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One of many casualties of the shrinking budget is Utah's higher education system, and today another institution announced budget cuts.
Last month it was Snow College in Ephraim making cuts, today Utah Valley University (UVU) says it is cutting $2.7 million, that's 4 percent of its budget.
The cut comes at a time when enrollment is up 12 percent, meaning 3,000 more students are on campus. The budget cut means the loss of programs on campus and 25 jobs in the next two fiscal years.
UVU spokesman Chris Taylor said, "Our feeling is that every cut you make to higher education hampers the state's ability to recover from an economic downturn."
UVU, which was given $10 million this year to make the switch to a university, finds itself in a better position than other schools. Taylor said, "Our enrollment is up 12 percent, and so that is tuition revenue we weren't necessarily counting on, coupled with the $10 million we already received, so we could be a lot worse off than we are."
The 26,000 students on UVU's campus are wondering what the budget cuts will mean to them and their education. UVU student Geraldine Palacios said, "We've heard the budget has been cut and specifically with our club the UVU Latin American Club, it is going to mean a couple of changes. We usually go out and recruit students for college in the Latin community, but now we have to cut down our recruiting."
"UVU is committed to its goals of access, quality, student success and community engagement," noted Interim President Liz Hitch, "but these goals are harder to achieve when experiencing the ‘perfect storm' of significant enrollment growth coupled with state budget cuts."
UVU knows it is not alone in making the cuts, but it is concerned about what it will mean for students trying to get an education. "At the end of the day, it is the students who are hurt the most," Taylor said, "but we are optimistic. We've been treated very fairly by the state, specifically the last couple of years."
Of the eight positions being cut this year, all but one will be solved through attrition. But next year, the cuts mean a loss of 10 faculty positions and that will mean even bigger class sizes here at UVU.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
