The state’s struggle to balance its budget has simultaneously led to proposed budget cuts ranging from 10.7 to 13.4 percent and a tuition hike proposal from the Capitol that would increase tuition across the UNC system by 8 percent with a $200 maximum increase.
The cuts and increases mean departments will need to reduce their already meager budgets while striving to keep classes intact. Officials say they’re doing their best to stave off cuts related to education, though department heads can’t be positive how deep cuts will go.
New budget cuts announced
A week after University officials announced the UNC system was asking for universities to prepare to absorb an 18-percent cut, departments are still unclear just how much impact the cuts will have.
CHASS Dean Jeffery Braden said his college will definitely be cutting “seats and sections”, mostly because there’s not much else left to cut.
“98.8 percent of our budget is personnel,” Braden said. “Almost all of those are either directly teaching or supporting instruction occupations. We’re being asked to plan for a 10.7 percent cut. We have already implemented a 1.7 percent cut. If I’m going to have to come up with 9 percent more than what we’ve cut, I will lose seats and sections.”
Braden said his departments have already made cuts, and said there will be more, but said the next phase will strive to keep the quality of education stable, from giving teaching assistants more responsibilities to increasing class sizes.
“We’re taking extaordinary efforts to increase the number of seats,” Braden said. “It’s a choice between no sections and big sections and I think most students would prefer big sections.”
Associate Registrar Michelle Johnson said her division, which is made up of registration and records and admissions, is taking precautions to prevent overcrowding in classes, especially as sections are cut.
“There’s been a trend of constantly increasing the freshman class in recent years,” Johnson said. “This year we’re not doing that.”
Johnson said while the University will be enrolling fewer students in the fall, current students will not be barred from registering.
“We’re trying to control the number of new freshman coming in and keep it at or below what it was last year,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to experience that enrollment growth. It’s not a good year to have more students coming in looking for seats in classes.”
College of Veterinary Medicine Interim Dean David Bristol said his college will be impacted in a unique way as the Vet School looks to add a hospital.
“We’re building a new hosptial and have to be ready with personnel to man the hospital when it opens,” Bristol said. “We’re going to have a nice new facility and we’ll be cutting back.”
As with most of the colleges, Bristol said it was unclear how the Vet School will be impacted, but he said there will definitely be personnel losses.
“We’re still in a planning process as far as where well make these cuts,” Bristol said. “But, there are definitely going to be positions impacted.”
Tuition hike
University Cashier’s Office Director Bruce A. Forinash said information wasn’t coming very quickly concerning the likelihood of a $200 increase in tuition for NCSU students.
“About the only thing I know is what I read in the papers,” Forinash said. “What the University has done so far is to start the planning process. We won’t know any more until the legislative committees have had their chances to do their discussions.”
Forinash said it was likely the General Assembly was aiming to solve the state’s budget crisis with the increases.
“It looks like the legislature is trying to balance the budget reductions with more revenue which they’re asking students to pay tuition for,” Forinash said.
With the cuts and hikes all having an impact on students’ wallets, Forinash said students may need to become more a part of the decisions being made, adding that if any students had ideas or opinions, they should let themselves be heard.
“Students are part of the process too,” Forinash said.
