UW-Madison administrators are bracing for reductions in state funding following a report presented to the UW Board of Regents last week designed to anticipate a 5 percent budget cut to the UW System this year.
This 5 percent decrease, equivalent to approximately $50 million, could have massive effects on the UW System's ability to maintain current levels of programming, student services, enrollment and employment.
Gov. Scott McCallum ordered the report be conducted but governor-elect Jim Doyle and the new state Legislature will determine the reality when they set next year's state budget.
\I think it's highly likely there will be some budget reductions, whether 5 percent or something else I don't know,"" said UW-Madison Vice Chancellor of Administration John Torphy. ""Until governor-elect Doyle says something, a lot of this is up in the air as to what it would mean [for UW-Madison].""
Torphy also commented on what might occur with a 5 percent decrease in state funding.
""There's been a 5 percent increase in funding for programs for us over the last five years and a 5 percent decrease would, in effect, wipe out that gain in terms of the state share,"" Torphy said.
He cited the Madison Initiative, a four-year program aimed at strengthening UW-Madison, as a possible target of the budget cuts.
A $50 million reduction in state funding could be detrimental to the Initiative, which is funded by the state, private sources and tuition, he said.
Though the report is speculative, it indicates tough decisions in the future of the UW System, UW System President Katharine Lyall said at Friday's regents meeting.
The theoretical reduction in state funding to the UW System could mean layoffs of approximately 1,000 faculty and staff and enrollment cuts of almost 8,000 students, according to the report.
""We did not reduce enrollments despite this year's $44 million cut, but I believe we cannot do that again. Further cuts will result in either tuition increases or enrollment cuts, or a combination of both,"" Lyall said.
Regent Jay Smith said he anticipates difficult choices the system will have to make.
""We cannot compromise quality, but we need to be prepared to make some nontraditional decisions,"" he said.
The budget report offers the UW System two solutions. The first would reduce enrollment by 7,816 full-time students and 968 faculty and staff, thereby avoiding a tuition increase. The second solution would maintain university programs and student services through an 8.4 percent tuition increase.
