As colleges across the nation are doing some “budget belt-tightening,” many students are worried that the budget cuts are drastically going to change how students go to college.
Dr. Wilsie Bishop, chief operating officer at ETSU, is the chair of the Task Force on Budget Reduction. She said that the school is looking at ways to eliminate excess and repetitive spending and is searching for new revenue streams.
“What Dr. Stanton charged the task force with doing was looking at the big picture related to the identified and projected budget cuts that we think will be coming from the state over the next six to 12 months,” she said in an interview.
ETSU has already cut over $7.6 million from the 2008 – 2009 fiscal year budget and expects to cut even more in January.
“If you cut down a tree, it will stop growing. But if we can do some pruning in the right places … then that is what I would prefer and want,” ETSU President Paul Stanton said at the task force presentation.
ETSU is not the only school “pruning” millions off its budget. The University of Tennessee system, which includes Knoxville, Martin, Chattanooga, Tullahoma and Memphis campuses, has already cut $17 million from its budget.
Tennessee’s neighboring colleges to the east are feeling the pinch as well. Appalachian State University has already cut over $3.5 million while Western Carolina University’s cuts are totaling more than the $2.3 million mark.
All high education institutions are feeling the crunch as they come to the end of the semester.
Bishop explained that because Tennessee has a sales tax-based economy, it feels the crunch a little sooner.
“We are on the leading edge of financial issues because our dollars are dependent upon that sales tax. If people aren’t buying, the sales tax doesn’t come into the state coffers and so therefore they [the state] have to cut somewhere,” she said.
Traditionally, for every 1 percent in budget reduction, the students would have to pay a 2 percent increase in tuition. It is estimated that by next year, ETSU will have cut the budget by 15 percent. That means that students would be expected to pay an additional 30 percent in tuition next year.
The good news for students in this process is that Stanton does not want students to have to pay for all the budget cuts.
“I will not support all this being put on the backs of the students,” Stanton said during the task force meeting.
Stanton did suggest that the tuition cap on credit hours may be removed.
Currently, the tuition cap is set at 12 credit hours, full time. A student may take more than 12 credit hours a semester, but is only paying for the 12. If the cap is lifted, students will have to pay for each hour they are enrolled in classes.
Brett Honeycutt, a psychology major at ETSU, feels that part of the school’s appeal is its lower cost as compared to other schools like Milligan College, the University of Tennessee, or King College.
“If students already were not in debt from going to school, I think lifting the cap might be OK,” he said. “But since students are already spread so thin because of school expenses and the low economy, I think the school shouldn’t lift the cap on tuition.”
Many students at ETSU are worried that budget cuts will affect class scheduling.
Jeff Howard, assistant director of Adult, Commuter, and Transfer Services, said that some faculty and staff members “have voiced their concerns about how budget cuts could impact course offerings.”
Bishop said that students can expect some changes such as larger class sizes, combined sections and more online classes.
“The instructional program is pretty sacred in this process, so with all of the cuts we are looking at and all of the kinds of efficiencies we are considering, we are keeping in mind the general principle that we want to preserve the academic programs,” she said.
Honeycutt agrees with the proposed class changes.
“I’ve been in many classes that had less than 20 people on the roster that could have easily been a lecture class,” he said. “As long as the education does not change with the larger classes, I’m okay with that.”
Some other changes students can expect is more publications that would normally be printed, will now be available online. For example, the “10 Things You Should Know to Succeed at ETSU” booklet that the ACTS office usually gives out will now be downsized to a bookmark, according to Howard.
“We have instead decided to give out a small bookmark with the 10 steps and a link to go see the entire booklet online to save money on paper and ink,” he said.
Students have already seen areas on campus where the school is saving money and “going green.” For example, the course catalogs are no longer being printed and are now entirely on Goldlink.
Also, travel from campus has been greatly limited in the revised budget. Although most travel was intended to be used by faculty and staff, some students are noticing the change.
Howard, who also works with First-Year Programs, like Orientation and Preview, said that the annual, overnight retreat and training weekend for the Preview and Orientation Leaders Organization has been canceled this year.
“We have instead decided to do a smaller, one-day retreat, somewhere on campus,” he said in an interview.
Kirsten Turner, a two-year POLO member, was upset by the decision. She said that the retreat was a time for new leaders and old leaders to bond and really helped the cohesion of the group.
“I can understand why they decided not to have the retreat,” she said, “but we should think of creative, less expensive ways to get together so we can get to know each other.”
Another money saver on campus is to limit the use of energy. In some buildings, like Burleson Hall, the departments have asked students via posted signs to turn off the lights in the bathrooms when they leave.
The University of Tennessee system is also considering “green” alternatives to help cut its spending.
Bishop and the rest of task force continue to work to find ways to save money. They have created more committees and continuous improvement teams to help create money saving strategies.
“Working together, we can be effective in achieving the required budgetary reductions and preserving the quality of our programs, services, and workforce,” she said in an email to all ETSU students.
“We will come out of this OK in the end,” Stanton said to the ETSU community during the task force presentation. “I believe we will be stronger than ever for it in the end; but at the same time, it is going to require everyone to sacrifice.

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