Officials brace for $90 million System cut
Alison Pelleymounter
Issue date: 9/12/05 Section: Campus News
Facing $4.1 million in budget cuts for the 2005-2007 biennium, administrators at UW-Eau Claire are looking for ways to decrease expenses.
The six-month state budget-passing process concluded in July, leaving the UW System with about $90 million in cuts, after factoring in the Board of Regents-approved 6.9 percent tuition increase, Vice Chancellor Andy Soll said.
Students probably won't feel the effects of the cuts immediately, he said; however, next semester administrative cuts that will be made may be noticeable.
System President Kevin Reilly shared Soll's assessment, specifying each campus will try to work around reducing faculty. He said students throughout the system may notice cuts in student services, however, such as advising and financial services, although Soll could not specify such cuts will be made at Eau Claire.
"What we've tried to do all along with previous budget cuts is to protect instruction," Reilly said. "We're not cutting faculty, we're not doubling class sizes ... we're committed in this."
Currently, Soll said, Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor Steve Tallant is working with university deans to determine where cuts should be made. Their decisions should be finalized within the next two to three weeks, Soll said.
Although the financial situation of the UW System is not ideal, Reilly praised the governor for his July budget-related veto choices.
Gov. Jim Doyle submitted his proposed budget to the Legislature in February. After review by the Joint Committee on Finance, the Assembly and Senate passed the legislative version of the biennial budget and sent it back to the governor on July 5. Doyle signed the final version of the budget on July 25.
Exercising the gubernatorial line-item veto, Doyle restored about $50 million to the UW System that had been taken out in the Republican-controlled legislative version of the budget. The vetoes included the reestablishment of $34 million in general purpose funding, which the legislature had removed in its final budget, to the UW System.
The six-month state budget-passing process concluded in July, leaving the UW System with about $90 million in cuts, after factoring in the Board of Regents-approved 6.9 percent tuition increase, Vice Chancellor Andy Soll said.
Students probably won't feel the effects of the cuts immediately, he said; however, next semester administrative cuts that will be made may be noticeable.
System President Kevin Reilly shared Soll's assessment, specifying each campus will try to work around reducing faculty. He said students throughout the system may notice cuts in student services, however, such as advising and financial services, although Soll could not specify such cuts will be made at Eau Claire.
"What we've tried to do all along with previous budget cuts is to protect instruction," Reilly said. "We're not cutting faculty, we're not doubling class sizes ... we're committed in this."
Currently, Soll said, Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor Steve Tallant is working with university deans to determine where cuts should be made. Their decisions should be finalized within the next two to three weeks, Soll said.
Although the financial situation of the UW System is not ideal, Reilly praised the governor for his July budget-related veto choices.
Gov. Jim Doyle submitted his proposed budget to the Legislature in February. After review by the Joint Committee on Finance, the Assembly and Senate passed the legislative version of the biennial budget and sent it back to the governor on July 5. Doyle signed the final version of the budget on July 25.
Exercising the gubernatorial line-item veto, Doyle restored about $50 million to the UW System that had been taken out in the Republican-controlled legislative version of the budget. The vetoes included the reestablishment of $34 million in general purpose funding, which the legislature had removed in its final budget, to the UW System.