UNDATED - The latest round of state-ordered budget cuts has North Georgia College & State University looking at an array of cost-cutting measures. The same is true at Gainesville State College, Georgia Gwinnett College and the state's other public colleges and universities.
Among the cuts submitted by NGCSU: more cuts in travel and supply budgets (10 and 20 percent, respectively, across-the-board); additional cuts at the departmental level; expected state-mandated furloughs; and freezing non-academic positions.
Spokeswoman Kate Maine says the plan would reduce NGCSU's budget by another $2 million although that would be partially off-set by a carryover of some tuition income from last year.
Maine also said some program consolidations and reductions are also being considered.
All of the state's public colleges and universities were recently ordered to find ways to reduce their budgets by up to another 8 percent.
GAINESVILLE STATE COLLEGE
Paul Glaser, Vice President for Business Affairs at Gainesville State College, said Tuesday GSC "will comply with the three State mandated furlough days between now and the end of December and is already making plans to comply with the Board of Regents mandate to take another three furlough days during the spring semester."
Glaser added that "currently, Gainesville State College is considering a furlough day in the months of September, November, and December. Final plans for the State mandated days will not be known until after President Martha T. Nesbitt meets with a task force of faculty and staff members to discuss specifics of the plans on Wednesday, July 29."
The six furlough days will amount to a reduction of approximately $500,000, or roughly 31 percent, of the $1.6 million that GSC is to prepare for at the 8 percent.
"Additionally," according to Glaser, "the remaining $1.1 million reduction will come from a variety of funding sources. Faculty and staff travel out-of-state for professional development will be substantially reduced along with funding for advertising and recruitment materials. Library acquisitions may be reduced by as much as 50 percent at the 8 percent level."
Glaser said "All institutional renovation projects will stop and only, repairs as needed, will be done to existing facilities equipment. It is anticipated that some department functions will be merged at the higher levels. Some savings are expected in utilities during the six days that the campuses are virtually turned off and shut down."
He also said individual departmental budgets will be reduced in virtually every area to include supplies, maintenance and repairs, and equipment in order to round out the budget reduction plan.
GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE
Officials at Georgia Gwinnett College are also figuring out how to make do with less.
"An eight percent budget cut for us means about $2.6 million out of a $33.5 million budget, so that's a great deal of money for a college this small," said Georgia Gwinnett College's Assistant Director of Media and Publications Merri Brantley.
Brantley said the school won't be able to hire as many faculty, buy as many library books or implement as much new technology as they had planned.
Brantley said the advertising budget also had to be cut, a move she said will be particularly hard for the new institution.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Sunday
October 6th, 2024
10:23AM
