A pair of e-mails sent to the UH community last week by University of Hawai'i President David McClain and UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw shed light on the 20 percent general fund cuts UH is facing and offered some ways the university plans to fight the cuts.
UH will have to work with $76 million less general funds - money UH receives from the state that goes mostly toward employee salaries - in fiscal year 2010, which began July 1, 2009, and $78 million more in fiscal year 2011.
McClain said in the July 1 e-mail that if not for the $22 million in federal stimulus money, the budget cuts could have amounted to about $100 million each year.
In the e-mail, Hinshaw said that UH Mānoa will face a 26 percent reduction in general funds over the next two years. The school will get a $14.7 million piece of the federal stimulus money, but Hinshaw noted that these are "one-time funds" that UH hasn't received yet.
"As I informed State lawmakers, a cut of this magnitude will seriously harm UH Mānoa's ability to provide core services to our students, require impacting reductions in faculty and staff and potentially diminish our ability to serve Hawai'i as the University's flagship academic and research campus," said Hinshaw in the e-mail.
As a result of the budget cuts, about 150 faculty members' contracts have not been renewed, and 500 course sections for the fall semester may be cut, according to Hinshaw.
To combat the budget cuts, Hinshaw said UH Mānoa plans to reduce the budgets of all UHM programs - except for the School of Hawaiian Knowledge - by 4 percent, redirect tuition revenues and other funds and conserve electricity on weekends and holidays by "powering down" buildings.
UH Mānoa is also undergoing a program prioritization process that may result in the elimination or consolidation of some programs.
Hinshaw said a "budget workgroup" has also been set up to work on ways to deal with the cuts by delaying hiring for open positions, raising fees for services and reducing other costs.
The university does have a source of "special funds," according to Hinshaw. But, UH's bond ratings are based on these funds, and the funds are "generated by self-supporting entities" and can only be for certain purposes under state statutes.
Also, Hinshaw explained that the university has to be cautious about tapping into funds generated through research. One of the reasons why UH is a successful research institution is because of the investment the university makes in research, while also hoping for federal grant money.
McClain also suggested the possibility of an early retirement program for faculty and "revisiting" UH's $3 million donation to the UH Foundation each year.
UH will receive about $60 million more from the gradual tuition increases over the next three years, but Hinshaw said these extra funds will be "consumed by this cut, limiting our ability to further improve student services and financial aid for the increasing numbr of students who want to come to UH Mānoa."
In a June 30 joint hearing of both state Higher Education Committees, McClain said that UH "will not be imposing furloughs the magnitude employed by the governor," who had been pushing for three-day-a-month furloughs for state workers for two years to help plug the state's deficit.
It was ruled in state court last week that it is unconstitutional for Gov. Linda Lingle to force workers into furloughs.
McClain suggested in the e-mail that if UH did furlough workers, to make it thirteen days out of the year around winter and spring breaks, saving UH about $23 million.
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