropriated $853 million for higher education.

But Kansas tax revenues tanked with the national recession, producing four rounds of budget cuts that left only $753 million on the table — an 11.7 percent cut.

This has prompted cuts at campuses across the state, Kansas Board of Regents President Reginald Robinson said.

“Those types of expenditure reductions don’t come without consequences,” he said.

At KU, state funding has dropped from $275.5 million to $243.2 million. A tuition increase will cover a third of the gap. And the federal stimulus plan will provide $15.8 million over two years, but two-thirds of that must be spent on deferred maintenance.

In her prepared remarks to lawmakers last week, Atkinson said, “Like all state agencies, these cuts will be felt by the people we serve, namely our students and the people of Kansas.”

Budget constraints are limiting the number of classes for the popular UKanTeach program, which was designed to address the shortage of math and science teachers in Kansas, she said. And KU expects a 10 percent to 15 percent decline in the size of the freshman engineering class, “which will have a large impact on the work force four years from now,” she said.