Colleges, universities trimming in tight times
Hiring freezes, job cuts, and reduced support services are some of the measures that are being implemented or considered at local colleges and universities, school officials said last week.
For public colleges, the financial crunch is tied directly to funding cuts from the midyear state budget reductions recently ordered by Governor Deval Patrick. School officials said the new constraints pose a particular challenge because the down economy has created a heightened demand for their services.
"It's disappointing," said David Hartleb, president of Northern Essex Community College, whose budget was cut by just over $1.2 million. "Our enrollment is up over 7.5 percent this school year and we know that we are be ing counted on to prepare students for the jobs of the future. And we're already challenged with a pretty slim budget. This just makes it more difficult."
Hartleb, whose college has campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence, is finalizing a plan to implement the cut. While he did not want to provide details until he briefs staff on Monday, Hartleb said reductions in spending for travel, supplies, and lab equipment; selected hiring freezes; and job eliminations all are being considered.
"This is definitely going to affect the way we supply services to students, both educational and support services," Hartleb said.
North Shore Community College, located in Danvers and Lynn, is implementing a multipart plan to absorb its $1.3 million state budget cut, according to president Wayne M. Burton.
The steps include a freeze on filling eight positions; scaled-back hours at its libraries; cuts to the marketing budget; deferred maintenance; and debt restructuring. In addition, the college has reduced from five to three the number of nights a week it is open for full services, including at its testing and enrollment centers.
Other measures include reducing hours for part-time employees; an invitation to staff members to accept voluntarily a delay in some of their compensation; and a request for donations to the college foundation.
"It's been very difficult, and it's come so fast," Burton said of the cuts.
He said the college so far has managed to maintain its academic programs, "but the concentric circles around them, of support services and other functions of the college's normal business, have been curtailed."
Salem State College has sustained a cut of about $2 million. In response, the college has instituted a near-complete hiring freeze, put a hold on any major purchases, and cut travel, among other steps, according to college spokeswoman Karen Cady.
Cady said Salem State has avoided cuts that affect the quality of its academic program. But she said the reductions are still difficult to absorb, noting that the college already has a lean budget.
"We've always had to operate under tight budget guidelines," she said.
The University of New Hampshire, whose main campus is in Durham, has been streamlining operations for many years in the face of chronic fiscal challenges, said UNH assistant vice president David Proulx. Most recently, it instituted a hiring freeze last spring that has been partially lifted.
He said those savings will enable the university to meet an anticipated request to return some of its funding this year to help eliminate a state deficit. But UNH expects difficulty next fiscal year because of a drop in its endowment, an expected rise in financial aid requests, and the state's continuing budget difficulties.
Private colleges also are feeling the pinch.
Gordon College, a four-year Christian school in Wenham, has set a goal of saving $2 million over the next 18 months in anticipation of a decline in the value of its endowment and an increasing need for financial aid for its students, according to college president R. Judson Carlberg.
The college also has a temporary hiring freeze.
It is also anticipating tuition and fee increases, along with cuts in spending on publications, and is not ruling out job cuts.
"We are attempting to cut in areas of our budget that won't cut the core out of the institution," Carlberg said.
While he said the current downturn is the most challenging the college has faced since he became president in 1992, Carlberg observed, "Challenging times are times that test our faith and our determination, and so far the community is responding well."
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, whose main campus is in South Hamilton with others in Boston and North Carolina, is facing a $1 million budget shortfall because of a 7 percent drop in enrollment and a 19 percent drop in its endowment, according to Michael Colaneri, assistant director of communications.
"Actions will be taken shortly to deal with these realities while at the same time still providing a high-quality education to our students and caring for our faculty and staff," he said. 