Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D-VA, met with leaders of the General Assembly Monday morning to discuss cuts to the two-year state budget, announcing an agreement Monday afternoon.
The University will increase cuts to 6.6 percent for a total of $8.1 million, according to Monday's press release. The original estimates were for a 5 percent reduction.
Chief Operating Officer Patrick Hogan said the University will attempt to fulfill this mandate through energy conservation, the purchase of office supplies from a single vendor and leaving vacant positions unfilled.
Fourth-year College student Meg Gould, the student representative to the Board of Visitors, emphasized the gravity of the cuts.
“This is a point that’s pretty big in terms of higher education,” Gould said. “[There is] a $45 million reduction in state education funding in the next year, and U.Va. is taking 18 percent of that. Financial aid and research are exempt from the cuts and every institution is asked not to increase tuition.”
Gould said she is unsure how the recent cuts will affect programming, but she did note the press release said that the originally estimated $6 million cut would come from administrative expenses. She also said there is a possibility for future cuts mandated to the University budget.
“The problem in the future is that there may be additional reductions in December to the state budget, but the University doesn’t know right now,” Gould said.
Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech, a school which saw a $6.1 million reduction, said the agreement overall results in less cuts to higher education across the board.
“There will still be cuts, but not as large as originally envisioned,” he said.
The agreements comes as the state attempts to balance a projected budget shortfall of more than $2.4 billion. The agreement addresses a $346 million revenue shortfall for the fiscal year starting July 1 and a $536 million deficit in second year of a two-year budget.
Kathy Still, spokesperson for the University of Virginia's College at Wise, said the budget cuts which were originally proposed would have been difficult to sustain.
“After the meetings in Richmond today, we just received word that we will be cut $126,000, or 0.9 percent, for the first and second years of the of biennial budget,” Still said. “This is substantially different from the $1.6 million cut that was originally planned over the two-year budget. Our senior staff will be looking into how to make the best cuts, but this is great news for us.”
Though the cuts for the College at Wise are not as significant as originally planned, modifications to the normal budget will still go into effect.
“Our senior staff and Chancellor Donna Henry are working hard to find ways for the College at Wise to deal with the deep funding cuts,” Still said. “The College at Wise is considered a separate entity from the University when it comes to the state budget cuts. As a result, we are taking a hard hit.”
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