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February 2003

UNF prepares for a second round of cuts

A. David Kline, Interim President of UNF

For the second time in recent years, UNF has instituted a hiring freeze and will significantly cut its operating budget as the result of a tight state budget.
Interim President David Kline ordered the hiring freeze Jan. 21, when Gov. Jeb Bush recommended to the Legislature that state universities receive a $111.5 million reduction in their base budgets and receive no funding for enrollment growth. While the ultimate budget will depend on action by the Legislature, it is clear that UNF will face another round of budget cuts less than two years after former President Anne Hopkins instituted a hiring freeze, a temporary travel ban and various other cost-saving measures.

During that round of cuts, Hopkins made every effort to prevent instruction from being affected. This time, however, Kline said it is unlikely that instructional budgets can "be held harmless" if the proposed budget is ultimately adopted. The interim president and vice presidents will complete a budget plan that is likely to include cuts in a variety of areas since the University is expected to have to eliminate about $8 million from its budget. Also in question is the University's ability to increase enrollment each fall, as it has been able to do in recent years.

The hiring freeze affects about 75 faculty positions that were in the recruitment process. Kline and Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Hank Camp will review faculty hires to make sure sufficient faculty can be retained to teach projected enrollments.

There were about 30 A&P positions in the recruitment process at the time the freeze was announced, as well as more than a dozen USPS positions.
Compounding the problem is a lack of any recommended PECO funding in the governor's budget for proposed University building projects in the next fiscal year. Only six state universities that have projects in progress are recommended for funding. The governor proposed shifting $76 million in PECO funding that normally would go to state universities to K-12 to address the class size-reduction issue.
Topping UNF's PECO request for the next fiscal year is $10 million to substantially renovate or replace the Social Sciences Building (Building 11), which has been plagued by water intrusion and mold problems. The second floor of the structure was vacated over the holidays, with faculty moved to several locations on campus. There is a possibility that a special appropriation will be adopted by the Legislature to provide this funding because of the emergency nature of the request.

However, other requested projects on the UNF PECO list, such as $2 million for infrastructure improvements and $7 million to complete health facilities planned for the Soccer/Track Stadium, seem destined to be postponed.

UNF's budget situation will be helped somewhat by the expected authority to increase tuition. The governor recommended an across-the-board tuition increase of 7.5 percent for undergraduate in-state students and urged the Legislature to give university boards of trustees the authority to add another 5 percent in discretionary increase authority for in-state undergraduates. He also recommended no limits on out-of-state tuition.

The governor's recommendations are consistent with earlier recommendations by the Florida Board of Education to substantially increase in-state tuition over the next several years in a plan to eventually match the average tuition for state universities across the country.

The UNF Board of Trustees must wait until the Legislature completes its work on the budget before it can make any decision on the size of tuition increases. However, Kline has indicated that he would most likely recommend the full increase authorized by the Legislature.