Departments tighten belts
Fiscal cuts call for creative ideas

By Robin Morales
Special to the Northern Light

In response to the $1.2 million shortfall predicted for the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2005, meetings continue throughout departments to find solutions to the budget crisis.

With a $700,000 budget cut scheduled for the College of Arts and Sciences, a series of meetings has already begun to determine where to eliminate expenses.

“Last Friday we had a budget retreat and the chairs from all the CAS departments or representatives were there,” said Christine Hanson, chair of anthropology.

In addition to a continued university-wide hiring freeze put into effect January, size caps on all classes will be increased. The CAS faculty was also encouraged to teach more lower division classes than upper division ones because it satisfies General Education Requirements, said Hanson.

“I’m concerned about losing upper division graduate classes,” said Robb Johnson, a senior in anthropology. “Right now our department doesn’t have very many classes and I need them to graduate.”

Students won’t have as many choices in course offerings as they used to but programs shouldn’t be affected, said Hanson.

The anthropology department is taking advantage of Blackboard as a cost saving measure. Instead of instructors making multiple copies, students will now access materials online.

“We wouldn’t do this to hurt the students. Many copies are colored and look much better on Blackboard,” said Hanson. “Copies are a significant portion of our budget that is not considered a fixed cost. So far we have cut our copy expenses about 24 percent.”

Normally the dean’s office allocates a certain amount of tuition waivers throughout the departments based on academic merit. Due to budget shortfalls no tuition waivers were awarded this year, said Hanson.

“I think we’re cutting in the wrong places. Being a sophomore I’m trying to do good in school because I have high hopes for the tuition waivers,” said Natalia Slobodina, anthropology major.

“I am an international student [from Russia] and restricted to where I can work. It’s hard for me to pay for school,” she said. “But I will find some way to make it work, I have to.”

The department’s goal is to make the budget cuts as transparent to students as possible so they don’t see how painful it is, said Hanson.

“Everybody’s taking a hit and doing the best they can with what’s available,” said Hanson. “There is very little fat in the system. We’re cutting meat and bone now.”

Other departments are suffering too, as they struggle to balance the budget for the upcoming academic year.

“We have to meet a $65,000 reduction for this year and a $25,000 for next. I don’t think we’ll be able to get it all,” said Rob Lang, dean of the School of Engineering. “We’re going to have to roll some of that into next year.”

One area that the School of Engineering is looking to reduce is faculty overloads. Previously, in response to a high demand for a given class an additional section may be opened. If a faculty member is teaching more than his or her required class load, they are compensated above their regular salary. The goal is to reduce overloads by about 50 percent, said Lang.

“We’re also looking at travel,” he added. “This is one of the few discretionary areas that we have that we can try to tighten our belt on.”

Most of the travel done by faculty is paid for with grant money for the purpose of research. But occasionally they need to travel with students to conferences or competitions. That expense comes out of the travel budget. The goal is to also reduce this expense by 50 percent, said Lang.

In order to expand and improve programs, the engineering department has to raise its own revenues.

“We’ve really made an effort to diversify our income stream,” said Lang. “So that way we’re not entirely relying on state funding.”

Due to demands from the professional community, the Board of Regents approved the school to add a Master of Science in project management under the provision that they charge a super tuition rate.

“Instead of paying a $202 in-state graduate rate [per credit] it’s $404. And people are still signing up in droves,” said Lang. “That’s how strong the demand is.”

The school offers management engineering courses and arctic engineering courses online.

The online arctic engineering course satisfies the Alaska State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors requirement for licensing. Students complete the course in two weeks at a cost of $995.

“Students can take this class from anywhere around the world,” said Lang. “Last year we had about 100 students. That’s $100,000 of revenue.”

The department was too short on funding to keep laboratory equipment up to date. The Trimble Corporation agreed to sponsor the lab and replaced all of the surveying equipment. The corporation provided hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of state-of-the-art equipment, in return wanting only a plaque on the wall that said thanks, said Lang.

“It’s bad that there are these budget cutbacks but we’re trying our best to bring in these revenues to help balance out the budget,” said Lang. “I don’t think there will be a huge impact on our students.”

‘There is very little fat in the system.
We’re cutting meat and bone now.’

Christine Hanson, chair of anthropology.