Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Michael Morgan announced last week several proposed state spending cuts to the UW System, but these cuts are unlikely to directly affect UW students.
The current economic conditions are expected to create a fund deficit of at least $386 million for the 2008-'09 fiscal year, Morgan said in a letter.
Morgan proposed appropriation reductions for several state agencies, including the UW System, which he said could save approximately $25 million by the end of this year.
Reductions could range from 10 percent '¦ to the entire remaining unallocated amount,"" Morgan said.
The proposed cuts to the UW System include the farm safety program, area health education centers, Discovery Farms and the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
Only three of these four programs are actually related to the University of Wisconsin, according to UW System spokesperson David Giroux.
The Wisconsin Humanities Council, which provides grants for humanities programs throughout the state, is not part of the university. Its state funding goes through the UW System as an administrative convenience, according to the council's executive director, Dena Wortzel.
The other three programs are part of a ""population of outreach programs and not part of the general student population,"" Giroux said.
He said the overall effect of the cuts depends on their magnitude.
""Hopefully [those programs] can manage the cuts effectively, but if they are major cuts then the effects could be drastic,"" Giroux said.
