Budget to fund construction
By Anna Herkamp
Summer
Reporter
Aspects of the recently announced state budget
for higher education won't be as high as what the University officials
would have liked, however, Purdue president Martin Jischke is still
optimistic about the future.
On May 29, the 2001-2003 biennium budget was passed
and provided an overall average annual increase of 2.9 percent in operating
funds for public universities, with Purdue's West Lafayette campus averaging
less than 2 percent each year.
In a recent press release, Jischke said, "The budget
does not provide all of the resources that we need, but given the fiscal
situation, we understand the General Assembly's limitation."
Joseph Bennett, vice president for University Relations,
said "This is the worst economic year for Indiana in a long time."
Such a dramatic cut in the budget is not normal,
however, it has been a tough year for individual businesses, therefore
people made less money and there were less taxes, Bennett said.
"Sometimes you have more, sometimes you have less,"
he said.
Though Purdue promises to maintain extremely high
standards of higher education, Bennett said the University looks to
the future and hopes that the economic downturn won't last.
The greatest concern of the University is to maintain
competitive compensation for the faculty, Bennett said.
Our staff is made up of individuals who are highly
recruited and are the essence of the academic programs; we want to make
sure that we can give them a competitive salary, he said.
Specifically, programs including biomedical engineering,
computational sciences, biotechnology and genomics will not receive
the requested funding.
These programs already receive money, but the funding
expansion we asked for didn't go through, Bennett said.
Despite the cuts in academics, the state gave more
in its budget for construction. Purdue was awarded $5 million of the
requested $15 million for the construction of a new nanotechnology center.
The center will be built using a combination of state, federal and private
dollars.
$3.4 million was also given to pay for the renovation
of the Library Student Faculty Building at Purdue North Central.
In addition to funds, bonding authority was given
for the construction of a new computer sciences building, a new chiller
plant and a new mechanical engineering building.
The state received authority to use student fees
for the renovation of the Recreational Sports Center.
Despite the bonding and funds, money was not given
toward the completion of the new Visual and Performing Arts Center.
When asked why the state was so willing to give
money to construction and not so much toward academic goals, Bennett
said the money for construction is non-recurring, meaning the money
will be given once, whereas academic funds have to be renewed
Purdue won't be the only university that will feel
the tightened budget. Renovation and replacement funding was cut 25
percent statewide. Technology funding was cut almost 28 percent.
Purdue's technology funding will be $8.7 million,
down from $12 million last year.
Bennett said that despite the cut, the University
will not complain. "There was no singling out, the state just decided
to save money in this area," he said.
A big concern for students will be how much tuition
prices will be raised. Almost all University funds come from state money
and student fees, Bennett said.
Students can expect to see their fees raised, but
this is normal. If you look at history, there hasn't been a year when
tuition hasn't been raised, he said.
Despite the concerns for academics, in a letter
to governmental and business leaders concerning the budget, Jischke
said, "it is clear that our governmental leaders recognized the importance
of education and gave it the highest priority possible. This makes me
very optimistic for the future of our state."
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