The most recent General Assembly budget cuts shaved an additional $113 million from the higher education budget, and state colleges and universities are being forced to tighten already cinched belts as a result.

By Chelsea Hadaway
chadaway@scbiznews.com

The most recent General Assembly budget cuts shaved an additional $113 million from the higher education budget, and state colleges and universities are being forced to tighten already cinched belts as a result.

The budget cutbacks this fall have resulted in a string of tough decisions that include mandated furloughs and hiring freezes. University officials say the concessions are necessary to make ends meet for fiscal 2008-09, which was already skimpier than prior years, even before the midyear cuts.

The University of South Carolina system, which includes eight campuses, was hit by a 14.9% cut, for a total cut of $36.9 million since June.

“Deans and vice presidents are recalibrating their budgets now,” said Margaret Lamb, director of media relations for the system. Decisions are expected to be announced in early December as to what cutbacks will be made.

MUSC saw an 11.9% cut, for a total cut of $16.8 million since the fiscal year began in July.
President Ray Greenberg is bracing for even more cuts, as are other university leaders across the state.

“We don’t really know where the bottom is,” Greenberg said. MUSC leaders are working to put together a comprehensive plan to address the budget dilemma.

After taking a $2.7 million budget cut equal to about 14.8% of its budget, The Citadel has frozen salary increases and new hiring, cut its travel budget by at least 50% and delayed the funding of strategic initiatives.

President John Rosa cautioned Citadel leaders in a memo that the budget cuts might not be over.

“Already, there are estimates from usually reliable sources that the state revenue shortfall may exceed the most recent Board of Economic Advisors projections,” Rosa said in the memo.

Trident Technical College in North Charleston has experienced a 14.4% cut so far, equal to about $3 million. It issued a hiring freeze effective Nov. 7 and is deferring planned maintenance to recoup the cuts, said public information director David Hanson.

The College of Charleston took a $4.95 million cut, triggering a hiring freeze and reduction of operational budgets.

In a recent letter to faculty and staff, C of C President George Benson said the school will fill only the most critical personnel vacancies as determined by the college’s executive vice presidents and himself.

“Our human resources office will not extend any offer of employment without receiving the proper clearance from the executive team,” he said in the letter.

He added that department heads will have to cut their operational budgets to minimize the budget cuts’ impact on students, but he’s leaving the cuts up to those supervisors.

Benson’s letter came as Clemson University announced a five-day mandatory furlough of faculty and staff, delays of planned construction projects and the use of athletics, housing and other auxiliary program funds.

Clemson President James F. Barker said the university also is freezing hiring except in critical areas, cutting nonessential temporary positions and eliminating nonessential travel.

“It is regrettable that we have to take actions that directly impact the Clemson family, but the severity of the budget cuts leave us with no choice,” he said.

Barker said that, with the latest cuts, Clemson’s educational per-student funding is 40% less than it was in 1973, after adjusting for inflation.

The $113 million hit to the general funds for the higher education budget represents a 14.7% cut, said Julie Carullo, director of governmental affairs and special projects at the Commission on Higher Education.

And Carullo is expecting another budget cut to come down the pike, after the Board of Economic Advisors reduced revenue estimates again at its Nov. 7 meeting.

Michael Sponhour, the director of public affairs for the State Budget and Control Board, said the next board meeting is Dec. 11 but said what happens next is up to the political leadership.

Universities across the country are facing similar problems as the economy has pinched state budgets and lawmakers look to make up for shortfalls without raising taxes. Aside from short-term cuts, administrators are looking to long-term solutions, namely ways to increase private investments.

Coastal Carolina University is looking at something even more unusual: turning the Conway institution into the state’s first higher education charter school.

President David DeCenzo said doing so would give the school some leeway from state regulations, such as having every capital project approved even if the school has raised the money itself.

Public universities in other states that have become charter schools usually accept a trade-off in the form of more freedom for less state money.

The school currently receives less than 10% of its appropriation from the state, he said, so becoming a charter school might be just as cost-effective. The recent round of budget cuts shaved about $2.5 million from Coastal Carolina’s anticipated $16.3 million appropriation for the school year.

“That’s a trend across the United States, to see a decrease in funding, although with these budget cuts it’s magnified what a lot of us are facing and that’s a continuing decline in state support of higher education,” DeCenzo said. “We’re trying to find ways that will allow us to be as cost-effective as we can.” 

Reporter Molly Parker contributed to this report. Reach Chelsea Hadaway at 843-849-3142.