Erin Scheuttpelz is confident that the end of large budget cuts is nearing.
“There are positive things on the horizon,” she said at the chancellor’s advisory committee meeting on Wednesday.
Scheuttpelz, the director of state government relations, addressed the committee on matters of the state budget and its effects at the University.
One week away from convening its legislative session, the N.C. General Assembly will be facing a budget shortfall of nearly $3.7 billion.
“Education makes up 60 percent of North Carolina’s budget,” she said. She added that a third of that portion goes to higher education.
For that reason, Scheuttpelz said it is impossible to balance the budget and not make cuts in education.
“This is probably the end of the budget reductions of this magnitude,” Scheuttpelz said.
Chancellor Holden Thorp said officials tried to protect instruction as much as they could from the UNC system’s possible 5 percent budget cuts, but he added that it will become harder to make reductions without reducing credit hours.
“Our hope is that if there’s more cuts, that by the time the budget process is all over, the state will find a way to protect us,” he said.
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