Budget ax to take a 4% whack at Utah higher ed

SALT LAKE CITY — Higher education institutions were asked to come up with a 4 percent across-the-board budget cut Wednesday, meaning more jobs and programs are on the chopping block, and a significant tuition increase is becoming more likely.

The most recent cuts take effect immediately and come on top of 17 percent reductions last year and ahead of another possible 5 percent cut, which officials say could cripple the College of Eastern Utah in Price. Unless a bill that would combine CEU with the larger efforts of Utah State University passes, and USU is willing to take on some significant costs incurred by the Utah System of Higher Education's smallest institution, CEU will have seen its last days, Commissioner William Sederburg said.

"There's no question that if asked to realize the additional 5 percent cuts, you're looking at another 800 or more layoffs, we're talking involuntary layoffs," he said. More than 80 percent of all of higher education budgets are made up of personnel costs, and each time budgets are cut, Sederburg has said, it's the people who take the hit.

Student financial aid, including the New Century Scholarship, is in limbo, and Associate Commissioner Dave Buhler said, "We're not making any commitments in advance because we really don't know what the funding will be." The situation, which required legislative intervention earlier this year to fund students who were already promised aid, has generated the need for even tighter eligibility requirements.

On Wednesday, lawmakers took another $25.6 million from higher education, as well as nearly $1.9 million from the eight campuses and administration offices of the Utah College of Applied Technology.

UCAT President Rob Brems said each campus was handling the cuts in its own way because each provides services "based on local needs." In all, Wednesday's cuts will eliminate 15 positions and six programs, with reduced capacity in at least 17 other programs across UCAT. Some campuses have frozen spending on budgets for supplies, travel and equipment to reach the numbers mandated by the Higher Education Appropriations subcommittee, while others will institute furloughs and salary reductions.

"We hear you and we'll comply," Sederburg told the committee, adding that all campuses are experiencing significant challenges.

"It will be hard to maintain morale and a sense of the future if we have to further hypothesize budget cut scenarios on our campuses," he said. Meetings during the legislative session, which begins Monday, will address tuition increases, which are expected to surpass last year's 9.5 percent rise, as well as the additional 5 percent budget cuts recommended by the Executive Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill.

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