Budget Forum slated for Friday in French Auditorium
Total base budget cuts will equal 4 percent
Vice President of Finance and Administration Barrie Wilkes and Central Michigan University's Budget Priorities Committee will present an all-campus budget forum at 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 21 in French Auditorium.
Administrators will provide data regarding how enrollment affects the budget. They will also address audience questions, according to a CMU press release distributed Monday.
Last month the university announced it is facing a projected two-year budget deficit of $20 million. Monday's press release states that the university will implement a 4-percent total base budget reductions. Wilkes said budget adjustments will be finalized next month.
In the press release, Provost Michael Gealt and Wilkes said nearly 30 vacant staff positions will be eliminated. An estimated 24 staff members will be laid off. No regular faculty members are expected to be laid off. The university also will not offer a retirement incentive package.
In addition, a staff rehiring/reclassification freeze has been established and will be in effect through June 30. The release states, "This is especially important for unionized positions, to allow any bumping to be finalized." The staff postings in progress will continue.
Colleges and academic departments will adjust fixed-term faculty as they monitor course registration.
CMU student credit hours have declined by 44,318 — or 7 percent — from a decade ago. Transfer student and online enrollment have also declined, the release states. The declines were:
- Nearly 16,100 fewer credit hours taken in the College of Education and Human Services
- More than 12,300 fewer credit hours taken in the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Nearly 11,000 fewer credit hours taken in the College of Communication and Fine Arts
- A loss of 225 student credit hours in the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions
- A loss of nearly 1,500 student credit hours in the College of Science and Engineering
- A loss of nearly 4,600 student credit hours in the Master of Science Administration Program
The College of Business Administration saw an increase of nearly 1,100 student credit hours.
Gealt said in the release that CMU's "academic excellence will not only continue, it will expand." CMU expects its student-faculty ratio to remain at 21:1.
The next Board of Trustees formal meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 27 in the President's Conference Room.
