Rogers and campus administrators are wrestling with a $5.5 million budget crunch, one he said will produce proposed budget “strategies” within weeks.
Rogers said that without tuition increases campus could see another budget shortfall next year. He said UAF also will need to keep thinking about ways to find money as state lawmakers pressure the university system to carry a heavier share of its financial burden.
“We haven’t yet determined specifically where cuts would be made,” Rogers told students at an afternoon forum.
The changes would mean a 10 percent hike to the price of undergraduate courses starting in the fall of 2011, for some courses, twice the size already approved. Another 10 to 12 percent increase would arrive the following year, and fees also would rise for students coming from outside Alaska to study. The price for graduate-level courses would stay the same.
Nicole Carvajal, a student government leader studying history, asked Rogers whether campus administrators could look instead toward securing more private donations, which account for a fraction of UAF’s $382 million budget.
Another student, Lauren Wiley, asked if the campus could trim services, possibly from corners of its athletic program, and hold tuition constant.
“I think there are services that you offer us students that some of us could live without,” Wiley said.
Rogers, who said he expects to hold a few more forums on the proposed tuition changes, said administrators regularly weigh both options. But he said private donations fell last year after the economy withered and that the current budget shortfall of $5.5 million could force cuts next year.
Still, Rogers said, students should tell him if they think certain services are a waste of money. He said that perspective has a role to play in long-term budget decisions.
“If we don’t constantly change what we do as a university, we’ll go stale,” he said.
The university system’s tuition plan still needs to clear the Board of Regents to take effect. Rogers said the campus could, if regents reject the tuition plan, think about hiring freezes or other options.
But he suggested university leaders will eventually need to shift from a cost-cutting approach and start looking for more revenue, as “it’s clear to us the Legislature is driving us to earn more of our money from non-state sources and less from the state.”
UAF gets almost 40 percent of its money from state government. The next biggest sources are federal government, grants and contracts. Rogers said the next large variable is the combined fees of students.
Figures provided at Wednesday’s forum suggest college students in Alaska pay roughly one-third less for tuition than students elsewhere. The numbers, from the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, show students here paying more than in six states but less than in 43.
Contact staff writer Chris Eshleman at
459-7582.
A lot of the profs at UAF don't give a hoot about undergraduate education. They seem to have forgotten that the students are the reason they have a job!! If you're going to increase the tuition - you must also increase the quality of the education. Remember the old adage, "You get what you pay for."
The students who don't avail themselves of the amenity services should demand that those services be directly supported through fees so they don't add to the basic tuition cost.
Why not take advantage of the military's GI Bill. I can't count the number of spouses that go to school up here due to low tuition cost and then get employed at a clinic or hospital and leave within the first year.
Why not charge military spouses or military students the full amount TA will allow which is $250 per credit, my school does and I end up with free books out of it.
Or perhaps the school should enforce it's "Green" standards a bit more. Leaving Christmas tree lights on the entire winter or students who are staying on campus are allowed a specific KW usage and if they go over that, they are forced to pay like everyone else. I don't leave lights on, doors open in winter, or waste electricity.
.
Here's thought.
Why not these over paid suits learn to live within their means.
Budget crunch, my eye, when increases in pay for executives and administrators are always the first order of business.
Rogers, and company: Go take a home-ec class and learn what "budget" means, then try and explain why you need more money. How's about explaining where the "more money" is supposed to come from anyway, as WE'RE NOT MAKING MORE TO GIVE YOU!
DRILL MORE OIL TO REDUCE TUITION