Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1984 [PAGE 119]

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110

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[December 17

As a result of the combined forces of inflation on the one hand and a declining fraction of the overall State budget devoted to higher education on the other, State support for each student at the University of Illinois declined (prior to this reduction by the governor) by 12 percent, in constant dollars, between FY 1973 and FY 1982. T h e University received less General Revenue Fund support from the State this year than last. With these additional reductions, General Revenue Fund support for operations will be down $9,000,000 from the prior year. Tuition levels for University of Illinois students were increased last September overall by an average of $130 for undergraduates and even more for students in graduate and professional programs to help cover the declining General Revenue Fund support from the State. No general salary increases for faculty and staff members have been paid by the University of Illinois as yet this year. As a result of State appropriations in FY 1983 which were inadequate to meet unavoidable cost increases, the University of Illinois had to make $8 million in internal budget cuts in order to balance the current year's budget. As a consequence, the number of faculty and staff members serving University of Illinois students has been reduced by more than 400 as compared with last year. It has not been possible this year to address even our most severe program needs in areas such as engineering, commerce and business administration, veterinary medicine, law, and others. In this context, we must devise a plan to respond to the governor's requirement to provide the $7.1 million reserve, alert to the possibility that unless steps are taken immediately to strengthen the revenue base of the State of Illinois, even further instability will follow. T h e plan developed to cope with this immediate emergency follows consultation with the several segments of the University community and recognizes that sacrifices already have been made by University of Illinois students in the form of earlier tuition increases; sacrifices have been made by University of Illinois faculty and staff members in the postponement of pay increases that would have begun at the start of the academic year rather than in January; there has been a severe erosion in the funding for the State Universities Retirement System; and budgets for academic programs and operations were reduced earlier in order to cover unavoidable cost increases. In my judgment, the general consensus within the University community, given these realities, is that the burden of any additional reductions should be shared as broadly and as equitably as possible. Therefore, I must propose a three-part program. 1. Midyear salary increases authorized by the Board of Trustees on November 18 must now be deferred for three months; anticipated savings from this action approximate $2 million. Further, we must aim for an additional reduction in spending levels for personal services of 1 to 2 percent during the balance of this fiscal year, or otherwise take measures sufficient to yield an additional $2 million. Thus, the total anticipated savings in this category should approximate $4 million. 2. A midyear increase in tuition of $100 per student needs to be adopted. Net revenue generated from this action should approximate $4 million, including a partial or full waiver of the increase for recipients of Illinois State Scholarship Commission monetary awards. 3. Finally, the chancellors and other administrative officers will need to present for my approval contingency plans for further reductions that will pro-