$15 Million Rowan Budget Deficit Sliced
By Jessica Beym
(jbeym@sjnewsco.com)
What first appeared as a tough-to-tackle budget gap of
$15 million for
The initial forecast, according to Farish, was that a combination of the $5 million aid cut, another $6 million in salary obligations negotiated by the state, and another $4 million in debt service next year would put the university in a $15 million hole. Farish's goal is to have a preliminary budget ready for the board to review during its annual retreat in four weeks. Then a final budget could be going for a vote in July after the state has adopted its budget and finalized issues that hang in the balance.
"The state is not in a position to help us as much as they did once," Farish said, "but we're in more of a position to self-help than we ever were before."
This year, the state colleges will only be allowed to increase tuition by 4 percent - a cap put in place by Christie in his budget. At that rate, the university estimates bringing in another $3.7 million in revenue next year. Because the university's enrollment and reputation is continually growing, they anticipate some unexpected revenues to help close that $15 million gap.
Next year, there will be a $4.4 million surplus in tuition revenue that came in this year when enrollment topped 11,000. Initially, Farish said he was reluctant to use that money in the upcoming budget if it were a one-time fix.
But, "it looks like it will be a repeating number," Farish said.
Coupled with another $4.4 million of that same revenue next year, that money adds up to be about $12.5 million. However, with interest rates at an all-time low, some of the university's invested finances didn't earn as much interest as anticipated, creating about a $2 million shortfall.
The resulting $5 million gap is one Dr. Farish -- and faculty leaders who spoke on Wednesday night -- believe can be closed through teamwork.
"I have every expectation we will be able to do so," Farish said.
The president pointed to other colleges throughout the state and even across the country that are painting much darker pictures of the fates of their institutions.
Layoffs, larger class sizes and elimination of entire programs and departments are common among other colleges, Farish said.
But Rowan University, through its planning, has been more fortunate, Farish said.
"We are more self-reliant than we have been, and perhaps that's a good thing," he said.
Work is under way among the individual colleges and departments to find new revenue streams and savings, said Catherine Parish, head of the college's chairpersons.
Rather than eliminating some of the chairperson positions -- an idea that caused some anger among those who said they know the roles well -- each department may do its part in its own way, Parish said.
Some departments may choose to increase classes to save money on adjuncts. Others may reassign professors' time to get more work, and some may adjust their loads depending on the amount of research they're conducting, she said.
"Each department is different," Parish said, adding that their goal is to "protect our core mission, which absolutely rests on our reputation for academic excellence."
Karen Siefring, president of the AFT union at Rowan, said she's "cautiously optimistic" about the direction the university is trying to take to avoid the same recurring financial situations due to decreased state aid.
She said she was happy to see the university officials and faculty working together to find long-term solutions instead of one-time fixes.
"Thank you for being brave enough to consider doing things differently," Siefring said.
Source: http://www.nj.com/printer/printer.ssf?base/news-5/1271915716268720.xml@coll=8