Dear OSU Community:
Over the past several months you have received several communications from me as the legislative budgeting process for the 2009-11 biennium unfolded. Our budget has been, and continues to be, a moving target.
The situation is slowly becoming clearer. Last week, the
Oregon
University System approved a tuition increase of 8 percent for
the
university - a rate which will balance the need to maintain both
student
access and quality of education. Yet despite that increase, OSU
still
must prepare for a budget gap of $15 million to $20 million in the
E&G
budget based on our expected allocation from the Oregon
University
System and potential further declines in state revenue.
Additionally, we
are planning for a budget gap of $18 million, or 15%, in our
Statewide
Public Service Programs. The OUS budget for Oregon State will not
be
available until September or October. The current budget estimates
are
based on increased state revenues through new taxes that may be
referred
to the voters in early 2010. Further economic decline in the state
could
reduce our budget further. We will know more after the next
state
revenue forecasts in September and December.
My charge to the Advisory Council on Budget and Strategic Priorities was to develop a series of recommendations that not only address this budget gap, but more importantly, make the university's administrative structure flatter and reduce the scope of our course offerings to be more focused in alignment with our strategic plan, to position us for future growth. At the same time, we must protect our core values of student success, faculty excellence and academic distinction.
These recommendations, which I am approving, will help the university in the long run though there will be short-term hardships - both on our main campus and in our extended campuses at OSU-Cascades, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Extension offices and Experiment Station branches throughout the state. There is no single solution to reducing our budget by such a large amount. Tuition will increase, the average class size will grow, programs will have to be consolidated or eliminated, and positions will be lost. But each of these decisions will be made thoughtfully and strategically so we emerge as a stronger, more focused institution.
The recommendations that I have approved fall under four areas:
In addition, I am forwarding a proposal by the Advisory Council for input from the campus community that would create divisions of academic colleges, while maintaining the current college structure. Although there are some savings associated with this proposal, the primary purpose would be to align our academic structure with the university's strategic plan, increase collaborations and interdisciplinary work, and create areas of distinction for growth. The proposal also would relocate our College of Education to the OSU-Cascades Campus in Bend, while maintaining a small core of education faculty on campus in Corvallis to maintain the double degree program. Also, part of the package for campus input are possible longer-term changes in Statewide Public Service Programs and an undergraduate Student Success program designed to improve student retention and success by integrating and expanding the scope of initiatives that have proved successful over the past couple of years, focused on success in foundational courses, student advising, and transition programs.
Details on the approved recommendations, and the new proposal, are available at the State of the Budget web page at: http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/budget/process.html, which also provides an opportunity for direct feedback.
Over the next two years, the budget recommendations will result in the elimination of 150 to 200 FTE positions in the Education & General Budget and 75 to 100 FTE positions in the Statewide Public Service Programs. The university will eliminate an estimated 500 course sections, and more than 30 academic programs will be restructured, eliminated, or consolidated with other programs. There also will be structural changes in our operations for Agricultural Experiment Stations and the OSU Extension Service, including the assignment of faculty and staff to serve multiple counties.
I recognize the difficulty of the task and the decisions that have to be made. Reductions of this magnitude cannot be made without creating hardship for people. When academic programs are eliminated, we will do our best to work with affected students so that progress to degree is not interrupted. Although we will use retirements, vacancies and natural attrition whenever possible to lessen the impact on faculty and staff, a certain number of layoffs are inevitable. As I have previously mentioned, we will make every effort to recognize and minimize the hardship these actions will have on individuals, programs and services.
This process is not just about cuts; it is about building and refocusing. We also recognize that to meet our aspirations we need to substantially increase revenues from non-State sources. To this effect, we are working to increase non-resident student enrollment, as will be reflected in fall 2009 numbers. We have started the INTO OSU program to increase international student enrollment. Our research growth continues to be phenomenal, and we will continue our extraordinarily successful focus on private fundraising.
While we are cutting back in some areas, we are concurrently investing in targeted areas, consistent with our institutional goals. We have committed $800,000 for 2009-2010 to provide access to and eliminate backlog in foundational courses. We recently allocated $1 million to our research enterprise for core research facilities, start-up packages, and improving research support infrastructure. As you know, we have been systematically upgrading university classrooms and research facilities. Our success in the capital campaign has enabled us to build and renovate much needed physical infrastructure to support growth, including the Kelley Engineering building and Kearney Hall. We are breaking ground for the Linus Pauling Science Center and Hallie Ford Center for Healthy Children and Families later this summer, and in the very near future, we will start construction of the Student Success Center and renovation of Education Hall. And, we continue to raise funds to rebuild the four cultural centers.
In closing, I would like to thank the university's students, staff and faculty for your incredible hard work over the last several months. Difficult economic times create hardships of many kinds, yet our university continues to stand out for its excellence and spirit. As we move forward, we need to continue our collective focus on principles of creating academic distinction, providing an outstanding learning environment for students, and building to a sustainable future to help address the issues facing Oregon and beyond.
Sincerely,
Edward J. Ray
President
Oregon State
University
