FY 2012 Budget Update, February 2, 2011

From: Jane E. Knodell, Provost and Senior Vice President
           Richard H. Cate, Vice President for Finance and Administration

To:      University of Vermont Community

Date:   February 2, 2011

RE:      FY 2012 Budget

We are writing to update you on the status of the FY 2012 budget and to invite your input into the process. We have identified several challenges related to completing the budget including: increasing student financial need; increasing benefit costs; maintaining tuition at reasonable levels; and  uncertainty about the ability of the State to maintain our state appropriation in these difficult financial times.

Over the last several months we have been working to refine FY 2012 budget projections. As our work has progressed, it is clear there is a budget gap that will need to be closed through expense reduction, revenue enhancement, or some combination of the two. We recently met with the Deans and Vice Presidents to review the challenges and to discuss various options that could be used to address the issues. We also provided a similar update to the leadership of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council, Student Government Association, and the Graduate Student Senate. This meeting also included members of the Faculty Senate Financial and Physical Planning Committee and the Staff Council Salary and Budget Committee. We appreciate the valuable input and advice received at both meetings. As a result of the input from these meetings, we have decided to build two different budget models. The first will focus on identifying $3 million in potential expense reductions and revenue enhancements, and in the second, we will identify $6 million in potential opportunities. This process will enable us to be prepared to deal with the budget uncertainties that confront us.

The leadership of the governance groups with whom we met agreed that we should engage the entire University Community in the process, specifically asking you to offer suggestions to the following:

1. Opportunities for new, net revenue sources
2. Opportunities for expense reductions
3. Other actions to reach a balanced budget

Below is a link to an online survey for you to submit your suggestions. The survey is anonymous, but you may provide your name and contact information if you would like. We will be posting suggestions received (without attribution) on the UVM Budget Planning website as well as posting our thoughts to your suggestions. The website also contains a summary of the FY 2012 projected budget.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts about ways to address the budget challenges.

Online Survey - FY12 Budget Opportunities

Last modified March 15 2011 01:44 PM