With unprecedented budget cuts being proposed for the University of Nebraska this year, I’m sure many of you in the College of Medicine are wondering what this will mean for our college.
It’s a very legitimate question.
Obviously, at this point, the overall state budget shortfall and how to address it are still in the hands of the legislature and the governor. Nothing has occurred yet, which is to a degree reassuring, but it also poses a planning challenge, as we do not yet know what level of cuts the university will be ultimately asked to absorb.
The magnitude of the cuts being recommended by the governor for the University of Nebraska are quite substantial. On top of the $13 million reduction the university took during the last fiscal year, under the current budget proposal, NU funding for the current fiscal year will be reduced by an additional $11 million. Next year’s appropriation would then be reduced by an additional $23 million.
For UNMC, we are expecting that would translate into approximately a $3.1 million cut during the current budget year and an additional $9.1 million in the coming year.
The College of Medicine is in a somewhat different position than the other colleges at UNMC. Thanks to the efforts of our clinical faculty and our partnerships with Nebraska Medicine and Children’s Hospital, we have additional revenue streams and opportunities to increase revenue than is the case with the other UNMC colleges, which must rely primarily on tuition, state allocation dollars and extramural grant revenue.
This gives us a little more flexibility than the other colleges, as state funds represent a lesser amount of our total college budget. However, at the same time, we have to be cognizant of the significant financial challenges that also are being experienced by our clinical partners in these times of major uncertainties in the health care environment, which also will negatively impact their ability to help support our academic programs.
As you’ve read, the university and many outside the university feel that the proposed budget cuts are disproportionately too high and will hurt the state’s economy and future. Getting this point across to the state legislators will be a top priority as the legislature finalizes the budget over the next couple months. We are hopeful this message will resonate and that proposed budget cuts to the university will be reduced.
If it remains unaltered, the magnitude of the proposed state budget reduction will have a major impact across the university system and that will impact the College of Medicine as we are part of the team. We will have to make some difficult decisions.
As we work through the decision-making process, we will remain committed to our mission, our core values and our strategic plan. Our highest priority will be doing everything we can to lessen the impact on our core academic programs and thereby our students, faculty and staff, as well as the citizens of Nebraska that we serve.
Raising tuition is obviously one way to increase our college’s revenues. UNMC’s medical school tuition school is currently between 10 and 20 percent less than the average of our peer universities, many of whom are also considering substantial tuition increases in the wake of similar financial challenges in their own state budgets. However, we place a priority on making our educational programs affordable, so raising tuition is always done with much trepidation.
The approach that will be most successful in the long term for enhancing revenues to the college is to grow our clinical programs in partnership with Nebraska Medicine and Children’s Hospital and benefit from their financial success.
Nevertheless, it is unreasonable to believe that a reduction in state support to the degree proposed and over such a short time frame can be addressed solely by revenue enhancement. There will need to be difficult decisions regarding expense reduction. We may not able to do some of the things that we are currently doing.
We will keep the process as transparent as we possibly can to identify areas that will have the least impact on our core programs and missions. As you’ve already seen in messages from Chancellor Gold and President Bounds, we are looking for your best ideas for increasing revenue and reducing expenses. If you have ideas that you think will work, please share them with us.
Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of the college. They are greatly appreciated, and in stressful times like these, I can assure you they don’t go unnoticed. These types of challenges can often serve as catalysts to try new and potentially paradigm-shifting approaches that might have been deemed too risky to consider in times of plenty. I am confident that with the creativity, energy, and commitment of our faculty and staff that we will emerge from this challenge stronger and more united.
On a final note, I want to acknowledge and thank Dr. Steve Wengel, who after nearly 14 years is stepping down as chair of the department of psychiatry, effective Feb. 19. He is doing so to assume the newly created role of assistant vice chancellor for campus wellness for UNMC and UNO. This is an exciting opportunity for Steve and reflects our commitment to improving the well-being of all members of the UNMC and UNO community.
Steve has done a great job leading the psychiatry program. He was instrumental in getting the department moved back on the main campus from its prior location a couple miles east at the old Lutheran Hospital location. More than that, Steve and his team have been stellar in improving the quality of the educational experience in psychiatry for our medical students and increasing the interest in psychiatry among our students. He deserves our thanks for his commitment to the department and the college over his tenure as chair. I look forward to working with him in his new role. The well-being of our faculty, staff, and students is critical to the future of UNMC.
I am also very pleased that Dr. Howard Liu, associate professor of psychiatry, has agreed to take on the role of interim chair of the department of psychiatry. Dr. Liu’s leadership roles as assistant vice chancellor for faculty development and in his leadership of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) have prepared him well to take on this important role for the College of Medicine. I look forward to working closely with Dr. Liu in what I believe will be a number of exciting opportunities for growth and development of the department.