Nov 07, 2009 | 09:10
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Feb 17, 2009
Campus leaders plan for budget cuts despite uncertainties
Chancellor Gene Block, Executive Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh and Vice Chancellor Steve Olsen updated Academic Senate members on the evolving situation with state budget in the latest in a series of candid presentations to inform the campus about potential budget cuts and ongoing efforts by UCLA leaders to plan for them.
"With proper planning — and smart planning — we can emerge from this stronger," Chancellor Block told the Senate's Legislative Assembly meeting Feb. 12 at the Faculty Center. "Our hope is that we'll come through this successfully. We'll continue to deliver excellent educational programs to our students, and our research programs will remain intact."
Information on the impact of the final compromise state budget that was approved Thursday, Feb. 19, by state legislators is expected to be released very soon. Working together with UC Office of the President, campus leaders are currently determining how UCLA will be affected.
"With proper planning — and smart planning — we can emerge from this stronger," Chancellor Block told the Senate's Legislative Assembly meeting Feb. 12 at the Faculty Center. "Our hope is that we'll come through this successfully. We'll continue to deliver excellent educational programs to our students, and our research programs will remain intact."
Information on the impact of the final compromise state budget that was approved Thursday, Feb. 19, by state legislators is expected to be released very soon. Working together with UC Office of the President, campus leaders are currently determining how UCLA will be affected. "The economy is so weak that my expectation is that the state's revenue forecast will be revised downward again, and that over a period of time, the state will unfortunately continue to do so," Olsen, the head of finance, budget and capital programs at UCLA, told Academic Senate members on Feb. 12.
While UCLA has managed its finances responsibly, balancing its budget and assuring that the campus has adequate cash reserves to meet its obligations, it will face a total shortfall of $49 million because of state budget cuts and unavoidable cost increases for which the state has provided no new funds.
To deal with that, UCLA has reduced faculty and staff hiring; cut spending on equipment, travel, entertainment and contracts; and is working on consolidating data centers, communications networks and e-mail systems. By investing in energy conservation, the campus will save an estimated $4.5 million a year on purchased utilities. At that rate, Olsen said, the money spent on improvements will be paid back in four years.
"Among the 10 campuses, UCLA is widely perceived as being an innovator in the way it manages its resources. … We have a long track record of identifying ways in which services can be provided more efficiently," the vice chancellor said. As a result, other UC campuses have been quick to adopt these measures.
But the magnitude of the crisis is such that UCLA needs to plan wisely in order to preserve academic quality and excellence. In addition to the state budget crisis and the economic downturn, UCLA is transitioning from a period of growth in student enrollment — which brought many departments revenue — to a period of "steady state," Waugh explained. "UCLA is now at maximum capacity. … We can't grow anymore." In fact, the campus is overenrolled, which has put a strain on courses across the campus.
As a result, Waugh said, "it's going to be a different institution academically, not in the sense that we are going to radically get rid of things. But we are going to have to look very carefully at how we manage our programs."
To deal with these new realities, academic planning is being conducted on three levels. In planning for the year ahead — with all the uncertainties of state funding — deans, vice chancellors and managers are reporting back soon on how their units would handle possible cuts of 3 percent, 5 percent and 8 percent.
"This will help inform us about what could happen to academic as well as administrative units, where we think we can take cuts and where we think we might direct them to do the least damage, if possible," Waugh told Senate members.
In addition, three Toolbox Committees of staff, faculty and administrators are devising options to cut costs and achieve further efficiencies, increase revenue and realign academic programs without sacrificing quality.
The academic programs committee will be looking at curricular improvements. This may involve trimming some majors and courses, but also concentrating on core courses that are essential to majors; offering courses of higher quality; and having a higher percentage of ladder faculty teach these courses.
"If we have to take cuts and reduce our academic programs, how can we do it in a way that will preserve the quality of our programs and our teaching and research mission, yet at the same time allow us to work efficiently in a lower budgetary environment?" Waugh asked. Any curricular changes would be vetted by the Academic Senate as well as local Faculty Executive Committees (FEC) and department heads.
"These are not things that will be imposed — we're going to engage in a long discussion," Waugh advised.
Finally, a campuswide academic plan, driven by the need to do more long-term planning, has been drafted by campus leaders, reviewed by Senate leaders, revised and refined. The plan will be based on four guiding principles outlined by Chancellor Block: academic excellence, diversity, civic engagement and financial security. Soon — perhaps six weeks from now — the plan will be available on the Web for review and comment by faculty, staff and students.
Campus leaders will continue to update the UCLA community as more information becomes available, they said. They urged the faculty to stay informed, get involved through their FEC and Senate committees, become active in UCLA's advocacy efforts and send them ideas to save money. News updates as well as a mechanism to send in suggestions are available here. Learn more about advocacy at this website.
While UCLA has managed its finances responsibly, balancing its budget and assuring that the campus has adequate cash reserves to meet its obligations, it will face a total shortfall of $49 million because of state budget cuts and unavoidable cost increases for which the state has provided no new funds.
To deal with that, UCLA has reduced faculty and staff hiring; cut spending on equipment, travel, entertainment and contracts; and is working on consolidating data centers, communications networks and e-mail systems. By investing in energy conservation, the campus will save an estimated $4.5 million a year on purchased utilities. At that rate, Olsen said, the money spent on improvements will be paid back in four years.
"Among the 10 campuses, UCLA is widely perceived as being an innovator in the way it manages its resources. … We have a long track record of identifying ways in which services can be provided more efficiently," the vice chancellor said. As a result, other UC campuses have been quick to adopt these measures.
But the magnitude of the crisis is such that UCLA needs to plan wisely in order to preserve academic quality and excellence. In addition to the state budget crisis and the economic downturn, UCLA is transitioning from a period of growth in student enrollment — which brought many departments revenue — to a period of "steady state," Waugh explained. "UCLA is now at maximum capacity. … We can't grow anymore." In fact, the campus is overenrolled, which has put a strain on courses across the campus.
As a result, Waugh said, "it's going to be a different institution academically, not in the sense that we are going to radically get rid of things. But we are going to have to look very carefully at how we manage our programs."
To deal with these new realities, academic planning is being conducted on three levels. In planning for the year ahead — with all the uncertainties of state funding — deans, vice chancellors and managers are reporting back soon on how their units would handle possible cuts of 3 percent, 5 percent and 8 percent.
"This will help inform us about what could happen to academic as well as administrative units, where we think we can take cuts and where we think we might direct them to do the least damage, if possible," Waugh told Senate members.
In addition, three Toolbox Committees of staff, faculty and administrators are devising options to cut costs and achieve further efficiencies, increase revenue and realign academic programs without sacrificing quality.
The academic programs committee will be looking at curricular improvements. This may involve trimming some majors and courses, but also concentrating on core courses that are essential to majors; offering courses of higher quality; and having a higher percentage of ladder faculty teach these courses.
"If we have to take cuts and reduce our academic programs, how can we do it in a way that will preserve the quality of our programs and our teaching and research mission, yet at the same time allow us to work efficiently in a lower budgetary environment?" Waugh asked. Any curricular changes would be vetted by the Academic Senate as well as local Faculty Executive Committees (FEC) and department heads.
"These are not things that will be imposed — we're going to engage in a long discussion," Waugh advised.
Finally, a campuswide academic plan, driven by the need to do more long-term planning, has been drafted by campus leaders, reviewed by Senate leaders, revised and refined. The plan will be based on four guiding principles outlined by Chancellor Block: academic excellence, diversity, civic engagement and financial security. Soon — perhaps six weeks from now — the plan will be available on the Web for review and comment by faculty, staff and students.
Campus leaders will continue to update the UCLA community as more information becomes available, they said. They urged the faculty to stay informed, get involved through their FEC and Senate committees, become active in UCLA's advocacy efforts and send them ideas to save money. News updates as well as a mechanism to send in suggestions are available here. Learn more about advocacy at this website.
