University officials, SGA support tuition increase

University officials propose increasing tuition nearly 4 percent and committees to “scrub” the University’s budget to meet state-mandated cutbacks.

President Rodney Mabry, vice president of business affairs Greg Lassen and a Student Government Association representative plan to appear before the Board of Regents in Austin on March 3 to submit the University’s planned $2.8 million cuts and to support a tuition increase.

On Jan. 15, Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus signed a letter asking the UT System, along with other state agencies, to prepare budget cuts of 5 percent that could possibly take effect over the next two years.

In the meantime, Mabry asked Lassen to reconvene the Cost Containment Committee to find more cost-cutting measures in the University’s business and support services.

“He and his group have already done a great deal to save utility costs, reduce travel on the staff side and contain personnel costs with a flexible hiring freeze,” Mabry said in a Thursday memo distributed to faculty and staff.

Provost Peter Fos is leading the Academic Reorganization and Revitalization Task Force to address ways to trim all academic operations.

“It is imperative that we begin planning how we might reorganize and revitalize our academic enterprise in order to find funding for new programs and strategic initiatives that will enable us to move forward,” Mabry said. Mabry asked both committees to report their findings by May 1.

Nearly a 4-percent increase, an additional $140 per 15-credit hours, will be considered for the next two years. UT students have already faced a 4-percent tuition increase each year since 2008. Now it seems the trend will most likely continue.

Lassen said it is easy for educational institutions to be affected because they do have alternative fundraising abilities such as student tuition, fees and donor money. Some state agencies strictly rely on state funding, he said.

Lassen said President Mabry works to gather many donations to help the University. Typically, donors give to capital projects; however, donor money seems to be shifting more toward student scholarships.

“Education is the only thing with alternative income,” Lassen said. “I think that problem is what has lead to tuition increases in the past decade or so.

Budget Cuts

According the memo sent by Mabry to faculty and staff, nearly $800,000 of federal stimulus funding might be lost over the next two years beginning in fall 2011. That brings the total amount of lost funding to $3.6 million.

Lassen said the University has worked to cut costs by reducing utility bills, cutting travel budgets and changing purchasing rules. He said that personnel costs are more than half of the University’s expenses, and the University tries not to cut areas that affect people directly.

“A hiring freeze is much more humane and family friendly,” Lassen said.