Budget Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Rain

By Richard Dye · The Mainstream
Published Fubruary 8, 2012

How severely next year’s state budget cuts will affect UCC has left the college’s financial administrators in a fog of speculation.

“Our budget is affected by many variables that the college does not have control over,” said UCC Vice President Lynn Moore.

Information provided by the governor’s office indicates funding will be an estimated seven percent lower for the 2012-2013 school years, Moore added.

Revenue forecasts are not yet available for the UCC business department to adequately budget for the up and coming school year. The predicted seven percent cut, however is in context of continual budget cuts over recent years.

“If the revenue forecast for the state is lower than anticipated, the college may experience an additional cut in state funding,” Moore says.

A lack of state funding will mean big changes in the way students pay for their education. These changes will place more financial responsibility upon the shoulders of students, raising tuitions and lowering the number of available grants available.

“We are faced with federal financial aid regulatory changes that may affect student eligibility for grants. Students may be faced with the choice of using loans to fund their education or not attending. It’s difficult to estimate the impact of these changes,” said Moore.

Student and staff responsibilities are not the only budget considerations,

“The College also has to consider capital equipment needs in keeping the infrastructure and equipment of the academic programs and college current. Behind the scenes is a backlog of deferred maintenance issues that will have to be prioritized for funding as well,” said Moore.

Not enough information is known at this point. Department chairs are still submitting their needs to the college finance department. More about how funding will affect UCC and students will be known in the next few weeks.