Campus Budget
Chancellor Holub Testifes Before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education
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March 23, 2009
Chancellor Robert C. Holub testified on March 23, 2009 before the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education at the State House in Boston. The text of his comments follows:
Chairman Galluccio, Chairman Torrisi, members of the Committee,
I will use my brief time to do two things: (1) tell you about UMass Amherst and (2) relate to you what the current economic situation means for our campus.
UMass Amherst is the flagship campus of the UMass system. It is the only public campus in the state that has received the designation “very high research activity” from the Carnegie Foundation. Last year we were ranked among the top 50 public universities in the country in faculty awards, number of doctorates granted, postdoctoral appointments, and memberships in the national academies. If we judge by the rankings of academic programs, UMass Amherst is the best comprehensive public research university in New England. Our aspirations are to be counted among the very best public research universities in the nation. We owe it to the citizens of the Commonwealth to hold these aspirations.
We have over 20,000 undergraduate students and nearly 6,000 graduate students enrolled at the Amherst campus, making us the largest public institution of higher education in the State. Eighty percent of our students come from Massachusetts, and unlike other public post- secondary institutions, they come from all parts of the state. Every district across Massachusetts has a large number of students and alumni from our campus.
The chairs of this committee have over 1,300 alumni from UMass Amherst and 200 current students at UMass Amherst. Collectively the members of this joint committee have over 32,000 alumni from our campus living in their districts and nearly 5,000 current students on the campus from their districts.
Our students are among the best anywhere, and their academic indicators demonstrate that we continue to attract the best and the brightest. Last year we had a record number of applications for undergraduate admission, and the incoming class had the highest SAT scores and high school grade point averages in the history of the institution. It was also the most ethnically diverse class we have ever had. Students at Commonwealth College, our honors program, have an average SAT of 1320, a high school GPA of over 4.0, and an average high school rank in the top 5 percent of their class. These academic indicators rival those at the best schools in the nation.
This year we will likely match last year’s number of applications and have a first-year cohort that is even more accomplished.
We take care of our students very well financially. According to U.S. News and World Report students from UMass Amherst have the fifth lowest indebtedness when they leave school compared with all public and private national universities. We currently devote more than 80 percent of our financial aid on the basis of need; next year we will move to over 85 percent need-based aid. And with regard to return on investment Smart Money magazine ranked UMass Amherst 18th nationally in a study of 50 leading colleges, placing it ahead of schools such as Harvard, Yale, Swarthmore, Dartmouth, and the University of Michigan.
Last year we granted over 6,000 degrees, including more than 4,400 baccalaureates, 1,200 masters, and nearly 300 doctorates.
Our faculty generates annually over $135 million of research expenditures. In terms of National Science Foundation funding the University of Massachusetts has received $680 million of funding since 2000, two-and-a-half times as much as any other state university in New England during that period. UMass Amherst has generated about three- quarters of current and past NSF funding.
We are the second largest employer in Western Massachusetts, behind only Baystate Medical. We employ over 1,400 faculty members and a total staff, including part-time employees, of 7,800.
Our operating budget last year totaled more than $800 million. Much of that money, however, is restricted in some fashion. When we look at our fungible budget for operations, we are dealing with a figure under $300 million. The deficit for the coming fiscal year for the Amherst campus is $46 million. The fee increase will cover less than half of the total deficit. I have recently given my vice chancellors their budgets, which reduce collectively the money available to them by approximately $20 million. We hope that federal stimulus money will enable us to mitigate the most negative impacts of these severe budget reductions. At present, however, we are looking at the elimination of 80 full-time instructional positions, 160 part-time teaching assistant positions, more than 100 staff positions, and a variety of reductions to operations and campus life, including the elimination of programs and NCAA athletic teams.
The results of these reductions will be fewer choices for students in the classroom, larger class sizes, and less individual attention to students. Service in various sectors will suffer; the campus will have less maintenance both inside and outside buildings. Our deferred maintenance on buildings, which now totals more than $1.2 billion, will inevitably increase in size and scope.
We will do everything we can to maintain the quality of instruction and student progress toward degrees. We will continue to place emphasis on the health and safety of the campus community. We are convinced that we can deliver a quality education and maintain the campus environment, even with these large budget reductions, but it will take a tremendous effort on the part of all sectors of the campus.
I ask you to devote attention and resources toward the University of Massachusetts and its flagship campus at Amherst. We do not ask for the support of the state as a handout. Data and common sense show that directing dollars to public higher education is a prudent investment of funds, particularly in a time of economic crisis, and that your investment will bring a manifold return for the Commonwealth and its citizens. If we are to overcome our current economic downturn and emerge stronger, public higher education will lead the way.
