Cuts necessary despite increase
University officials say cost trimming will be necessary despite a $10 million budget increase.
By Amy Johnson
Staff Reporter

The university will look across many areas and departments for ways to trim costs because of next year’s tight budget, Carol Campbell, vice chancellor for finance and business, told Faculty Senate members Thursday.

“We’re going to have to look to see if there is a way we can shift money to other areas where there are higher priorities,” she said.

Campbell didn’t reveal any plans on how the university will conduct this research.

Also at the meeting, Chancellor Michael Ferrari referred to an article in The New York Times article last Tuesday, which said the nation’s wealthiest colleges have drastically cut spending, postponed building projects, imposed hiring freezes and laid off faculty members.

“We’re in a much better state than so many other institutions,” Campbell said. “Overall we’re still increasing our budget. Other universities are not.”

She said the budget for next year has grown by $10 million.

Falling endowment revenues and limited tuition increases and fund-raising opportunities are the main issues affecting the budget, Campbell said.

Ferrari said TCU is one of the wealthiest universities in the nation with the 50th largest endowment, but that there won’t be any significant changes in the immediate future.

Plans for the $10 million renovation to the physics and biology departments are still planned despite tight budget constraints, he said.

Andy Fort, the Faculty Senate assistant secretary, expressed concerns about athletic program costs.

“It raises questions during a time of constraints with the budget that coaches are making more than the chancellor,” he said.

It’s unlikely that tuition will increase to gain revenue, Campbell said.

Campbell said although tuition and fees account for about 70 percent of the university’s revenue that continual tuition increases will force students to attend public colleges and hurt the retention rate of current students.

“We’ve hit our students with two very large back-to-back tuition increases,” she said. “Families are hurting right now. We don’t have the same flexibility that we used to.”

Tuition increased 7.7 percent in 2001 and another 8.7 percent in 2002.

“We’ve had extraordinary good times at TCU in the past,” she said. “The next few years will be tight, but other institutions are worse. We are on a good solid base.”

Amy Johnson