Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced a $540 million budget cut yesterday ' the second major cut in less than a year ' that largely exempts state schools.
We are pleased that our students are the ones who benefit from this decision
said Ohio University President Roderick McDavis. Our base budget and financial aidG?were exempt from the $540 million cut.
The College of Osteopathic Medicine, The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and the general operating budget will receive an $845,000 cut. All receive special appropriations from the state. The college of medicine and Voinovich School will absorb half of the budget cut, while two programs'Success Challenge and Access Challenge'from the general operating budget will absorb the remaining $422,500. Success Challenge awards Athens campus state funding based on graduation rates and financial aid needs, and Access Challenge awards regional campus state money to aid against fee increases.
OU has not discussed where the university will look to offset the cut.- McDavis said.
To meet the latest budget shortfall, Strickland issued a 4.75 percent across-the-board cut to state agencies while maintaining tax cuts and a tuition freeze for public universities. Strickland spared higher education from a $733 million cut in January, showing a commitment to education as vital to economic growth.
The total state funding for both Athens and regional campuses is about $135 million, said Bill Decatur, vice president for Finance and Administration. Without exemption, OU would have incurred a budget cut of almost $6.5 million.
The cuts came as little surprise to McDavis.
We suspected that at a point not in the too distant future there would be an announcement such as there was today McDavis said.
The university does not expect any job losses as a result of state budget cuts nor does OU anticipate the state will ask for university funds to cover the cuts.
McDavis still plans to present the framework of a budget contingency plan ' which focuses on travel and allowance spending cuts, consolidating services among departments and cost reduction through bulk purchasing ' to OU's budget planning council next Friday. Officials will present a finalized contingency plan to the Board of Trustees in October.
To cope with a tighter budget, OU plans to supplement state money with tuition and private funding. OU raised $26 million in private funding last year.
Right now the (retention and enrollment) numbers we have hold up
we are going to have some good news to share two weeks from now
Decatur said. It looks like those numbers will be up and that will help the revenue side of our budget.cb119506@ohiou.edu
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Caitlin Bowling
