Revenues and Expenditures for Fiscal Year 2004

Memo from Chancellor Jo Ann Gora

August 4, 2003

On June 30, the Committee on University Revenues and Expenditures released its recommendations of proposed budget cuts and revenue increases to "cure" the budget malady caused by a $13.8 million reduction in state funding. The CURE Committee had been established on February 20, 2003 to provide concrete solutions to the present budget crisis.

Since June 30, Provost Fonteyn, Vice Chancellor MacKenzie, the other vice chancellors, and I have received substantial feedback on those recommendations. A well-attended open town meeting was held on July 9 in the Ryan Lounge and a number of issues were discussed. Several meetings have been held with leaders of the various collective bargaining units on campus. I held a meeting with student leaders on July 18. Meetings were held with the various colleges and department heads around campus. Hundreds of letters and e-mails have been received by the administration.

On July 24, the Board of Trustees' Committee on Administration, Finance and Audit met and voted to recommend to the full Board that the campuses be authorized to increase fees by $750 per full-time student for the spring semester in 2004 in order to partially compensate for the $80 million state budget cut to the UMass system. If adopted by the full Board at its August 6 meeting, this fee potentially could yield $5.5 million for UMass Boston and forestall a similar level of budget reductions. If the Board approves the fee increase, the university will allocate sufficient funds in order to meet 90% of need of students who qualify for financial aid. However, if this fee increase is not adopted by the Board, we will have to implement deeper cuts than those detailed in this memorandum.

One of the more controversial issues in this process has been the costs associated with the new Campus Center. A number of groups, including the Committee on Budget and Planning of the Faculty Council and several of the employee unions, have requested that the opening of the Campus Center be postponed until Fiscal Year 2005. While we feel such a delay would not be cost-effective as we would lose the opportunity to use the conferencing and other revenue generating features of the Campus Center for many months, we have agreed to slow down the full opening until the spring of 2004 and to postpone the change in the shuttle bus route from the Quinn Administration Building to the Campus Center until September 2004. These delays will save approximately $400,000 on a one time basis only.

The following is a list and description of the final budget decisions to be implemented for Fiscal Year 2004, assuming the implementation of the fee increase described above. These decisions have been made only after a thorough discussion and analysis of the ideas and opinions offered both on campus and off campus. While none of these discussions were easy and many may impact the services we offer on campus, we have tried to protect all our degree programs and preserve course availability. I regret that the loss of 18.6% of our budget for FY04 necessitated these actions. However, we can not sustain a 30% reduction to our budget over three years and continue business as usual. Frankly, I am concerned that some of these targets are optimistic and additional reductions may be necessary. I hope that will not be the case.

Once again, I would like to thank all the members of the CURE committee for their difficult but necessary work on these budget issues. In particular Vice Chancellor David MacKenzie and Provost Paul Fonteyn deserve special thanks for their diligence and dedication to closing the budget gap.

Jo Ann M. Gora, Chancellor

Revenue Increases

1) Eliminate senior citizens fee waiver. In response to the many concerns about this proposal, we have decided to postpone the elimination of the senior citizens fee waiver until the spring semester 2004. We note that all seniors will still be eligible for the tuition waiver. The campus believes that senior citizens with demonstrated financial need should be eligible for financial aid for fees. A study completed in 2000 indicates that only 9 percent of seniors are enrolled in certificate programs and therefore are not able to apply for financial aid. Most of these are in the Gerontology Certificate Program, which we will seek to make eligible for financial aid. Therefore, the recommendation to eliminate the fee waiver will be delayed but implemented in spring 2004.

2) Eliminate free parking. We will proceed with the elimination of the parking fee exemption for cars with handicapped licenses.

3) Increase advertising revenue. We will proceed with the plan to generate additional revenue for the campus by increasing the amount of advertising space sold on campus.

4) Increase the number of hybrid courses offered by the Division of Corporate, Continuing, and Distance Education (CCDE). We will expand the practice of substituting CCDE or hybrid courses where state funding has been cut off for the teaching of the course.

Academic Savings

1) Eliminate Harbor Explorations. We will eliminate the Harbor Explorations program as initially planned last year, since the program has been unable to increase its revenues to become self-sufficient.

2) Pay salary of NERCHE Director from grants. We will require that the salary of the Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education be paid from outside support rather than a state subsidy.

3) Eliminate the Massachusetts Field Center. The Massachusetts Field Center has moved to another campus and therefore we will eliminate the remaining subsidy for this program.

4) Eliminate support for the University of Massachusetts Press. We will reduce the support for this office by half but try to maintain its presence on campus this year. In FY05, this position will have to be supported by outside funds.

5) Reduce funding for the Environmental Business and Technology Center (EBTC). We will reduce the support for this office by $179,000 and require it to seek outside funding to continue the bulk of its activities.

6) Reduce support to pre-collegiate programs. We will reduce the support for these programs by $100,000. UMass Boston can continue to deliver these services to a more targeted group through the externally funded programs, and these reductions will not impact our ability to win federal funding for the similar programs we administer.

7) Reduce Academic Support Services. We will eliminate two professional positions in Academic Support Services that can be filled with graduate assistants for a savings of $66,000.

8) Reduce support to centers and institutes. We will reduce support by ten percent for the centers and institutes for the next fiscal year.

9) Reduce support to Provost's Office. The Provost's Office will reduce expenditures from its office by $93,673.

10) Reduce support for Center for World Languages and Cultures. We will reduce the number of professional staff supporting the Center for World Languages and Cultures by half a position to reflect the relative work load, for a savings of $19,119.

11) Restructure the activities of the Office of Graduate Studies. The Office of Graduate Studies will be partially restructured, for a savings of $50,000.

12) Eliminate a professional staff position in College of Public and Community Service. The College of Public and Community Service will reduce its administrative overhead by eliminating one staff position.

13) Additional savings target for College of Public and Community Service. This college will reduce its administrative and part-time teaching budget by $162,487.

14) Savings target for College of Science and Mathematics. This college will reduce its administrative costs by $100,000.

15) Savings target for College of Management. This college will reduce its administrative costs by $167,000.

16) Savings target for College of Nursing and Health Sciences. This college will reduce its administrative costs by $95,000.

17) Reduce the staffing in the Instructional Technology Center (ITC). The ITC will reduce its administrative costs by $134,000.

Administrative Savings

1) Redirect the PeopleSoft Student Administrative Project. We will reduce our expenditures on the various PeopleSoft projects by $1,000,000. We are evaluating whether this can be accomplished under the current project governance or whether the campus needs to undertake these projects by itself.

2) Save Energy Costs through Selective Shutdowns of the Campus. We recommend that the campus be shut down for five days to save on energy bills. The recommended days are the Friday after Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Appropriate heating and lighting will be made available to our science laboratories. This proposal will require additional discussion with the unions on campus.

3) Do not implement Staff Retention Increases in IT Plan. We will not implement the proposed IT staff salary increases recommended in the campus IT Plan.

4) Implement a compatible reporting system for Facilities and the Customer Service Center Report. We will require that information from the Customer Service Center be directly transferred to the Facilities Report Office and eliminate two positions.

5) Eliminate Monday Morning Mail Delivery. We will eliminate Monday morning mail deliveries and the associated overtime to save $11,000.

6) Eliminate State Funding for Athletics. We will eliminate state funding for any positions in the Athletics Department. The Director of Athletics has indicated that he can accomplish this without eliminating the sailing program.

7) Reduce Central Assessment paid to Office of the President. We will pay a reduced assessment to the Central Office for services, as we expect the central budget to be reduced by the same percentage that we have suffered in state cuts, or 18.6 percent.

8) Transfer Statistical Assistance from Computing Services to the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects. The statistician position in Computing Services will be transferred to Academic Affairs and converted to 50% teaching and 50% consulting position.

9) Delay Campus Center opening. Based on the suggestions of the Budget and Planning Committee of the Faculty Council and several unions, we will phase in the opening of the new Campus Center over a three- to- four- month period and will not change the shuttle bus service from the Quinn Building to the Campus Center until September 2004, saving a total of $400,000.

10) Combine the Offices Environmental Health and Safety and Health Services. We will continue to study this recommendation. We believe that while delivery of these services is critical to the university community, there may be some cost savings by combining these two areas under one administrative director.

11) Administration & Finance will reduce its administrative costs by $269,842.

12) Enrollment Management will reduce its administrative costs by $48,000.

13) Communications and Community Relations will reduce its administrative costs by $5,000.

Campus-wide Savings

1) Reduce use of Additional Compensation and Bonuses. We will reduce the payment of Additional Compensation (Ad Comp) and Bonuses by requiring the prior approval of the appropriate Vice Chancellor for all such payments regardless of source of funds. Each Vice Chancellor will require thorough justification for such awards, including but not limited to reasons why the activity involved is necessary, why the activities are not part of the regular job description, and why the activities could not be performed as part of the regular duties of an existing employee.

2) One-week Furlough Program. We will ask our employees to agree to a five day furlough for the day after Thanksgiving and the days between Christmas and New Year's Day. We expect that the furlough will not apply to faculty or to graduate students. Regular employees will be allowed to take vacation time and allowances will be made for regular employees that have not earned enough vacation time to cover that time period. This proposal will require additional discussions with the unions but has the potential to save 20-25 jobs.

3) Early Retirement Savings. The Legislature has passed a law creating an early retirement incentive to University and other employees. For most University employees, the retirement date will be December 31, 2003. We expect that the campus will net a savings of approximately $1.5 million from the early retirements after taking into account retirement payouts, limited vacancy refills, and hiring of part-time faculty replacements.

4) Voluntary Savings from Union Members. In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement with the professional staff union and through an informal understanding with the classified staff union, both unions are developing alternative savings proposals including voluntary layoffs and reduced hours for their members to substitute for some of the proposals in this document. While these have not been finalized at this time, they may produce significant savings to offset the one time reductions in this plan.

Savings Summary

The list below summarizes final savings proposals as they are to be implemented:

Academic Proposals

1 Eliminate Harbor Explorations - $50,000

2 Nerche director salary from grants - $76,804

3 Eliminate Mass Field Center - $37,136

4 Reduce UMass Press support - $35,000

5 Require 2 positions in EBTC to be grant funded - $179,000

6 Reduce spending on pre-collegiate programs - $100,000

7 Reduce cost of academic support services - $66,000

8 Reduce support to Centers & Institutes by 10% - $212,544

9 Reductions to the Provost Office - $93,673

10 Reduce prof. support to World Languages and Culture - $19,119

11 Restructure Office of Grad. Studies - $50,000

12 Reductions for CPCS - $162,487

13 Eliminate one CPCS administrative position - $50,000

14 Reductions for College of Science and Mathematics - $100,000

15 Reductions for College of Management - $167,000

16 Reductions for College of Nursing and Health Sciences - $95,000

17 Reduce staffing to the ITC - $134,850

Total - $1,628,613

Administrative Proposals

1 Change PeopleSoft installation plan - $1,000,000

2 Save energy through selective shutdowns - $105,000

3 Eliminate increases to computing staff - $656,880

4 Merge Facilities report office into CSC - $66,000

5 Eliminate Monday morning delivery of mail/overtime - $11,000

6 Eliminate state support for Athletics - $149,000

7 Reduce central assessment - $484,979

8 Move statistician in Computing Services to ORSP - $0

9 Campus Center Savings/Bus Route - $400,000

10 Administration & Finance reduction - $269,842

11 Enrollment Management reduction - $48,400

12 University Communications reduction -$5,000

Total - $3,196,101

Campus-wide Proposals

1 Reduce use of Ad Comp and Bonuses by 25 % - $250,000

2 One week furlough program for employees - $1,000,000

3 Early retirement - $1,500,000

Total - $2,750,000

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