Appropriations Committee chairmen from both the House and the Senate approved a 2.4 percent cut for the UNC system -- significantly less than UNC-CH officials had been expecting.
As a result, more than two months into the fiscal year, University administrators say they might be able to formulate a more flexible spending plan than originally predicted.
In May, UNC-CH's deans and department chairmen began preparing for cuts of up to 5 percent, cutting class sections and positions. Officials were told that the state might withhold the system's overhead receipts for research expenses, and faculty salaries possibly would be funded at only 98 percent.
But Monday's agreement calls for much less of a cut and protects many of those resources. Nothing is final until the proposal passes the full House and Senate.
Elmira Mangum, associate provost for finance at UNC-CH, said the proposal as it stands does not indicate the final blow to the campus's budget. "What we're waiting on is word from the Office of the President," she said. "Then the campus budget process will begin."
If the plan is finalized, UNC-CH can perhaps restore some of the smaller cuts already made and maybe hire more faculty and staff like teaching assistants, said Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
"We'll hold our breath to see the results -- it's strange to think of any cuts as being good news," Palm said. "I think it's something that we can get through."
Included in the plan is a provision that will protect tuition remissions for graduate students -- something Branson Page, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, is elated about.
The remissions allow graduate students affordable, in-state tuition rates. Ever since it became a possibility that the graduate student funds could be in jeopardy, Page said, he and other student leaders have lobbied vigilantly in opposition.
