Proposed Senate budget softer on University cuts than House version

Although not as deep as a 17.4 percent cut, the latest proposed reduction in state funding would still puncture the academic core of universities, UNC-system administrators say.

The N.C. Senate’s version of the budget would reduce state appropriations for the system by 12 percent or $347 million, compared to the N.C. House of Representatives proposed cut of $483 million.

The Senate’s proposal includes a cut of $37.9 million for the system’s need-based financial aid program.

Bruce Carney, executive vice chancellor and provost, said the cut in the Senate’s budget would actually represent a 13.5 percent cut for the academic side of universities because some state funds are specifically allocated for building construction.

Carney said any cut above 5 percent would impact instruction, requiring tuition increases to maintain the quality of the University’s faculty and course selections. The system’s Board of Governors has already proposed hikes averaging $208 for undergraduate residents and $650 for nonresidents.

Last year’s budget included a provision that allowed individual campuses to approve supplementary tuition increases up to $750 to offset cuts in state funding. Carney and Chancellor Holden Thorp chose to increase tuition by the full $750.

But another supplementary increase this year might not be enough, Carney said.

“I would support a tuition increase to help save the kinds of things that matter to students, faculty and staff,” he said. “But there’s no way we will be able to cover even half of the cut.”

The Senate’s budget does restore scholarship funding from the North Carolina Education Lottery for UNC-system and community college students that was eliminated in a last-minute House budget amendment.

The House and Senate must compromise on a final version of the budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Sen. Dan Soucek, R-Alexander and a member of the Senate appropriations committee on education, said he expects the conferencing process between both chambers to take about two or three weeks.

“Our goal was to have a budget before the governor before the end of the fiscal year,” Soucek said. “We’re on schedule to do that.”

But if Gov. Bev Perdue vetoes the bill, decisions on the final amount of state funding for universities and supplemental tuition increases would be put on hold. The Republican leadership might have to make concessions on cuts to education to craft a bill that Perdue will sign, or they could seek bipartisan support to override a veto.

Soucek said schools in the state simply want certainty about the sacrifices they’ll have to make as the state attempts to plug a budget shortfall of $2.4 billion.

“They’d much rather have the difficult news today so they begin planning here rather than having a two-week continuation budget on top of uncertainty,” he said.

The UNC system would shoulder the burden of those sacrifices in both the Senate and House versions of the budget. The Senate’s budget would reduce funding for community colleges and K-12 public schools by 10.7 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.

Sen. Jim Davis, R-Cherokee, said the endowments, grants and tuition payments that universities receive influenced legislators to spare the state’s other education levels with less resources.

“You don’t have an opportunity to get a Pell grant for K-12 students,” he said.

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