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STATEMENT FROM UW OSHKOSH CHANCELLOR ANDREW J. LEAVITT, MARCH 16, 2015:

Typical University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students are like most throughout our University of Wisconsin System. Many are first-generation students, holding down a job or two and paying their way through college. They are working for a high-quality education—an education we need to keep affordable.

Our students must be our priority.

Wisconsin has an obligation to make the cost of attending UW Oshkosh more predictable and stable for families. Anyone should be able to look five or six years ahead and know with some level of accuracy what tuition will cost.

Our students and families need this. UW Oshkosh needs this.

It is time for Wisconsin communities and political and business leaders to join chancellors and UW System administrators in applauding Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget proposal to establish new flexibilities for the UW System. This will allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively by allowing better management of procurement, human resources and some building projects outside of the current state process. These new decision-making freedoms will help University leaders find new, innovative, entrepreneurial and cost-cutting solutions in the years ahead.

A critical component of the Governor’s proposed budget is the creation of a dedicated funding stream for the UW System. This predictable and stable funding stream will effectively allow the UW System, and UW Oshkosh, to better forecast future revenue expectations and pricing into the future. This predictability will allow us to keep our tuition stable and affordable.

 

Reduced funding for UW Oshkosh, UW System

Currently, our state leaders and legislators are working through the difficult process of how to manage a large budget deficit. While the 2015-17 biennial budget has not yet been finalized by the Legislature and Gov. Walker, UW Oshkosh—and all UW System institutions—are working to address the anticipated cuts being proposed. This could mean as much as a $7.5 million reduction to UW Oshkosh’s annual operating budget in the first year of the biennial budget in addition to losing cost to continue funding.

This potential reduction would be too big for UW Oshkosh to bear and would be applied too quickly to effectively manage.

UW Oshkosh remains committed to reducing the impact to our students. We are committed to services in support of improving four-year graduation rates for all students. Increasing the diverse population at UW Oshkosh and closing the achievement gap remains an institutional priority. Our more than 13,900 students who attend UW Oshkosh are our first priority.

We also remain committed to strategically investing in our campus and our students as we manage reduced state funding. We are already investing in enrollment management enhancements to recruit more students to our region and see more graduates. We’ve also launched a new talent development initiative to bring more out-of-state scholars to UW Oshkosh knowing almost 40 percent of those graduates remain in our region to live, work and give back to the New North.

Initial plans to manage the budget reductions at UW Oshkosh are underway. Initially, UW Oshkosh will reallocate fund balances and use reserves to allow for more time to absorb the reduction in funding. Long-term plans include a phased-in workforce reduction of an estimated 80 positions during the next three years. Hope remains that this workforce reduction will be found through retirement and natural attrition with layoffs being a last resort.

In order for UW Oshkosh to effectively manage any level of reduced funding, we need stability. We need to know what our budget will look like for the next five to six years so we can plan. We need to spread these reductions out over time to prevent damage to this institution. A dedicated and predictable funding stream, paired with additional operational flexibilities from the state, will allow us to do just that.

 

Moving forward

As UW Oshkosh faces reduced funding, University leaders and the campus community are using this situation as an opportunity to plan for the future. A new strategic planning process has begun with a focus on what a smaller, more efficient UW Oshkosh might look like.

The past several of weeks have consisted of a series of forums and meetings to gather feedback and engage in discussion with faculty and staff. Open communication and transparency are needed in dealing with the current budget proposal.

Additionally, a new leadership group has also been charged, which consists of University leaders who will work collaboratively on the challenges ahead. The new Leadership Council is in place to advise administration and help lead decision-making at the University. Transparency, fairness and listening from a variety of angles and perspectives are crucial—it’s something we need to be committed to.

The Wisconsin Idea promises our state’s commitment to easy-access, high-quality, affordable public higher education for our students. The 2015-17 state budget proposes tools that can help advance that idea. It also proposes a budget reduction that will hinder our ability to be responsive to the needs of our students, region and state.

We all need to play a role in the future of the UW System.

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