UW–Madison, UW System schools detail budget cut impacts

In a summary on budget impacts submitted to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, UW–Madison reported that a 10.6 percent reduction in state support in the current fiscal year has created an $86 million budget deficit.

To close the budget gap, UW–Madison has cut or redirected spending by $50 million over the next two years. The rest of the deficit will be filled by tuition increases to non-resident students.

Impacts of the cuts include:

  • In the largest college, Letters & Science, all general fund hiring was frozen this year. L&S ultimately will cut 48 faculty and 44 staff positions. With these losses, departments are reducing the number of courses offered, increasing class sizes or substituting staff for faculty instructors.
  • During the 2015-17 biennium, we expect to lose 418 faculty and staff positions through layoffs or attrition.
  • In the Office of Undergraduate Advising, cuts will impact the ability to work with students, potentially increasing time to graduation for more students. The College of Engineering has halted a planned expansion of advisors. The College currently has 17 advisors to serve 6,600 students – at least five advisors below the minimum needed to serve students effectively.
  • Student employment positions have been drastically reduced across campus. For example, Human Resources cut more than 6,500 hours of student employment. Research and Sponsored Programs cut about 6,300 hours of student employment. Not only do these reductions decrease the level of service, but they also reduce learning opportunities and financial support for students.
  • The university are unable to expand enrollments in areas of increased student demand in important areas such as Business, Engineering and Nursing because of the budget cuts.
  • The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) reports an array of service reductions to students in 2015-16. Labs are updated less frequently as a result of computer lab support reductions. Due to a digital media lab closing, students now must pay for these services elsewhere. In addition, early-morning and late-night help desk hours for students were reduced.

Go here to view the full UW–Madison summary and the summaries from other System school.