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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/26/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
June 5, 2005 Proposal would cut into UWGB aid By Cynthia Hodnett
The plan, approved in a 12-4 vote by a predominately Republican committee, calls for a $9 million increase in state aid.
The move would provide the UW System with $40 million less than what Doyle proposed. Under Doyle's plan, some of what those increases would pay for include new faculty, financial aid and a program to add more degree programs.
Besides the cuts recommended by the committee, the university is facing another $850,000 in cuts recommended in a budget presented by Doyle in February.
Committee members said their plan will help the state face a $1.6 billion deficit in the next two years. Some lawmakers fear the committee's plan will limit access to college for some families.
"It's really frustrating. We're moving in the opposite direction," said Bruce Shepard, UWGB chancellor. "Our region is in transition and we're transitioning demographically. There's a need for higher education in this region. I've spoken of this university becoming Green Bay's university. We can't continue to serve the people of this region if we're going to take a hit one biennium after another."
Shepard said the approval of the committee's plan will require the university to reshuffle administrative and support functions in the environmental science and policy graduate program and also calls for eliminating the associate dean position. In the previous budget, UW-Green Bay had $1.4 million in reductions, Shepard said. Although the reductions didn't result in reducing enrollments or administrative positions, it did affect students in several ways including larger class sizes and fewer library hours.
At the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Chancellor Richard Wells said he's looking at cutting 55 jobs and $10 million, "all while teaching close to 600 more students."
UWGB's overall budget for this year is about $73 million of which nearly $23 million comes from state taxpayers, Shepard said.
The UW System, which represents less than 9 percent of the state budget, absorbed 38 percent of the spending cuts in the 2003-05 state budget. That cut came on top of the system's 23 percent share of spending cuts in the 2002 budget repair bill.
UW schools are in a difficult situation not knowing when the budget will be finalized or what the final funding decision will be. With teachers under contract, classes scheduled, and new students already accepted into the system, it's not possible to make changes for the fall. Instead budget cuts will be felt during the spring of 2006 when mid-year admissions would be frozen and class offerings adjusted as schools assess how to proceed.
"We're all a little baffled by this," Wells said.
The committee's vote adds the changes to the budget proposal it is crafting to cover state spending through June 30, 2007. The state's shortfall must be made up through spending cuts, tax increases or both. The final plan would need approval from the full Legislature and the governor to become law.
- Jeff Potts/The Oshkosh Northwestern and The Associated Press
Budget committee's work
• THE AID: The University of Wisconsin System would get an additional $9 million in the next two years in state aid, under the budget changes approved Wednesday by the Joint Finance Committee. It currently gets just less than $1 billion a year from the state.
• THE REDUCTIONS: The committee cut $40 million from the proposal for the UW by Gov. Jim Doyle in his budget bill.
• WHAT'S NEXT: The changes are part of the committee's version of the two-year budget Doyle proposed to fix the state's $1.6 billion shortfall. The final plan would have to be approved by the full Legislature and the governor to become law.
- The Associated Press
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