estimated loss of $30M-$40M
Campus prepares for cuts
BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff
While there are still months of debate ahead before the Legislature
adopts a 2004-05 budget, campus administrators estimate UCLA’s
net loss for the next fiscal year, based on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
plan, could be $30 million to $40 million if student fee increases
are adopted. That amounts to 5%-7% of the campus’ operating
budget.
And while there is some hope that lawmakers may adjust some specific
cuts, it is likely that UC will end up with the overall level of
budget cuts proposed by Schwarzenegger, a loss of around $372 million,
said UCLA’s budget executive.
“There is very little likelihood that the university can
successfully argue with the Legislature and the governor to put
money back in,” Finance and Budget Vice Chancellor Steve Olsen
told Academic Senate leaders Feb. 10 at the Faculty Center. “The
state’s fiscal situation is that bad. The only question is:
Is there a less damaging way to allocate these reductions?”
Campus leaders are now grappling with that question as they look
at preliminary budget plans academic departments submitted last
December to the Senate’s Council on Planning and Budget.
Under a new budget process that was restructured to be widely
inclusive and consultative, departments were asked back in September
by the administration to submit 2004-05 budget plans that anticipated
a 5% cut in state funds.
“We did correctly anticipate the scope of the reduction;
it is roughly equivalent to the 5% target that we asked the deans
to plan for,” Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel Neuman told
the gathering.
With these plans now in hand, the Council on Planning and Budget
took the next step in a process that was designed to engage faculty
in prioritizing campus needs and goals.
The council assigned reviewers to analyze the budgets in consultation
with the chairs of the faculty executive committees, explained Ajit
Mal, council chair and an engineering professor.
In general, Mal said, most departments are proposing cuts in staff,
supplies, instructional support and temporary FTE. Later this quarter,
the reviewers will submit their reports to the council, which will
then do a cross-disciplinary analysis of the cuts and their overall
impact on academic programs. The council will revise the proposals
as necessary.
Finally, after the reports are submitted to the administration,
Chancellor Albert Carnesale will finalize the budget in June, guided
by recommendations from the Resource Allocation Advisory Group.
This special committee of faculty and administrators representing
a wide spectrum of the campus was appointed by the chancellor to
advise him on strategies for investment and disinvestment, “with
the understanding that everything is on the table,” Neuman
added.
In order for UCLA to strengthen its foundations during the budget
crisis, there’s wide consensus among academic leaders that
the university must focus its resources on what it does best and
build on its comparative advantages rather than make across-the-board
cuts, Neuman explained.
UCLA is also preparing to deal with other proposals by the governor:
a reduction in freshman enrollment and a 40% graduate student fee
hike, which may fall to the 15%-20% range as lawmakers deliberate,
Olsen added.
Neuman said the administration is committed to mitigating the
effect of the fee hike. “The chancellor and I are acutely
aware of the centrality of graduate education and the need for graduate
student support. We do understand that this is fundamental and core
to a great research university like ours.”
On freshman enrollment, UCLA has a preliminary target of admitting
3,915 students this fall (compared to 4,260 admitted last fall).
It would be the smallest freshman class in the last 15 years. “We
can also expect a reduction in transfer students and some graduate
students,” Olsen said.
Neuman assured faculty leaders that UCLA will protect its core
values to maintain the highest standards of academic excellence.
“Looking back a few years hence, after we’ve emerged
from these difficult budgetary times, we will want to know that
we did everything we could to insure that we are positioned to become
ever stronger as a university,” he said.
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