The topic of dollar spending in our university has come up in many conversations with friends and peers over the past month. Students want to know how their money is being is used and how is it bettering us as an institution. This is especially true in a time when the day-to-day progress, or the opposite effect, of the economy could be best described as an enigma.

The one person that seemed most qualified to help sort through this mess of information and make better sense of it was David Collins, vice president of finance and administration.

As he sits and talks with me about topics ranging from the buyout last year to future spending, and possible cuts, he speaks with a tone that he and his colleagues are always using, being on the offensive in these tough times as opposed to cowering at the reality of having less and less money to work with.

“A lot of people are looking at reductions,” Collins said. “We’re looking for more revenue.”

That is where the plans for more online classes and the e-rate proposal are seen. In order for us to compete with surrounding schools and bring that money into our institution, the e-rate proposal allows tuition of an all online courses student who is out of state to pay half the tuition of an out-of-state student who is taking classes at the university.

The Voluntary Buyout Plan was a source that also helped the university. This plan was used in helping the university as there was a tighter budget in the coming fiscal year and there was a state appropriation reversion and possible budget cuts.

“With the buyout, we had 106 employees who were involved and that saved us around $3 million,” Collins said.

This plan has been very helpful as the numbers show that the state has helped the university in a decreasing pattern over the past three decades. In 1982, the state was putting in 70 cents for every 30 cents that students put in. By the mid ’90s, the state was putting in 60 cents for every 40 cents that the students put in. This year, that has crossed for the first time with the state putting in 49.5 cents for every 50.5 cents that the students are putting in.

Along those same lines in regards to positions, there are a certain number of adjunct professors who are hired each year.

Adjunct professors are those who are hired on as part-time employees of the institution. These positions are extremely helpful to the university because they are not as expensive to provide and they are teaching full classrooms, which in turn generates more revenue for the university.

It can be seen through these examples that the university is taking consistent steps toward progress for our university.

Regardless of the rough spots seen with the steady lack of funds that the state is providing, like our tuition being raised 6.4 percent this past year. David Collins and those around him are constantly working in order to predict the unpredictable; that is, the direction in which our school and the budget is going to move.

“A budget is constantly revised,” said Collins. He will continue looking at the ups and downs of the university as we are, just with a lot more information and a calmer head on his shoulders.

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