The Daily Tar Heel
URL: http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/07/state_budget_cuts_will_cause_damage_everywhere_at_unc
Current Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 07:11:03 -0400
State budget cuts will cause ‘damage everywhere’ at UNC
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By the Numbers
- 17.9 percent state funding cut for UNC
- $20 million funds transfer from UNC Health
- $8.5 million enrollment growth funds
- $81 million cuts to be allocated across UNC
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Though a cut in state funding of nearly 18 percent or more than $100 million faces the University, the blow will be softened by additional sources of revenue, administrators said.
The cut will be offset by $20 million in transferred funds from the UNC Health Care System and $8.5 million in enrollment funds from the state.
Bruce Carney, executive vice chancellor and provost, said he is now expecting to allocate $81 million in cuts across the University.
While the funds from the UNC Health Care System and enrollment growth will be helpful, Carney said the cuts will still be widespread.
“There’s going to be damage everywhere,” he said.
Carney said the plans for the implementation of cuts have not been finalized and instructions for deans will be sent out late next week.
“The cuts are so big and the impacts are so dramatic that I want to take my time,” he said.
He said the funding reductions could have the long-term impact of increasing the student-faculty ratio.
“We have a lot of potential problems,” he said.
About the same number of credit hours will be available to students after the cuts, though students can expect larger class sizes, he said.
While the austerity measures will affect all levels of UNC, Carney said the University will allocate a cut of less than 15 percent for the College of Arts and Sciences because the College could not absorb a further reduction in resources.
Karen Gil, dean of the College, said in an email that she did not know the College’s share of budget cuts.
Though Carney said the cuts will have a negative impact on the University, he said he anticipates an improvement in the state’s budgetary troubles that will trickle down to UNC.
“The economic forecast is good,” he said.
Karen McCall, spokeswoman for UNC Health Care, said talks to transfer funds to UNC began in the spring when legislators were deliberating on the state budget in Raleigh.
The system made a formal proposal when the state funding cuts for the UNC system were finalized last month, she said.
UNC Hospitals reported last year that it expected to lose about $300 million in uncompensated care, or one-fifth of the hospital’s total operating expenses.
But McCall said the hospital had an estimated operating margin of 5 to 6 percent for the last fiscal year, freeing up extra funds for UNC.
Chancellor Holden Thorp said he worked on the funds transfer with Thomas Ross, president of the UNC system, and Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Medicine and CEO of UNC Health Care.
Thorp said the funds spared other schools in the UNC system from suffering larger cuts.
“The money from the Health Care system helps us be a good sibling,” he said.
Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.
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7 comments
Using FY2010 actuals, here are some numbers. The $100M reduction from the taxpayers of NC is about a 4% drop in overall UNC Chapel Hill spending.
UNC-CH (not the entire UNC system) had $2,437M in revenue and $2,277M in expenses in FY2010. Of the $2,437M in revenue, $542M came from NC taxpayers, or 22% of the revenue.
For perspective, tuition was $249M and Federal grants were $530M in revenue in FY2010.
So the reduction of $100M mentioned in this article would be a 4.1% drop from the FY2010 total revenue numbers. Not sure how much FY11 revenue/expenses are higher or lower.
For some other perspective, in FY2006 (using 2006 dollars, NOT inflation adjusted) UNC-CH had $2,025M in revenue and $1,802M in expenses. NC taxpayer dollars were $440M of the $2,025M in revenue.
If you reporters have better numbers, please print them
I fail to see how this is bad. Having a small drop in the budget means better allocation of resources and less wasteful spending.
There’s no doubt that this isn’t good, but is it as disastrous as some people are making it out to be? Heck no. I agree with Jason, with the budget cuts from the previous few academic years, the school has been forced to cut out so much waste in the administration. The chancellor has even decided to reform the entire administration altogether. This will be good for the future. Even the always pessimistic Bruce Carney is saying that the outlook for future funding looks good. Once funding is restored to previous levels, that money can go towards academic causes instead of a bloated bureaucracy. Add to that the fact that UNC continues to get more and more research funding, tuition money, private donations alongside a recovering endowment and it looks like state funding is the only thing in a bad situation.
On the negative side, this year’s cuts are going to dig into academic programs for the first time. The leaders have made it sound as if no programs are going to be shut down, but many classes will be larger. I was surprised to hear that there will still be just about as many credit hours offered, though. I hope that is true. Without a doubt, cuts to academic programs will force academic staff to bear a heavy brunt… dealing with more students while having fewer TA’s to help… however, it sounds like this won’t have a huge impact in the long run.
I was also surprised to hear that the state gave UNC an allotment to build a new law school building on Carolina North in 2012-13. I had honestly expected that project to be dead in the water along with the research center. No doubt that renovations and construction will be less common once the current projects are done, though.
Oh, and before you uninformed buffoons come on here saying that the school doesn’t have its priorities in order because it isn’t cutting the athletics program… get your facts straight… the only thing that the school pays for in the athletic department is operating costs for facilities, such as electric bills. Traveling costs, equipment, renovation, salaries, etc. are paid for by the athletic budget which comes from donors and revenue generated by sports.
And to add the Truth in numbers post, its actually an $81 million reduction in funding now… which comes out to a 3.3% reduction. Also, keep in mind that a lot of expenses might start to go down as a large wave of construction projects comes to a close. Mostly likely, this will impact UNC’s growth in the short run, but not in the long run.
UNC already offers an inferior education compared to its ‘peer schools’ (as if Berkeley and Michigan were really ‘peers’) … larger classes will only make this worse.
Ohai, that is so absurd. Please look at any objective ranking indicators used and try to make an argument that puts Michigan, UCLA, or UVa out of UNC’s peer institutions. If you accepted 12% more out of state students like Michigan or UVa the admission and selectivity criteria between the universities would be practically identical. Compare the top 15 public institutions in the country and see what kind of grouping emerge..I don’t think you could construct UNC out of the top 4-7 universities.
As to budget cuts, I have to agree with the benefits emerging from reducing administrative bloat but when the cuts affect the academic core of UNC disproportionately that’s when it become a concern. Though look at the way Michigan’s and California’s legislature are crippling their schools. That makes me more appreciative of our legislative budgets.
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