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Cleveland
Plain Dealer...
Ohio universities
cutting budgets to offset funding decline due to loss of stimulus funds
By Karen Farkas, The Plain Dealer
Friday, April 08, 2011
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio’s universities face an average 13 percent drop
in funding next year -- even though Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget
shows an overall 2.7 percent increase in state support for higher
education.
That’s because colleges will no longer have the one-time infusion of
federal stimulus funds that were used to bolster budgets over the past
two years as the state struggled through the economic downturn.
To counter the loss, college officials are trying to cut costs and
raise revenue -- including possible tuition hikes.
Cleveland State University is expected to receive $73.4 million in the
current fiscal year ending June 30 -- about $62 million from the state
and the rest in stimulus funds. Under the proposed post-stimulus
budget, the state will provide CSU with $62.2 million next year.
Back in 2009, CSU received about $76 million from the state. But that
amount was reduced over the next two years, substituting stimulus funds
to cushion the blow.
State instructional support is based on a formula that includes
enrollment and course costs. The $73 million to CSU this year provides
about 34 percent of its $210 million annual budget.
The situation is similar on other campuses.
University officials have been cutting expenses and discussing how to
raise revenues for months as they prepared for the funding cuts they
feared could be as deep as 25 percent. Although the proposed budget is
a bit of a relief, officials say they still must trim costs.
All are discussing tuition increases, which Kasich capped at 3.5
percent for each of the next two years.
According to a draft allocation of state instructional support for the
next two years released by the state Office of Budget and Management,
funding would increase an average of 7.6 percent for community
colleges, 2.7 percent for regional campuses and 1.2 percent for
four-year universities for the first year. However, that’s not nearly
enough to offset the loss of stimulus money.
In the second year of the proposed budget, average funding to
institutions overall would increase less than 1 percent.
But colleges may also get some unexpected aid. It now appears that the
state will provide a 12th monthly payment for state instructional
support through the fiscal year that ends June 30. Colleges were
notified last fall that the 12th monthly payment, due in June, would be
paid in July so it could be included in the new budget. Most officials
expected that payment -- about $4.7 million for CSU -- would never
occur.
“Because tax revenues have continued to out-perform estimates in recent
months and, to the extent that the trend continues, we expect to make
that payment,” said Dave Pagnard, deputy director of communications for
OBM in an e-mail on Tuesday.
College officials didn’t want to comment on the budget, which will
likely undergo changes before it’s approved by legislators. But they
are pleased by the prospect of the 12th payment.
“We appreciate that the administration recognizes how important this
payment is for the university,” Cleveland State President Ronald
Berkman said in a statement. “This will certainly help bridge the gap
with upcoming budget cuts.”
Ohio State University spokeswoman Shelly Hoffman agreed.
“This will help alleviate some of the effects of the proposed cuts for
the next two fiscal years,” she said in an e-mail. “As to the (state
share of instruction) proposal for the next two years, they are large
cuts but not unexpected given the state’s difficult budget situation.
Because of prudent fiscal management and the time we have had to plan
for them, we hope that we can absorb the cuts in a manner that will
have no impact on the student experience.”
Read it at the Cleveland Plain Dealer
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