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The finance committee of the University of Virginia"s Boardof Visitors on Tuesday adopted a budget that"s slightlylarger than the current year"s, but grim talk accompanied thebudget, which showed a dip in research funding and precious littlenew funding overall. "Something has to give, right?" said UVa"srector, Helen Dragas. Board members raised the idea of having the school"sadministration develop a list that lays out priorities. The new budget also increases the wages of the university"slowest-paid workers, while slightly cutting the number offull-time-equivalent positions on the academic side. No layoffs areplanned to accomplish the cut, according to officials, and theequivalent of more than 300 jobs will be added at the medicalcenter. The bottom of the university"s pay scale will rise from$10.65 per hour to $11.30 per hour. There also will be targetedfunds to reward some of those further up the ladder. The change in wages didn"t come up during thecommittee"s discussion of the budget, but were pointed out ina university release detailing the new budget. While the $2.6 billion budget, which goes into effect July 1, is uproughly 4 percent over the current year"s budget, thatmovement is driven almost wholly by the medical center. Theacademic side"s budget of $1.36 billion was up $4.7 million,or less than half a percent, from the current year"s budget. Also among those raising concerns was Vice Rector Mark Kington. "We have to rethink the scope of our operations," hesaid. Later, he added: "As long as we don"t make the toughchoices, we"re dragging the entire institution down." Board member Alan A. Diamonstein said the board should consider topursue funding from the state government. Funding from Richmond hasmade up an ever-smaller part of the school"s budget in recentyears, adding to concerns from the board. Administration officials said there"s a lot of pressure onrevenue sources. "We"re either going to have to reallocate and focus, orwe"re going to have to raise a lot more money," saidMichael Strine, executive vice president and chief operatingofficer. Board members were concerned in part because pressure to keeptuition low meant that there"s relatively little new moneyavailable from that source. The 3.7 percent in-state and 4 percentout-of-state increase in tuition brought in roughly $11.7 million,but also meant another $3.4 million had to be spent on aid,according to officials. Research funding has dropped, as well. President Teresa A. Sullivan told board members the drop came, inpart, from the end of stimulus funds and had been expected. Officials have said that state officials aiming to help highereducation have added several million dollars worth of new funding,but other Richmond-level changes have resulted in millions ofdollars in new costs for the school. And board members also raised concerns about changes to thestudent/faculty ratio. Administration officials said theyaren"t sure, in today"s changing education environment,what the ideal target number for those figures is. Dragas said it"s essential the university approach thequestion from a long-term perspective. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Tile Roll Forming Machine Manufacturer , China Downspout Machine, and more. For more , please visit Roof Roll Forming Machine today!
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