THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 29, 1994 TAG: 9408290029
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 153 lines
Most local colleges are starting classes today. But at Old Dominion University, many professors and administrators already are worried about next school year.
That's when ODU is scheduled to face a budget shortfall that, depending on how it is calculated, could range from $2.5 million to $5 million.
As a percentage, it's the biggest loss in state aid facing any university in Virginia, no matter which calculation is used. And for Old Dominion, which already has suffered a 21 percent drop in state funding since 1990, it would be the deepest cut yet - and the most painful.
``It's larger than anything we've confronted before,'' President James V. Koch said. ``We're talking about cutting whole (academic) programs, whole departments - this is what would be necessary if that turns out to be true.''
Koch offered an example of the magnitude of the reduction in a recent letter to employees: Eliminating both the College of Health Sciences - which includes the departments of dental hygiene, nursing and physical therapy - and the ``institutional advancement'' section - which includes fund raising, public relations and alumni affairs - would save $4.9 million.
Even that wouldn't totally cover the shortfall in the worst-case scenario.
The outlook has ODU on the verge of institutional schizophrenia. The university has begun planning the $5 million cut, but at the same time Koch is lobbying state officials to restore part of the aid next year.
And though Koch struck a pessimistic tone in his June letter, his back-to-school address to professors Thursday was brimming with optimism, barely mentioning the possibility of layoffs or department closings. Koch said a combination of belt-tightening measures and pleas to legislators for additional money would avert the worst.
``We have powerful supporters,'' he told the ODU staff, ``and if it's possible to help us, I believe they will do so.''
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, is among the most powerful. Though he's going to fight for more for ODU, he's wary about Gov. George F. Allen's special legislative session on prison parole next month.
``What they're faced with now is alarming,'' Walker said. ``But you don't know what the parole session is going to bring. We will try to get the money the best way we can, but anybody who looks at it has to say it looks sort of bleak.''
Faculty members also are teetering between despair and optimism. On the one hand, ``a lot of people are kind of hoping that politicians may come to their senses, although they seem utterly committed to spending money on what will amount to prisons,'' management Professor Paul J. Champagne said.
But the gloom often wins out. ``We've gotten to the point where we've had so much bad news that we're almost geared up for the worst,'' he said. ``If you operate on the assumption that the worst thing that can happen will happen, you can't be disappointed.''
Under the two-year budget approved by the General Assembly last year, ODU was the big winner one year and the big loser the next. But ODU officials say the gains are illusory and the losses are even deeper than they appear on paper.
In the school year beginning Monday, ODU's appropriation will rise 6.9 percent, from last year's $44,710,000 to $47,779,000. That's by far the biggest increase for any doctoral-granting university. Virginia Commonwealth University was next highest, with a 2.9 percent gain.
But ODU administrators say the increase was almost all targeted for Teletechnet, which broadcasts courses to remote locations. The amount allotted for general programs stayed roughly the same.
In 1995-96, ODU's state appropriation will drop 5.2 percent to $45,274,000, the largest cut for any doctoral-granting university. The others face reductions ranging from 1.0 percent at VCU to 4.4 percent at George Mason. Norfolk State University's aid is scheduled to fall 2.6 percent.
But Koch says ODU's cut will amount to far more. Because earmarked aid will rise next year for programs such as Teletechnet, ODU will actually have $3.6 million less to spend on general needs. Add to that increased costs for such items as insurance premiums and rent for ODU's satellite centers, Koch said, and the university might have to trim $5 million.
The university's total budget for 1994-95 is $153.2 million. The main source of revenue other than state aid is tuition; other sources include federal money for financial aid and bookstore and dorm revenues.
ODU's cut reflects a new funding formula for state-supported colleges. Previously, all universities generally received the same percentage increases - or decreases - in state aid. But last year, under former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, the state attempted to differentiate the allotments based on the universities' other income.
The key variable was enrollment. If a university was expecting a large enrollment increase, the logic went, it needed less aid from the state because it would be getting more tuition money. The state predicted ODU's enrollment in 1995-96 would increase by the equivalent of 1,200 full-time students and George Mason's by 900. At other schools, the increase wouldn't exceed 200. Therefore, ODU and Mason took the biggest cuts in state support.
``Every institution has a total . . . budget, which is affected considerably by student fees, and to ignore that would be wrong,'' said Donald J. Finley, associate director of the State Council of Higher Education, who helped draft the budget.
But Finley acknowledged: ``The fact that they (at ODU) are talking about layoffs and nobody else is in the system - I'm perplexed.''
Part of the trouble, Koch said, is that the enrollment estimate was much too high. The main problem, state Education Secretary Beverly Sgro said, was the philosophy underlying the formula.
``You just don't take more students in without additional cost; that was a major flaw in one of the assumptions,'' Sgro said. ``You've still got to provide more classrooms. It greatly concerns me that the model that was used this time did leave those holes.''
Sgro said she couldn't guarantee more money for ODU next year, but she will review the funding formula before the 1996-98 budget is written.
In its effort to get more money, ODU expects to win favor with two additional arguments:
The university should get credit for streamlining operations. ``ODU's been at the top of the heap in terms of restructuring,'' Walker said. ``They really have tried to make some changes out there to cut costs while moving ahead with their programs.''
Since 1990, ODU has eliminated 179 of 1,080 full-time positions, or more than 16 percent, almost all through attrition, said David F. Harnage, acting vice president for administration and finance.
Old Dominion gets far less state aid per in-state student than most other doctoral-granting universities. ODU's figures show the school getting $4,440 per student; only Mason's $4,266 is lower. Every other Ph.D.-granting school gets at least $6,000 per student, up to the University of Virginia's $9,367.
Finley said the gap should be narrowed, but ``I'm not sure we would agree on the degree of inequity. . . . There are understandable and explainable differences in student funding.'' For instance, he said, schools such as U.Va. need more money because they offer higher faculty salaries and have more extensive library collections.
If ODU's efforts to recoup the loss fail, the school can't raise tuition to make up the difference: The General Assembly this year approved a 3 percent cap on annual increases through 1996.
Instead, ODU plans strategies such as an early retirement plan and privatizing operations to save money. But that probably won't be enough to forestall layoffs or department cuts.
Administrators say it's too early to say which departments are likely targets. Academic areas that Koch has ardently promoted - such as oceanography and nuclear physics - are likely to be exempt. Instead, he said, he would look at programs that have low enrollments or offer bleak job prospects for graduates.
The cuts, if they happen, will not be piecemeal, but will be selective and deep, Koch said. ``We could go across the board,'' he said, ``but we'd risk making everything mediocre.'' ILLUSTRATION: ANNUAL COSTS AT ODU
What would it take to cut $5 million from Old Dominion University's
budget? Here is a sample of the annual costs of a variety of
university operations.
Darden College of Education $6,510,429
The Department of English $1,713,354
The Department of Oceanography $1,228,142
Student extracurricular activities $514,610
Student counseling center $276,284
KEYWORDS: TUITION COLLEGE UNIVERSITY BUDGET CUTS by CNB