Tuition will go up next year as the W tries to offset budget cuts and rising expenses.

In what the College Board calls a “rebalancing” of state money, the W’s appropriation for the next fiscal year is being reduced by $136,000.

“We will stretch our dollars further through efficiencies and reallocation but, ultimately, there will be an increase in tuition,” said MUW President Dr. Claudia Limbert in an email interview.
This is the first reduction in a rebalancing program that will favor larger schools such as the University of Mississippi and take place over the next six years. Assuming funding and student credit hours remain the same after next year, this will result in an overall reduction for the W of $4 million by 2014 from the current level of appropriations.

The new tuition amount, yet to be determined, will not be the only change students will notice.

According to Dr. Sandra Jordan, vice president of Academic Affairs, class offerings are being pared to focus on courses needed for graduation. Dance classes are among classes that are being cut. Although Jordan said that the dance courses were never intended for the fall, they were originally offered and then removed from Banner Web.

The funding cuts will also be reflected in a slowdown in campus renovations. Bond money for construction requested by the W was not granted by the Legislature. Not only was the bond money for regular construction denied, but two-thirds of the emergency construction money request from the W was rejected. This means that only the most important construction will take place. One such project will be adding elevator access in buildings. “Wheelchairs can’t get to the second floor,” said Jordan. “We have to prioritize now.”

While officials at the W said they did not plan to save money by firing faculty or staff, Nora Miller, the vice president of Finance and Administration, said, “Vacant positions will be assessed to determine whether those positions are essential for current operations.” Limbert said that “if existing personnel can assume the duties without a loss of productivity, we may decide to leave a position vacant.”

As the W shifts into its cost-saving campaign, student workers may be worried that their hours could be reduced. “With the increase in minimum wage that will go into effect this summer, I imagine there will be fewer hours available for institutional work study students,” Miller said.

Departments have been told to consider the financial situation in preparing their budget requests for the next year. As a result, many departments are looking for ways to bring in more students and save money.

“We’ve got to become more aggressive in our department-level marketing and recruitment,” said Dr. Marty Hatton, chairman of the Department of Communication, adding that “we’ve got to be particularly careful with long-range planning for equipment.”

The new budget realities will mean no raises next year. Nationally the average salary for full-time teachers with the rank of professor at public four-year colleges and universities is $93,190, according to the Southern Regional Education Board (sreb.org). At the W, the average full professor’s salary is $57,785. “We requested a 5 percent salary pool for raises to help bring our faculty salaries closer to the Southeastern average, and to attract and retain quality faculty and staff,” said Miller. “Unfortunately, this was not funded by the Legislature, so raises will not be a part of our budget plan for fiscal year 2009.”

The budget cuts, coupled with the recent MUW 20/20 recommendations, have led to new priorities, which are reflected in the Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Council’s recommendations for improving the W’s financial health and boosting its status. They include: increasing enrollment, improving graduation and retention rates, developing online courses and degree programs, and finding ways to increase revenue through grant writing and donor support.

Limbert said it would be possible to overcome the impact of the rebalancing of the budget initiated by the College Board, which oversees the state’s eight four-year institutions of higher learning. “We will be taking some bold and innovative actions to place our institution in a position to capitalize on the funding formula that IHL has adopted,” said Limbert in an email to faculty and staff. “The message from the IHL Board is clear: Growth of our student body is necessary at MUW to lessen the effect of the rebalancing.”

Meanwhile, the budget cuts require that as much money be saved as possible. “We started running budget scenarios back in November with budget cuts in mind,” Jordan said.
“It will be very difficult to save money in light of the effect that higher fuel costs have on practically all purchases,” Miller said. “We will continue to explore ways to increase efficiencies – in both utilities, and in our other operations.”