By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 3-19-09
GREENSBORO, NC – Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposed budget has been submitted to the North Carolina General Assembly and the state budget process has started moving toward completion in the summer.
At the request of former Gov. Mike Easley last December, all state agencies, including the UNC System, were requested to submit budget cut scenarios of 3, 5 and 7 percent. Those numbers were sent to UNC President Erskine Bowles, who reviewed the information to assess the system-wide impact of such a severe cut.
To keep the UNCG community up-to-date on the budget situation, UNCG has developed a Website. A campuswide email was sent to faculty, staff and students on Wednesday, March 18.
At the 7 percent level, UNCG administrators identified possible budget cuts of $11,840,453 for the coming 2009-2010 year. The figures include $8,285,003 in personnel items, consisting of 110 vacant and filled positions, and $3,555,450 in non-personnel items. The totals amount to seven percent of UNCG's base state appropriation budget of $169 million. Reductions of this magnitude would impact both full-time and part-time faculty and staff positions.
"We do not know the extent of UNCG’s budget cuts right now because the budget process has just begun," said UNCG Chancellor Linda P. Brady. “Our goal throughout this process will be to protect the integrity of our academic programs and to continue to provide excellent classroom experiences for our students.
"However, this could be very painful for the campus. If cuts at the seven percent level are finalized by the legislature, it will be serious because UNCG is a very lean campus – there is little fat to trim. UNCG will do its part, but this is going to hurt all across this campus and throughout the University system.”
UNCG's state budget appropriation for the current year was $169 million, but a non-recurring, one-time cut of seven percent – or $11.8 million – and a $1.5 million permanent cut for 2008-09 have already taken effect. The current year’s state budget deficit has exceeded $2 billion, and early estimates are that next year’s state budget deficit may exceed $3 billion.
The cuts would affect the campus in a number of ways, including increases in class sizes and a reduction in the number of classes which may cause delays in graduation because students can’t get the courses needed for their majors; delays in purchasing needed equipment, both for laboratories and for physical plant; loss of student employment opportunities as departmental budgets shrink; delay in the start-up activities involved with UNCG’s laboratory in the North Carolina Research Campus at Kannapolis; reductions in Information Technology Services; and reduction in financial aid counseling.
