ASU loses $1.4 million in state funds

By Jerrica Hutchison, Herald Staff

Arkansas State University will lose $1.4 million in state funding and is looking at ways to cope with the loss, according to Jennus Burton, vice president of finance and administration.

There are two tiers of state funding, Category A and Category B. Category B has been completely cut from the budget, including $1.2 million promised to ASU.

The remaining amount was cut from Category A, the tier traditionally set aside for the most essential programs at the university.

The University Planning Committee met Friday to discuss the operating budget for the 2002-2003 school year. Although the 2002-2003 budget was approved in the spring, it will be decreased because of the budget cuts.

Wyatt discussed the primary point of the meeting, the budget process. "The base of the budget for next year will be reduced by a $1.4 million loss," he said. "We had anticipated a cut would come, but we didn't see the severity of it. It hit us more severe than we would have imagined."

According to Wyatt, the focus is now on positions unfilled at ASU. "We are going to keep them vacant to produce money," he said. "In the process, we have a commitment to scholarships and we are going to continue."

The flow of funds necessary to support state level accounts came from Category B, Wyatt said. "This includes the Governor's Distinction scholarship and the Arkansas Academic Challenge scholarship. Students who are already in college and are receiving these will continue to receive them," he said.

However, graduating high school seniors will likely not be eligible for these scholarships.

Wyatt said there is a commitment to ASU-funded scholarships. "That is 10 percent of the operational budget," he said. "We are going to try and continue institutional scholarships as well."

Wyatt said the highest priority of the university is to protect students' interests.

"We can't raise tuition to cover the budget cut," he said. "It's difficult to justify increases if costs must be carried on the backs of students."

He said that if the needs become increased, the biggest change might be a small raise in tuition, which may be as early as next year.

"I don't anticipate a rise in tuition, though," Wyatt said.

For next year, Wyatt plans to discuss with the UPC a way to anticipate the budget.

"We have to lower the operation budget level by $1.4 million," he said. "We will look at an overall way to reduce the expenditure pattern."

Colleges and departments within the university will have to look at ways to decrease spending.

Three other programs that will be affected by the recent budget cut include the student infrastructure spending distribution, the National Student Exchange and international student tuition.

The student infrastructure spending distribution, a process done in the past, occurred last spring. Selected students from each college submitted a list of requests for proposed infrastructure money to the Student Government Association president, Andrea Smalec. She and Dr. Rick McDaniel, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, looked at each college's request and funded those items that most affected the students.

Smalec, a junior public relations major of Mountain Home, said deciding what colleges could and could not have was difficult. "In some cases, they requested much more than we were able to spend," she said.

This process is done in both the fall and spring semesters, depending on requests.

"I felt really bad having to deny the students some of the items they requested," Smalec said.

The second point that was discussed at the meeting was the National Student Exchange. This program consists of students traveling to different universities across the United States for a semester or a year.

McDaniel said the program was small, but important. "It's been exceptionally successful beyond our expectations," he said.