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Budget Advisory Committee Reports
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Michigan Tech's Budget Reduction Advisory Committee (BRAC) has proposed a combination of tuition increases and budget decreases in a report provided to university president Curt Tompkins Wednesday.
The BRAC provided the president with four budget scenarios that include different levels of cuts and increases.
Recommended budget cuts range from $4.0 million to $6.4 million. The proposed tuition increase revenues range from $6.2 million to $8.0 million.
The reductions include eliminating or reducing 63 positions. Only 15 of those will involve lay-offs. The positions eliminated also include 28 vacant positions, 9 retirements, and 11 positions with reduced hours. Through the just-announced Employee Severance Program, university officials hope that the number of lay-offs might be reduced even further.
BRAC also recommended a process to use in considering any reorganization. The report emphasizes a focus on developing goals for such a change, then involving the university community in the process.
"The committee has received hundreds of comments on many budget-related topics," said Kent Wray, provost and chair of the committee. "Committee members have certainly paid attention to the feedback from the campus community."
The committee endorsed a plan to charge tuition on a per-credit-hour basis, as opposed to one flat rate for full-time students. One proposal uses the current rate of $241 per credit hour. The second uses a $230 per credit hour rate. Based on the state formula for reporting tuition increases, the $241 rate equates to a 19.5 percent increase, while the $230 rate will appear as a 15 percent increase.
The tuition proposal also eliminates the different rates for upper- and lower-division students. Juniors and seniors currently pay a higher rate than freshmen and sophomores. To compensate for this reduction, the committee proposes a $400 per semester surcharge for engineering and computer science majors, beginning in their sophomore years.
In making their decisions, committee members worked to stay consistent with the university's strategic plan. Other recommendations include:
*Preserve the academic mission by differentiating budget cuts allocated to academic and administrative units.
*Provide funding to ensure that students receive the promised financial aid.
*Set reduction targets for FY05 and FY06.
The entire report, including details of reductions within budget units, is available at http://www.mtu.edu/budget
The BRAC will take public comment on the draft report through May 21 and will make its final report to the president on June 3.
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