http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/06/univ...tem_t.html
Quote:University of Alabama system to cut jobs, projects
Posted by Hannah Wolfson -- Birmingham News June 04, 2008 2:44 PM
The University of Alabama system plans to cut about 300 jobs and cancel construction projects in response to the state's shrinking education budget, Chancellor Malcolm Portera said today at a speech to the Rotary Club of Birmingham.
The cuts will be spread across the system's three campuses in Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.
The system will also push to increase out-of-state enrollment at the Tuscaloosa campus, boost fundraising efforts in the private sector and seek tuition increases, Portera said.
The state legislature passed an education budget Saturday that drops funding for public universities by 11.2 percent, or $156.6 million. Portera said he's facing a a shortfall of $75 million to $80 million.
At the same time, he touted the schools' accomplishments and said the Tuscaloosa campus expects record enrollment this fall of 25,580 students.
Corrected at 2:58 p.m. to show where the record enrollment is expected.
Get ready for the "Shut down UAB football" talk to begin in 3....2.....1
jaymay2525 Wrote:Get ready for the "Shut down UAB football" talk to begin in 3....2.....1
Then a gentle reminder of how expensive the athletic department's secretaries at the Tuscaloosa campus have been over the years would be in order.
All State Colleges are in trouble. The legislature cut funding 12 % and said you can just increase tution. However, the tution for at least next fall is all but locked down. Futher the already cut budget is in danger of proration. UAB used to be in better shape than most AL colleges but research dollars are a overall shrinking pie in this downturn and the hospital is bleeding cash due to over borrowing to build. We are caught between Demos who are owned by AEA and no new taxes republicians in the legislature. (Riley made a pack with Hubbard)
So it will be tough times at all departments not just football or athletics. What I would expect is that the athletic budget and most departments take ~ a 5 % hit. The difference may be that this time around the hit and the usual revenue shortfalls may be enforced on athletics rather than just covered by other funds as usally happens. The main immediate effect is that the future athletic projects (not already going) will be frozen until fundraising pays for those already (almost) built
So, now will the Campus Green remain the campus brown?
USAFBlazerFan Wrote:So, now will the Campus Green remain the campus brown?
They're going to lay the grass this month. It may stay rather plain for a while (no towers, fountains), but it is almost usable.
Does that mean they are going to keep capping UAB's enrollment, or does UAB attempt to increase out of state enrollment?
classroom space is hard to come by as it is. I don't see them increasing enrollment. Tuition doesn't cover the costs that would be incurred.
I only had one class over halfway full last semester, so there is definitely room for increase.
They are talking about at UAT to replace/add out of state kids who pay double or triple tution.
Our graduate especially Medical school has plenty of kids from out of state and can attract more. At one point we kinda had a quota/goal to keep the number of in state students higher
Generally undergraduate at both UAB & UAH do not attract many out of state students but get most students from within regional Alabama areas (UAB again does better with some medical related areas such as nursing). Some of the projects and even athletics are designed to give us more of an "Real" vs "commuter" feel and change this.
The undergraduate plan of Carol is not so much capped but a plan to improve our undergraduate student body, i.e., lower number of students who need remedial help and even more ambitious become the choice for nearby schools say the over the mountain kids.
GreenMississippi Wrote:USAFBlazerFan Wrote:So, now will the Campus Green remain the campus brown?
They're going to lay the grass this month. It may stay rather plain for a while (no towers, fountains), but it is almost usable.
Does that mean they are going to keep capping UAB's enrollment, or does UAB attempt to increase out of state enrollment?
Morte Wrote:I only had one class over halfway full last semester, so there is definitely room for increase.
It doesn't really work that way. You can't just stick someone in the rooms you were in at the same time. What major are you? Say you're an English major and you're talking about English classes. What's to say that the additional students want or need to take the same classes? Then you need to schedule additional classes, but you can't because there are no rooms available.
A room can either be 100% or 0% occupied for the purposes of scheduling a class, there is no inbetween.
And you can't force students to take certain electives just to fill a class. And what about the classes that must be taken before you can take other classes? I had to delay a series of classes 1 year because I forgot to sign up for the 1st one in the series and that class was taught once a year.
Maybe not, but if classes that every student must take to graduate are half or quarter full two semesters running, it would indicate to me that there's room for some more freshman. I'm not talking underwater basket weaving classes, I mean your standard history, science, and english classes.
But UAB is also considered a commuter school. The average age of the student at UAB is 25. Most of the students have jobs and different work and class schedules. That is why there are 30 options for the core classes. Obviously there are some time slots that fill up very fast but there are others that are needed but will never fillup. You can't force students to take classes at 8 pm. The students can juggle their classes so they are able to take classes that best suit their schedules. But some do not have no choice when it comes to trying to graduate by a certain semester. This still doesn't mean that there is room for more students.
There is not room for more classes, that is a fact. Anecdotal evidence of 3 freshmen classes over two semesters is not a counter argument. Business classes being held in the Humanities building is a symptom of this. Regardless, it's not the main motivating factor behind capping UAB enrollment anyway.
I never said it was. I just said that there are empty classrooms. That leads me to believe that there is room for more people in those classrooms.
Uab91Eng Wrote:But UAB is also considered a commuter school. The average age of the student at UAB is 25. Most of the students have jobs and different work and class schedules. That is why there are 30 options for the core classes. Obviously there are some time slots that fill up very fast but there are others that are needed but will never fillup. You can't force students to take classes at 8 pm. The students can juggle their classes so they are able to take classes that best suit their schedules. But some do not have no choice when it comes to trying to graduate by a certain semester. This still doesn't mean that there is room for more students.
UAB is not as much of a commuter school anymore...and class schedules reflect that. The average age of students on the undergrad side is now just over 22.
Regardless, I think we can all agree that the undergrad side at UAB, and maybe athletics in particular, is going to be the dog that gets kicked in the end.
The school can expand without new buildings / dorms by maximizing scheduling. University House is a good example of dorm replacement and a
bunch of half full classrooms does mean you can add more students. Labs are a little tougher to work around, but it doesn't appear that UAB is bursting at the seams.
The athletic issue is based around winning at football and basketball. Money will appear if you have a winner. From someone outside Alabama, which means I don't see the daily beat down from the bama press and fans, the football program is on the upswing. I know they recruit in Texas currently, but UAB's reputation in Texas is pretty good.
And after the kick ass year coming up, it will do much better.
Yeah, even I was surprised to learn of the recruiting pipeline we have in Texas.
You will see class sizes increase as the university doesn't hire adjuncts.
You will see a hiring freeze.
You will see a re-evaluation of programs across the board. Underperforming programs will be cut.
You will see an increase in fees that don't require BOT or state BOE approval, such as parking fees.
You will see a ban on all student and faculty travel outside of athletics.
That's the standard higher-education reaction to budget cuts. If the cuts get deeper, expect the cuts to become more drastic.