UCLA looks everywhere to cut costs, conserve, consolidate
To get a sense of the measures being taken by each campus, President Mark.G. Yudof spoke with leaders of each campus to learn what short- and long-term strategies were being undertaken and to identify some best practices for saving money. He made his report to the Board of Regents Thursday, March 19, at UC Riverside."There are some things that are really creative that are only happening on one or two campuses," Yudof said. "We felt we were in a good position to say to the other seven or eight campuses, 'This is something you ought to consider as you address your budget woes.'" Yudof noted that every UC campus is trying to be thoughtful, consultative and transparent as they struggle with these major fiscal challenges.
All the campuses are looking for ways to consolidate units and eliminate programs that are underutilized or no longer serve a campus priority, said Katherine Lapp, UC executive vice president for business operations.
And some have made the tough choice of cutting programs. UC Berkeley has withdrawn central funding from one of its research centers and is considering eliminating a deanship. UC Santa Cruz is closing its Institute on Science for Global Policy while UC Irvine has closed two programs, Environmental Health Sciences and Policy as well as Environmental Medicine.
Most campuses, including UCLA, have reported that they have instituted layoffs — or plan to do so soon — after saving as much as they could through retirement and attrition.
Beginning last year, UCLA leaders called for reducing faculty and staff hiring, and cutting travel and expenditures on entertainment, renovations, consulting services and equipment. Since December, three high-level taskforces have been created to recommend mid-term and long-term budget solutions while still maintaining UCLA's excellence. While one task force is looking at realigning academic programs, another is examining options for cost savings and efficiencies. A third is focusing on opportunities for revenue generation.
Here are some other measures UCLA has taken to cut costs to keep from damaging core academic programs:
- Decreasing time-to-degree by initiating rigorous requirements for minimum progress and units has helped UCLA improve its undergraduate graduation rate; 89% of UCLA's undergraduates now earn their degrees in six years. The average time-to-degree is 12.2 quarters.
- Academic units are increasing summer courses to ease the impact of budget cuts on course offerings. Summer 2009 currently shows an 11% increase in courses; 75% of UCLA undergraduates enroll in summer session courses.
- To maximize the use of contracts to control costs, UCLA initiated Strategic Sourcing, a process for reducing the total cost of purchased materials, products and services while maintaining or improving quality, service and technology.This process, coupled with the use of Web-based vendor catalogues, has increased the use of contracts for an estimated savings of $5 million.
- UCLA has invested $4 million in a central data center that has resulted in a reduction of 20 local centers.
- The campus is currently spending $23 million to replace inefficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning pumps in 25 buildings and install occupancy sensors throughout the campus. An estimated savings of $5 million annually will mean that UCLA will get back its investment in four years.
- Many departments have migrated to a centralized e-mail and calendaring system managed by Communications Technology Services for an annual savings of $1.6 million. With the addition of 29 more units, the campus has the potential for saving an additional $1.3 million.
- Since 2000, various energy conservation projects have been launched, reducing UCLA's energy consumption by 27%.
- Providing administrative services to other UC campuses and units, including the Office of the President and UC Merced, has helped save money systemwide.
- Schools as well as divisions in the College of Letters and Science have consolidated departmental administrative units. One College division of 15 departments, for example, now has three administrative units.
If you have a money-saving suggestion, go here. To learn more about what cost-saving measures are being taken by UC and other campuses, go here.
While no decisions have been made on whether or not furloughs or salary reductions will be necessary, Yudof's staff will report back to the regents at their May meeting with a policy and planning framework so that if the budget situation requires these measures, policies and plans will be in place.
