University of Minnesota faculty and students fear budget cuts and tuition hikes will reduce staffing and enrollment

The University of Minnesota’s proposed 7% reduction of academic programs and steep tuition hike have raised fears they will lead to fewer instructors and students who can afford to attend the school.

“It’s really upsetting when we see students priced out of a college education,” said Riley Hetland, an incoming junior.

On Friday, officials announced the budget cuts and a 6.5% tuition jump for in-state undergraduates on the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses — the biggest increase in 14 years for Twin Cities students.

U leaders pointed to the anticipated flat funding from the state and declining federal support for research.

“There’s a potential for a kind of spiral effect from this,” said Travis Workman, chair of the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies department, adding that it could reduce enrollment at the College of Liberal Arts.

He said his department will have to cut its budget for nontenure-track class instructors by 19% over two years, reducing the number of teaching assistants and adjunct faculty, and consider closing language programs or “making other drastic decisions.”

The $5.1 billion budget proposal, which would balance the budget, includes a 4% bump in faculty and staff compensation. However, most of the compensation increases would be merit-based rather than across the board.

The deans of schools and colleges, such as the College of Biological Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts, were in charge of making the 7% cuts to academic programs, said Gregg Goldman, the U’s executive vice president for finance and operations.

He said the deans did a “phenomenal job.”

“We can’t be a university that tries to do everything,” Goldman said. “You’ll be good at a lot of things and great at nothing.”

He said the effort to make academic cuts started “long before” the recent “existential crisis” in American higher education.

Nathaniel Mills, an English professor and the department’s incoming chair, said academic departments have been asked to cut instructional budgets by 10% this year and next. He said that because of the cuts, high-quality teaching faculty will be let go, programs will close and fewer classes will be offered.

At “a time of financial precarity,” U President Rebecca Cunningham “has apparently decided to focus budget cuts on what the university does best: teach students,” Mills said in an email.

“It is frustrating that U leadership apparently does not see our educational mission, or supporting the faculty who carry out that mission, as strategic priorities.”

Ruth Shaw, a professor in the ecology, evolution and behavior department, said that given the current, previously unimaginable circumstances in higher education, it may be time to rethink aspects of the U’s strategic plan.

“Is this the time to move forward on all its components, given that they will clearly be implemented by reining in core functions of the university?” she said in an email.

She added that she especially questions budget cuts to instruction.

Several faculty members raised questions about the amount of money in the U’s proposed budget dedicated to administrative costs.

The budget proposal would raise tuition while draining academic resources, Michael Gallope, a professor of cultural studies and comparative literature, said in an email.

“It transfers way too much money to administrative excess — branding, marketing and the vague jargon of ‘strategic investments,’" he said.

Gallope said he hoped the Board of Regents would ask Cunningham to focus her budget on classroom instruction, job security for those without tenure, and top-notch research.

Last year’s $5 billion budget increased salaries for some employees, cut budgets in some parts of the university and increased tuition by 1.5% to 4.5% across the five U campuses.

Richard Painter, a professor at the U’s Law School, said he’s also concerned about high administrative costs, along with generally wasteful spending at the U. There are too many centers, programs and institutes, he said.

Painter said the tuition hike would be more than many families could afford. Financial aid for students from families making between $80,000 and $120,000 is limited, he said.

“I think they’re already having trouble sending their kids to college,” he said. “This is a betrayal of the purpose of higher education.”

Hetland, who will become student body president in July, said tuition increases of more than 5% will just mean more students won’t be able to afford a degree.

“It’s not only those students missing out, it’s also [hurting] the students who would be in those classrooms with them,” said Hetland, who is majoring in environmental sciences, policy and management.

A public forum will be held Thursday so people can comment on the proposed budget. Regents will vote on it June 18.