Popular opinion and newspaper headlines would lead you to believe that the University of Nebraska’s budget woes are similar to every other state university in the country.
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NU President L. Dennis Smith, Ph.D., will announce partial budget reductions for all four NU campuses during his presentation to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Monday, March 10. A special announcement will be sent to UNMC employees during the afternoon of March 10, stating what the president will report regarding the UNMC budget reduction item. During the forums, Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., will discuss Phase I of the UNMC budget reductions, which have been agreed to by the Chancellor’s Council. Although the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee added funding not included in the governor’s original proposal, UNMC still faces severe reductions. Dr. Maurer will present a budget reduction model that highlights the extent of the cuts that UNMC most likely will have to confront. “This specific budget reduction, which we call Phase I, is basically a done deal,” Dr. Maurer said. “We’re very appreciative of the actions of the Appropriations Committee, but the magnitude of the potential cuts is sobering. I want to take the opportunity at the forums to inform employees of the budget reduction process employed prior to this time and what that process will be during the next several months to develop recommended cuts in later phases. “Due to several statewide economic and political factors, a lot of uncertainty exists at this time over the final amount UNMC will need to cut.” |
But a look at surrounding states shows that the cuts to NU’s budget isolate the university on an island, where it is at a competitive disadvantage for recruiting new faculty and students.
“In the states surrounding Nebraska, none has proposed a decrease in the allocation to higher education, while Nebraska is proposing to cut the university budget by 10 percent,” said Kim Robak, NU vice president for external affairs. “These cuts make it increasingly difficult to compete for students and faculty and to maintain the quality that the University of Nebraska is known for.”
Robak said she’s read the newspaper stories and heard media reports about other state universities in dire straits, but she points out that that is the exception, not the norm. Last year, more than two-thirds of all states increased higher education budgets, and only a handful of states enacted a cut. That scenario plays out with Nebraska’s neighbors.
The governors in Colorado, Iowa and South Dakota have recommended increasing funding to higher education by at least 2.4 percent, while Kansas and Missouri are looking at no changes in funding. Wyoming isn’t in a budget year. Those states’ universities are NU’s main competitors for faculty and students, Robak said.
During the past two years, the Nebraska Legislature has reduced the University of Nebraska’s allocation by about $33 million. At UNMC, those reductions amounted to about $6.7 million.
UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said lawmakers should consider that the university is “an economic driver, an economic engine, for the state. Cuts of the magnitude proposed in Nebraska will damage our vital capacity to ensure a bright future for our children and grandchildren.
“Some categories of state funding such as aid to individuals and corrections are being exempted from cuts this year,” Dr. Maurer said. “Exempting higher education in this climate is unrealistic, but deep cuts are not the answer, either. There is merit in protecting the state’s only public university, even during difficult economic times.”