Budget process for next year gearing up

During the planning process, administrators will be seeking to make cuts in the University's budget, Budget Director Stephen Golding said. "What we're trying to do is reduce the amount of money we spend for administration and overhead and expenditures that do not directly impact our academic core – teaching and research," Golding said. Among the areas the University may look to cut costs are energy, security, business functions and services, purchasing and payroll, he said. Executive Vice President Janet Hale said the University's seeking to cut administrative costs is analogous to Vice President Al Gore's highly-publicized campaign to reduce waste in government. "You're looking at [administrative cost cutting] in Washington, you're seeing it in state capitals, in businesses and every other institution of higher education," she said. Golding said that in light of this year's restoration of state funding, the University Trustees will likely look for a budget in which the rate of tuition increase is lower than the last two years' rates of 5.9 percent. –Joshua Goldwert