The loss of revenue from the state isn’t the only hit Auburn University is going to suffer next year.
Executive Vice President Dr. Don Large said there is an additional $14 million officials will have to cut from the 2009 fiscal budget because of increases in areas like operations and maintenance of existing and new buildings, debt service and promotions, as well as some areas the Board of Trustees has pledged to support, including scholarships, enrollment management, the honors college and security.
State appropriations for the AU System, which includes Auburn Montgomery, Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, were reduced by nearly $41 million. The vast majority — $26 million — affects the main campus.
That figure with the additional costs comes to a deficit of about $40 million for the main campus alone.
It was first reported on oanow.com last week that the AU administration planned to recommend a tuition increase of at least 12 percent to the board at its meetings on June 26 and 27. Large said Thursday the hike would provide about $20 million in additional revenue, or about half of what AU needs to balance its budget.
The state education budget signed by Gov. Bob Riley Thursday reduced spending for public universities by 11 percent or $156.6 million. Overall, the $6.4 billion budget is 5.5 percent smaller than last year’s.
Large said Auburn is considering cuts to parts of the campus budget, including a proposed $2.5 million decrease in deferred maintenance, a $5.8 million reduction in college budgets, and reducing allocations made during this year by almost $8 million. Allocations for projects, like telecommunications infrastructure and the alternative fuel and water initiatives, were meant to be ongoing, he said, but with less money from the state, the allocations this year are now one-time payments instead.
“With these actions and a tuition increase, as is being proposed, we believe we can address the budget challenge without impacting quality or quantity of courses for our students,” Large said.
Last year, trustees agreed to a 5-percent tuition increase for the 2007-08 school year, instead of the recommended 3 percent, in an effort to create a reserve fund that would help in the event of appropriation shortfalls. This year is certainly one of those times, but Large said there’s not much revenue there to really help.
“Since this is the first year we have had it, we don’t have much to fall back on — $3.6 million,” he said.
Large said he’s going to try to resolve the budget issue without using the monies.
aweaver@oanow.com | 737-2534
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