USM faces budget deficits (Printed Jan. 18, 2008)
By Cliff White
Staff Writer
Budget cuts, including the cutting of some positions and the possible elimination of some low enrollment programs, may affect the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.
The university’s interim president, Joseph Wood, met with the University of Maine System Trustees Monday morning to present a proposal to reduce spending and pay back an $8.2 million loan the trustees approved to allow USM to cover four consecutive years of budget deficits.
“It’s always very difficult when you have to scale back things you worked hard trying to build,” Wood said. “We have had great aspirations for USM to try to figure out how to create a really remarkable university, but we have always had to do it on a shoestring, so I suppose its not surprising at some point to encounter budget problems.”
Wood said the measures he proposed to the board of trustees on Monday were necessary measures to counteract the university’s declining enrollment.
“The community colleges are doing their job and USM no longer needs to serve some of that community,” Wood said. “In the foreseeable future I do not see us growing back up to an 11,400 enrollment. We have to start looking at ourselves as a 10,000-student university.”
Bob Caswell, a spokesman for USM, said he was confident the plan presented to the board of trustees would bring the university back to solid financial ground.
“We now have a plan in place with specific year-by-year targets to return us to the black,” Caswell said.
The plan includes calls for USM to cut $2 million from this year’s budget and the same amount from next year’s budget, Caswell said.
A total of 90 positions will be eliminated by 2010, Caswell said, on top of cuts in equipment and travel. The 90 job cuts will be a combination of eliminating vacant positions combined with layoffs Caswell said.
“The layoffs will be made with the goal of protecting the academic core of the institution,” Caswell said. “Which is not to say faculty positions will not be eliminated, but that those positions which are vacated will be looked at on a case-by-case basis to see if it is critical to the health and safety of the organization.”
The Gorham campus of USM is key for the future financial stability of the university, Caswell said, due to the large number of full-time students living on campus.
“One of the goals of this university is to continue to build our full-time undergraduate enrollment, and the Gorham campus is an important part of that goal,” Caswell said.
Individual colleges and programs with declining interest from students will also be investigated to see if possible funding scale-backs could save the university money, Caswell said. Programs headquartered on the Gorham campus that could be targets for review include the arts, music and theater schools, the school of applied science, engineering and technology, and the college of education and human development.
“These are all programs with a long history and tradition, but as I said everything is being reviewed,” Caswell said. “I think it’s safe to say that no one college or school will be completely eliminated. That’s unrealistic. But could portions of any one school be reorganized to make sure it is running more efficiently and serving the needs of the students more effectively? Sure. But wholesale elimination of academic units is not likely.”
Wood concurred the Gorham campus was an important part of the university’s future.
“We have to look at low enrollment programs as to whether we can continue to sustain those, but I don’t think you’re going to see anything that is going to change dramatically the level of activity or flow of vehicles or anything else that the Gorham campus generates.”
Caswell said while both he and Wood were confident the university could solve its financial problems, they were not underestimating the challenge.
“It certainly is a tough position for the university to be in,” Caswell said. “We certainly don’t want to gloss it over, and it’s very difficult to stomach particularly at an institution that has grown and developed dramatically over the last 15 years. But this is not a situation that is uncommon or unheard of in national education circles, and we certainly will get through it. But it will take a while and it’s not going to be easy.”
Staff Writer
Budget cuts, including the cutting of some positions and the possible elimination of some low enrollment programs, may affect the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.
The university’s interim president, Joseph Wood, met with the University of Maine System Trustees Monday morning to present a proposal to reduce spending and pay back an $8.2 million loan the trustees approved to allow USM to cover four consecutive years of budget deficits.
“It’s always very difficult when you have to scale back things you worked hard trying to build,” Wood said. “We have had great aspirations for USM to try to figure out how to create a really remarkable university, but we have always had to do it on a shoestring, so I suppose its not surprising at some point to encounter budget problems.”
Wood said the measures he proposed to the board of trustees on Monday were necessary measures to counteract the university’s declining enrollment.
“The community colleges are doing their job and USM no longer needs to serve some of that community,” Wood said. “In the foreseeable future I do not see us growing back up to an 11,400 enrollment. We have to start looking at ourselves as a 10,000-student university.”
Bob Caswell, a spokesman for USM, said he was confident the plan presented to the board of trustees would bring the university back to solid financial ground.
“We now have a plan in place with specific year-by-year targets to return us to the black,” Caswell said.
The plan includes calls for USM to cut $2 million from this year’s budget and the same amount from next year’s budget, Caswell said.
A total of 90 positions will be eliminated by 2010, Caswell said, on top of cuts in equipment and travel. The 90 job cuts will be a combination of eliminating vacant positions combined with layoffs Caswell said.
“The layoffs will be made with the goal of protecting the academic core of the institution,” Caswell said. “Which is not to say faculty positions will not be eliminated, but that those positions which are vacated will be looked at on a case-by-case basis to see if it is critical to the health and safety of the organization.”
The Gorham campus of USM is key for the future financial stability of the university, Caswell said, due to the large number of full-time students living on campus.
“One of the goals of this university is to continue to build our full-time undergraduate enrollment, and the Gorham campus is an important part of that goal,” Caswell said.
Individual colleges and programs with declining interest from students will also be investigated to see if possible funding scale-backs could save the university money, Caswell said. Programs headquartered on the Gorham campus that could be targets for review include the arts, music and theater schools, the school of applied science, engineering and technology, and the college of education and human development.
“These are all programs with a long history and tradition, but as I said everything is being reviewed,” Caswell said. “I think it’s safe to say that no one college or school will be completely eliminated. That’s unrealistic. But could portions of any one school be reorganized to make sure it is running more efficiently and serving the needs of the students more effectively? Sure. But wholesale elimination of academic units is not likely.”
Wood concurred the Gorham campus was an important part of the university’s future.
“We have to look at low enrollment programs as to whether we can continue to sustain those, but I don’t think you’re going to see anything that is going to change dramatically the level of activity or flow of vehicles or anything else that the Gorham campus generates.”
Caswell said while both he and Wood were confident the university could solve its financial problems, they were not underestimating the challenge.
“It certainly is a tough position for the university to be in,” Caswell said. “We certainly don’t want to gloss it over, and it’s very difficult to stomach particularly at an institution that has grown and developed dramatically over the last 15 years. But this is not a situation that is uncommon or unheard of in national education circles, and we certainly will get through it. But it will take a while and it’s not going to be easy.”
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