BGSU Board of Trustees approve 2002-03 operating budget

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Facing fallout from a recession that is squeezing an already tight state budget, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees met Wednesday (June 19) to painstakingly balance institutional priorities and commitments against available financial resources.

The trustees voted to approve a $206.3 million operating budget for the 2002-03 fiscal year, which includes student fee increases to help cover costs not met by state allocations. The budget also includes an increase of $3.9 million in funds earmarked for undergraduate scholarships, graduate student fee waivers and other financial aid aimed at keeping BGSU accessible to qualified students.

The current economic recession, although mild, has produced major state budgetary problems and funding cuts for higher education in Ohio.

Last fall BGSU lost approximately $5 million through a 6 percent cut in state support. State support for the 2002-03 academic year is projected to be $5.2 million less than the level initially approved for the 2002 fiscal year budget. As a result, only 37.4 percent of the revenue in the University’s $206.3 million operating budget now comes from state appropriations; 57.2 percent comes from student fees and 5.4 percent, from other sources.

Further complicating financial decisions for state universities such as Bowling Green is the fact that Ohio’s budget situation remains volatile.

"We’re committed to keeping our promise of providing the best education possible, maintaining the high caliber of our programs, and our faculty and staff, and keeping BGSU accessible to academically qualified students--but it’s a real challenge," said Board of Trustee President David Bryan of Perrysburg.

The board approved a two-tier instructional fee increase for undergraduate students. Tuition and fees were increased over current rates by $183 per semester, or 6 percent, for continuing undergraduate students and by $303 a semester, or 9.9 percent, for incoming full-time undergraduates, both freshmen and transfer students.

About half of the state’s public universities, including Ohio State, Wright State and Ohio University, already have gone to a two-tier system for instructional fees.

Dr. Chris Dalton, BGSU senior vice president for finance and administration, noted that BGSU has now completed phasing-in the fee increases related to capital improvements. Completion of two major campus projects, the Bowen-Thompson Student Union and an infrastructure project to enhance campus data networking, telecommunications and research capabilities, has led to a series of incremental fee and tuition increases as these new facilities and services have come online. An $80 increase in general fees instituted last January, for instance, helps to pay off the bond debt and cover operating costs for the new student union.

Room and board rates for students living in on-campus residence halls were also set for the 2002-03 academic year. The rate for a standard double room was increased $208 annually and the annual minimum meal plan rate increased by $96. There also was an $8 increase annually in the residence hall technology fee. Overall, $84 of the $312 increase in the annual room, board and residence hall technology fee is tied to residence hall renovation and technology infrastructure improvements.

In related action, tuition and general fees for graduate students were increased by 6.1 percent, to $4,225 a semester.

In addition, an operating budget of $8.4 million was approved for BGSU Firelands campus in Huron.

Instructional fees were set at $1,724 per semester for full-time students, an increase of 7.9 percent, and the general fee was set at $81 per semester, an increase of $6 or 8 percent.

Reflecting the critical need to continue to recruit and retain high-quality faculty and staff, the trustees also enacted a 3.6 percent pay increase for continuing faculty and a 3 percent pay increase to continuing administrative and classified staff, except members of collective bargaining units. Eligible members of each employee group also will participate in additional merit salary pools of varying amounts, ranging from $163,000 for administrative staff to $199,000 for classified staff (hourly workers) and $1.2 million for faculty.

The increases are consistent with the University’s Compensation Plan first announced in 1999. The Compensation Plan seeks to make BGSU faculty and staff salaries more competitive with those of comparable public universities. For the most part, BGSU faculty salaries currently rank in the lower half of salaries in peer universities nationally and in the lower third of those at other public universities in Ohio.

"Faculty and staff salaries have been at the forefront of our priorities for the past four years," BGSU President Sidney Ribeau noted. "Our faculty and staff have contributed to a great period in the history of Bowling Green State University, a period in which we have seen enrollment growth, a boom in the use of technology and the opening of a new student union."

"Retaining and rewarding our talented faculty and staff is critical to this institution. We need to make whatever sacrifices we must to remain competitive with our salaries and provide outstanding educational opportunities for our students," Ribeau said.

Those sacrifices will include a hiring freeze, virtually no increases in unit operating budgets and making permanent $3 million in budget reductions taken earlier this year.

"We are financially pinched but we want to keep operations nearly as whole as possible. We will be asking everyone to tighten their belts and be frugal," Dalton said. (Posted June 19, 2002)