Repository: UIHistories Project: Booklet - State of University (1958) [PAGE 23]

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the Budget Committee to $4,100,000. All the programs requested were desirable and important. It was felt, however, that with the central importance of the salaiy item, the new budget should be restricted to expan< m of areas of teaching, research, and public service, which would maintain th University's academic position, leaving to another time the question of inauguration of new programs. While the sum proposed for this purpose is less than 30 per c of th requests from deans and directors, it does cover the minimum amount needed to enable the University to meet current professional expectations. It will thus provide for essential improvements. Health Insurance

A new item in the budget request, in the amount of $600,000, is for the University's contribution to the health insurance program. T h e University has in the past arranged, on a voluntary basis, hospital, medical, and surgical insurance for members of the staff and their dependents. A staff committee, after a thorough study, recommends a comprehensive plan which would cover the first $250 of all hospital expenses, and 80 per cent thereafter. It would also cover 80 per cent of medical expenditures in excess of $100. Each person would be insured for a $15,000 maxim u m benefit. T h e University would pay the full cost of the insurance for staff members and half of the premium for dependents. This proposal is in line with a growing practice in industry and provides an excellent personnel benefit at a relatively low cost to the state. Salary Adjustment

In the opinion of all concerned with budget preparation, including the Board of Trustees, the salaiy adjustment for the staff in the amount of $12,000^000 for the biennium is the key concern. While the increases provided in the 1957-59 budget have enabled the University to keep pace with increases granted in similar institutions, further adjustments of considerable magnitude will be required during the next four bienniums if faculty salaries are to be brought into line with comparable professions and other universities of great distinction. T h e President's Committee on Education Beyond the High School has recommended that faculty salaries be increased to twice the 1956 level within five to ten years. From 1952 until 1956 the cost of living remained fairly constant, rising only 2 per cent during the four-year period. Thus, the increases made during that period represented substantial gains in purchasing power. During the

last two years, however, in spite of the business recession, the Bureau of

Labor Statistics Judex of Consumer Prices has risen Steadily so that the price level is now 6.5 per nt greater than it was two years ago. There are good n ns for believing that a similar trend in living costs will continue.

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