Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210125
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Parts of the university's worst-case scenario budget - prepared at the request of the state and submitted this fall when there was talk of 15 percent cuts - appeared in Gov. Douglas Wilder's 333-page budget released Monday.
Tech's extension division, subject to whopping cuts during the recession years, would lose another $2.8 million, including 45 positions. The research division would lose $2.5 million and 34 positions over the budget's two-year span.
"It appears they are clearly comparing apples and oranges," said Tech spokesman Dave Nutter, who called the proposals "erroneous, scary and misleading."
Significant cuts also are included for the university's instructional program, Nutter said. Those include a 1.6 percent decrease - or $1.59 million - next year, and a 7.3 percent decrease - or $7.25 million - the following year, Nutter said.
"It's not possible to assess the impact yet of the budget until we have a chance to study it and determine what we'll have to do," said Katherine Johnston, Tech's director of budget and financial planning.
Tech administrators stressed that this budget is but an opening salvo. Republican Gov.-elect George Allen is expected to release his own budget when he is installed in January, and the General Assembly will have its say, too.
Across the state, higher-education cuts averaged only 1 percent. The budget rewards restructuring plans, proposals to boost economic development, and - despite the cuts Tech faces - puts money into instructional programs.
State faculty members can expect raises of 2.5 percent over the next two years, with opportunities for bonus pay. Students will find caps on their rising tuition costs: 5 percent for 1994-95, and 4 percent the following year.
"By far, the most significant thing [is], this budget has almost $22 million in financial aid for students. That takes it up to about $120 million a year in financial aid that is appropriated to the institutions," said Gordon Davies, director of the State Council for Higher Education.
"What's in here is a 1 percent reduction," he said. "We were bracing for 10 and 15. It's arrested the decline, and I think that's significant."
Since 1990, higher education has endured cuts of $440 million.
Radford University's New College for Global Studies fared well, receiving $3.1 million over the next two years to pay for 27 new positions and a technology plan. Provost Meredith Strohm said as many as two-thirds of those positions will be faculty posts.
"I think the message about higher education is, we have to do things differently," Strohm said Monday. "I see this as an endorsement both for change and a contribution to the economic vitality of Virginia."
Radford will receive a 6.6 percent overall increase next year, and 5.6 percent the following year. Financial Vice President Charles King reported an additional $710,000 for planning the second phase of the new college, $1.4 million to upgrade the university's boiler plant, and $325,000 to upgrade the electrical system.
Virginia Military Institute gets the biggest boost of all in the coming year: a 7.6 percent increase, followed by a 2.1 percent increase the next year. Nearly $500,000 is provided for private Mary Baldwin College's leadership program, proposed to help bring VMI's all-male admissions policy in line with the law.
by CNB