Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:27:21 -0400
Message-Id: <200904131827.n3DIRLhv008013@neihart.oit.umass.edu>
From: "UMass Chancellor's Office" <official-chancellors@admin.umass.edu>
To: massmail-l@oit.umass.edu
Subject: Ongoing Budget Planning
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To: Campus Community

While there has been much uncertainty about the budgets for higher 
education here in Massachusetts and around the country, there is also 
the certainty that here on campus we must move forward on preparing for 
the new academic year. Unfortunately, in these nearly unprecedented 
economic difficulties, we must do this without complete information 
about what the future may hold.

Today, I want to share with you the budget plan for the next fiscal 
year we have developed in consultation with academic and non-academic 
leadership on campus. This plan, built over the last several months 
using information we had, represents our attempt to deal with financial 
difficulties and uncertainties, while also preparing our institution 
for the future when the economy rebounds. The budget will streamline 
administrative costs and focus as many resources as possible on faculty 
hiring and retention going forward, and includes creation of a funding 
source for 45 faculty hires over the next few years using reallocated 
funds created through reorganization and administrative cuts. 

All told, this budget cuts more than $10 million in spending, but will 
not have wide-scale layoffs as we had originally feared our budget 
deficit would require. The federal government, through the guidelines 
for use of the stimulus/stabilization funds for higher education, has 
been very clear that this support is designed to save and create jobs. 
In this budget plan we do exactly that. We are also directed to invest 
this temporary funding to avoid what the federal guidelines call 
the “funding cliff” that will come when this funding ends in two years. 
If we were to avoid reductions now, then the institution could face 
destabilizing and even disastrous budget cuts in two years. To avoid 
taking this step, therefore, would be not only imprudent, but 
irresponsible. 

As you know, however, the picture on what will happen in the economy is 
far from clear, and this budget is contingent on the final approval of 
the state budget and the allocation of federal stimulus money to the 
campus. The Massachusetts House of Representatives budget plan is due 
this week, and the Senate is not expected to complete its budget 
deliberations until the summer in advance of the July 1 start to the 
next fiscal year. I shared with the vice chancellors their budget 
reduction totals late last week to allow as much time for the planning 
process as possible. I would like to thank the faculty and staff, as 
well as the deans and department heads, for their hard work in 
preparing the recommendations this budget plan is based on.

Here are some of the key points in this budget plan:

• The plan avoids the wide-spread layoffs that we had anticipated based 
on earlier budget projections of a $46 million shortfall.

• The budget continues to focus as much as possible on academic 
priorities. Cuts to the academic schools and colleges will be limited 
to an average of 2.3 percent while non-academic units will be cut, on 
average, at a 4 percent rate.

• In total, the plan has approximately $10 million in cuts, with more 
than $5 million coming from cuts in administrative and support services.

• The budget plan seeks to preserve instructional capacity in the short 
term by planning to hire back many of the lecturers and teaching 
assistants who have been notified they might not be rehired.

• Even as we deal with cuts, we will remain committed to supporting the 
strongest faculty possible. To that end, this budget plan creates a 
fund that we will use to hire 45 faculty positions over the next few 
years. This funding was generated through administrative reorganization 
in the central administration and in the schools and colleges. The 45 
positions will be tied to the implementation of a new strategic hiring 
process designed to link future hiring of new faculty with areas of 
excellence and need, and to coordinate the faculty positions in the 
planning of the offices of research, facilities and development.

We’ve heard from many deans, department heads and non-academic unit 
leaders asking for guidance and direction on where we believe the 
budget situation will end up, and this budget plan provides that 
direction to allow managers on campus to make critical decisions now. 
In the next few weeks, we will be working with all academic and 
administrative areas to finalize this budget in advance of the July 1 
start and to make any adjustments as necessary based on economic or 
political changes. I will plan to keep the entire campus community 
posted on developments in these areas. While no one can at present make 
predictions with absolute certainty about what will unfold over the 
next few months, our need to plan for the next fiscal year does require 
us to proceed.

As we have said in the past, depending on the amount of federal 
stimulus funding we receive, we will be rebating a portion of the 
$1,500 fee increase to students. The amount of the rebate will be 
determined in consultation with the UMass President’s Office, the other 
campuses in the UMass system and the Board of Trustees. 

In the last few months here at UMass Amherst, we’ve aggressively 
pursued federal support, advocated on Beacon Hill and communicated 
directly with our alumni and parents of students, urging their active 
support. We have stood with faculty, staff and students in arguing 
forcefully for support of UMass Amherst as a wise investment for the 
Commonwealth, and will continue to do so.

Chancellor Robert C. Holub