The University of Virginia Board of Visitors has passed a $2.5 billion budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. In a historic decision, the board voted for the first year-to-year decrease in the budget for the academic division. But, there were some budget increases; the UVA Health System received a 10.3 percent increase raising their spending plan to $1.1 billion.
A release from UVA explained, the reduction was mainly due to 51.5 million cut in state funding since October 2007, as well as the expiration of federal stimulus spending. The release also states, “The budget anticipates a slight reduction of the academic division workforce by attrition, from the equivalent of 8,756 full-time positions to 8,739.”
The university says the increase for UVA Health System is due to anticipated revenue from new facilities, mainly the Emily Couric Cancer Center, the Transitional Care Hospital as well as the new expansion of the Medical Center.
In addition to the budget, the Board of Visitors also approved a resolution to cut the university’s greenhouse gas emissions to 250,000 metric tons or less by 2025, 25 percent below emission levels measured in 2009.
The board also addressed future renovations to the Academical Village, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site. Although the board did not agree on specific projects, they did approved guidelines of “periods of significance,” for the oldest locations on grounds. The plan, “A Planning Framework for Future Work in the University of Virginia’s Academical Village,” states that all future projects must be presented to the board. In the fall, the board will address recommendations to restore and repair the Rotunda.
Comments
I hope that the decrease in funding will spur the University on to accept more out-of-state students (at their higher tuition rate), which at the same time will enroll students with a higher academic standing. The admission standard disparity between in-state and out-of-state student admissions has continued to be too large.
I am curious as to the real cost of the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions. While this is certainly a laudable goal, I suspect that its implementation will not be cheap in a time of necessary reductions in expenditures.
Mr. Jefferson established the University of Virginia as a national place of learning. Initial funding was from individuals and a small grant from the State of Virginia. With essentially no money coming from Richmond now is a particularly good time to severe all ties to the Commonwealth and move forwards as a fully independent university as was our founder’s intention.
Tom and Robert:
Bringing in “higher revenue students” (out of staters) deminishes the ability for Virginians to also send their children to UVa. Perhaps UVa needs to look at cost issues as much as revenue issues (e.g. tenure, pension schemes, health care benefits, etc.) And, Robert, I’m not one who opines on what our founders wanted. I do think it is important for state governments to provide some funding for higher education. Increases in the cost of higher education have mirrored health care cost increases, leaving fewer (as a percent of the pop.) who can afford either.
How would “looking at” tenure and benefits result in anything more than diminishing the ability of the University to attract good faculty, and thereby degrading the institution as a whole? This sounds like a thinly-veiled and standard issue attack on academics, while ignoring the real issue, which is that Virginia residents benefit outsizedly from very little outlay.
Removing tenure will serve the academic world, not diminish it. Without tenure, professors will be free to look at other universities for positions and academic institutions will compete as do companies, law firms and consultancies for the best talent they can find. Mr. Davis calls this an attack on academics and I think it’s time we get the academic world to more closely reflect the rest of the professional world around us. Higher education, like health care, are “broken” in terms of the cost of the service provided. Let’s celebrate that UVa is moving in the right direction by lowering their cost.
Bringing in higher revenue students-out of state students -not only improves finances but attracts a higher level student and creates more diversity of background and experience in the student body. This aspect significantly elevates the academic experience for every student and contributes to the overall quality of the university and its worldwide recognition. For those students that are academically unqualified to attend the University of Virginia there are numerous other choices including a very active community college system. It would be a mistake to degrade the quality of the University by lowering it’s admission standards. It would also serve to reduce the quality of the University by maintaining a student body that must have such an abnormally high percentage of instate students. This produces a student body with a narrow range of background and outlook that just serves to diminish the overall quality of the institution.
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