Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

January 30, 2004

Officials tally results of October reversion
70 positions cut or moved to other funding sources

by Anne Krapfl
Leaner administrative structures, fewer and larger class sections, and the elimination of more than 70 positions are some of the results of Iowa State's efforts to trim $8.3 million mid-year from its FY04 budget, to respond to cuts first announced in October.

The cuts reflect a 2.5 percent ($5.8 million) reversion in the state's appropriation to the university, ordered by Gov. Tom Vilsack in October, due to sagging state revenues. They also reflect a $1.5 million shortfall in tuition income resulting from lower-than-anticipated fall enrollment and a potential $1 million shortfall in reimbursement for costs associated with large research contracts.

Iowa State's plan to eliminate $8.3 million still must be approved by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, when the board meets Feb. 18-19 in Iowa City.

President Gregory Geoffroy previously announced that three functions -- student financial aid, the admissions office and the campus fuel and utilities fund -- would not be reduced. Other units received cuts of varying percentages. Units in academic affairs sustained the smallest percentage cut (1.8 percent) to base budgets.

Two budget cycles
The plan that the university presents to the regents next month takes care of $8.3 million in cuts for the current budget year. However, those dollars will not be restored for the year that begins July 1 (FY05) and the same losses must be reflected in the FY05 budget as it is developed this spring. Several campus studies at or nearing completion will influence how and where vice presidents, deans, directors and department heads choose to absorb the cuts in FY05. Campus committees that report to vice president for academic affairs and provost Benjamin Allen are studying:

How Iowa State's colleges are organized, academically and administratively.
Alternative tuition structures, including differential tuition for students in different majors or at different stages in their education. (The committee's work will be used in a broad discussion on tuition at an upcoming regents meeting).
Criteria for keeping or eliminating small programs, interdisciplinary programs and low-enrollment courses (due in early February).
The existence of and organization of institutes and centers (due in early March).

"The analyses and recommendations coming out of the task forces will be very useful in providing a foundation and direction for making decisions about the FY05 budget and budgets beyond FY05," Allen said. "I am very appreciative of the extraordinary effort by the faculty, students, staff and administrators involved with these committees."

Lost jobs
Nearly half ($4.1 million) of the total mid-year reductions were taken from supplies and services. The rest, $4.2 million, comes from salaries. Approximately 71 FTE positions have been either cut or shifted to other funding sources, and nearly 30 FTE graduate assistant positions were eliminated. The provost's office also eliminated $300,000 that was to be used spring semester for additional graduate assistantships.

Overall, 29 faculty positions, 33 P&S positions, and 9 merit positions have been eliminated. Four full-time employees (three P&S and one Merit) and one 3/4-time Merit employee were laid off. One full-time P&S employee went to 3/4 time and two full-time Merit employees went to half-time employment. Just over 36 open positions have been eliminated (24.38 faculty, 11.64 P&S, and 0.16 Merit). Two half-time faculty positions were eliminated as a result of traditional and early retirement incentive arrangements. Funding for another 25.10 FTE positions (2.46 faculty, 16.3 P&S and 6.34 Merit) has been moved from the state's general fund to other sources.

Reduction summary
The four divisions of Iowa State's general university budget -- academic affairs, business and finance, president's office, and student affairs -- have made cuts totaling $6.9 million. The remaining $1.4 million reduction comes from 2.5 percent cuts, as mandated by Vilsack last October, to other campus units that receive direct state funding: Agriculture Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension, Leopold Center, Livestock Research, Institute for Physical Research and Technology (IPRT), Small Business Development Centers and the ISU Research Park. These units also fall under the academic affairs administrative umbrella.

Summary of cuts by administrative area

Area	$ cut	% adjustment to base budget	FTEs lost
President units	$1.3 million	8.1	9.0
Business and finance	$1.2 million	3.5	11.04
Student affairs	$246,000	1.93	3.0
Academic affairs
General university	$4.2 million	1.8	37.15
Direct appropriation units*	$1.4 million	2.5	11.17

*Ag Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension, Leopold Center, Livestock Research, IPRT, SBDC, ISU Research Park

Following is a small sample of changes made in units to meet $8.3 million in mid-year budget cuts:

Academic affairs

Delay equipment purchases for laboratories.
Eliminate 29.3 graduate assistant-ships, 25 of which are in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Delay searches for nine faculty positions in the College of Agriculture.
Reduce the number of course sections.
Increase the sizes of the remaining class sections.
Reduce the student scholarship fund in the College of Engineering. One result is fewer National Merit scholarship offers to incoming freshmen.
Reduce budgets for computer upgrades and new purchases, which may make it harder to recruit the best students and faculty.
Eliminate or leave vacant staff and faculty positions, which also will hurt the university's outreach capacity, especially to veterinarians (Vet Med), small businesses (SBDC) and Iowa industry (Business, Engineering).

Business and finance

Cut university support to WOI Radio, University Museums and the Iowa State Center by more than $580,000. Some of the results are higher rental rates, less custodial service and the end of rental waivers to ISU departments at the center; reduced hours and new or higher user fees at the museum; and a greater reliance on private fund raising at the radio station and museum.
Reduce the operating budgets of asset recovery and printing services, which results in less revenue to departments disposing of equipment and higher user fees, respectively.
Reduced operating funds for risk management functions in FY04 have been covered through re-negotiated rates for university insurance premiums. Study of the unit, including possible position eliminations, will be part of the FY05 budget process.

President units

Cut $50,000 from funds that support the president's visits to Iowa communities.
Reduce, by $425,000, funds that could have supported five to eight additional faculty positions, and by $90,000, funds to recruit and retain faculty.
Cancel a spring television ad campaign in the Des Moines market.
Reduce support for media training for faculty and staff, special projects and the ISU speakers bureau in University Relations and eliminate the printed version of summer issues of Inside Iowa State.
Cut athletics budget by $560,000, as previously announced. This was achieved by $288,000 in reductions, for example, 9 percent reductions to all non-team functions (e.g. marketing, media relations), and $272,000 drawn from the athletics operating reserve.

Student affairs

Eliminate funding for two research assessment tools that help direct planning for student recruiting.
Eliminate a clerk's position in the registrar's office.
Cut a vacant staff psychologist position in the Student Counseling Services.
Reduce funding for student late-night, alcohol-free programming.
Put on hold indefinitely funds and plans for a test-taking center for students with disabilities.