Face The State Staff Report
The University of Colorado Board of Regents voted to raise tuition this week without considering a local think tank's call to cut all six-figure salaries by 5 percent, a proposal that would have saved the university more than $4 million. In addition, CU has already cut $29 million from its budget but wasn't able to provide a list of actual cuts as of press time.
Tuition hikes range from 1.2 percent and 1.7 percent at the university's Denver campus, 3.9 percent at CU Boulder and 5 percent at Colorado Springs. Tuition for out-of-state students was increased by 1.5 percent at Denver, 2 percent at Colorado Springs and 5 percent at Boulder. The tuition hikes were approved by an 8-1 vote of the Regents, with Republican Tom Lucero casting the lone dissenting vote. The tuition hike is the third in three years but less than previous increases. CU raised its in-state tuition 14.6 percent for the 2007-08 school year and 9.3 percent for 2008-09.
Under the plan approved by the Regents, tuition for a typical full-time undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences will rise $262 next year at Boulder, $114 at Denver and $108 at Colorado Springs. According to Lucero, tuition revenue provided by 50 non-resident students is the equivalent of $1 million, but the total revenue generated by the tuition hike will not be calculated until enrollment for the fall is known.
On the Mike Rosen Show two weeks ago, Lucero pledged to introduce a proposal to cut all CU salaries over $100,000 by 5 percent. The move comes after the free-market Independence Institute in March called on CU President Bruce Benson to implement an across-the-board 5 percent cut to all six-figure CU salaries. The proposal, which had been presented as an amendment to the state budget bill, would have saved CU $4 million without cutting a single job. The measure was backed by Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, and Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, but defeated by majority Democrats.
Lucero, however, never presented his plan to the board, claiming it was because he didn't have time and only received the latest tuition proposals 48 hours before the vote. "Never in my time has the budget been so haphazardly put together," he said, adding that he wished he would have had more time to prepare.
But CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue maintains that tuition is voted on every year in April or May because families need that information in order to plan for college expenses. Board Chairman Steve Bosley said the vote on tuition had already been delayed by two weeks, giving Lucero more than enough time to propose salary cuts.
Bosley added that Lucero could have offered the proposal at Tuesday's meeting when the board was voting on tuition. For his part, however, Bosley said he would not support a proposal to slice 5 percent off all salaries over $100,000. "An across the board approach for cutting salaries not a good approach in my opinion," he said. "If you go across the board that is not analyzing each operation and asking what is efficient and what’s not? Instead of saying across the board, I want to look at making each operation more efficient."
According to the Independence Institute's analysis, "a growing number of institutions are extending salary cuts to staff. Faculty at the University of North Carolina will take pay cuts after the state legislature cut $150 million from its budget; Idaho State University anticipates an across the board 10 percent pay cut; news reports and blogs suggest that New York University is moving towards a nine-month compensation model that could reduce some salaries up to 25 percent."
As a result of Colorado's current budget shortfall, there was a $50 million decrease in state funding to the CU system that required leaders to make $29 million in budget cuts for the 2009-10 school year. Face The State repeatedly requested copies for the specific cuts made, but after requests to individual regents and President Bruce Benson's office, a list could not be found. McConnellogue has pledged to provide a compiled list by early next week. In the meantime, McConnellogue provided FTS with a broad overview of cuts by campus that was presented to the Regents.
While the regents have control over setting tuition and salary pools, each campus determines its own spending. On the Boulder campus, cuts included 33 faculty and 42 staff positions for a savings of $6.5 million. The Colorado Springs campus will be offering fewer electives in its college of Arts & Science for a cost savings of $600,000. At CU's Health Sciences Center, which is part of the Denver campus, the dental hygiene and periodontal programs will be phased out for a cost savings of $700,000.
The overall budget will be voted on at the Regents' June meeting. Lucero could still offer his resolution to cut six-figure salaries next month, but says he does not intend to. "The University of Colorado operates more like a business, so once tuition and [salaries] are set, those are your numbers for the next year," he said. "Realistically you could come in at any time and cut your expenses, but as a business owner, when you talk about an operation that size you want to have some stability there."