The Budget Planning Council meets tomorrow to discuss how Ohio University will respond to the most recent state budget cuts.
The $540 million cut ' the second major cut in less than a year ' was announced by Gov. Ted Strickland last week and largely exempts state schools.
The university expects that the College of Osteopathic Medicine, The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and the general operating budget will receive an $845,000 cut, because all three receive special funding from the state.
The university does not face any imminent problems from the cuts, but administrators are concerned that the state used general funding to fill holes in the budget, said Rebecca Watts, chief of staff and special assistant to the president.
We're not at all confident that there will not be more cuts
she said.
The preliminary $845,000 figure is based on a 4.75 percent reduction in special funding.
This number may increase or decrease depending on how the Ohio Board of Regents applies the 4.75 percent across-the-board state budget cut, said Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings, assistant vice president of Budget Planning and Analysis.
Gov. Strickland gave state agencies until Sept. 22 to identify the cuts and until Oct. 1 to implement them.
We have not finalized any plans on how we will manage (budget) reductions Vazquez-Skillings said. In addition to thinking about how we handle this reduction we are going to have to think about (possible) future reductions.
The university is unsure how the cuts will affect some academic programs, departments and restricted grants, such as those for research, but it expects to respond to any cuts within the next month, Vazquez-Skillings said.
As of now, two programs within the general operating budget ' Success Challenge and Access Challenge ' will absorb $386,888 of the cut, she said.
Success Challenge ' state funding based on graduate rates and the number of students in financial need at the Athens campus ' is included in the university's central budget and will absorb $285,000.
Access Challenge ' state funding awarded to regional campus to defer fee increase' will absorb $101,888.
The College of Osteopathic Medicine and The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs will absorb the remaining $458,112.
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Caitlin Bowling
