SAS sees a balanced budget in its future

Through funding cuts and increased revenue, officials hope to avoid more red ink. With a budget that now sits at $240 million, SAS has long been plagued by budgetary problems. Annual deficits in the range of $2 million to $4 million over the last several years have led to the closure of two academic departments and the elimination of several non-tenured faculty positions. According to SAS Vice Dean for Finance and Administration Michael Mandl, most of the school's budget cuts came "in areas that had a low return for the school," including certain academic centers and costly research facilities. The school's budget problems date back to 1996, when it faced a $1.9 million deficit. SAS ended Fiscal Year 1997 only $700,000 in the hole, but larger debts -- caused in part by the school's large share of the funding for the $80 million Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology -- hit the following two years, when the school ran up deficits of approximately $3 million in both fiscal years 1998 and 1999. But now, with a significant increase in revenues, coupled with a steep reduction in expenditures and additional financial help from University administrators, the school is hoping to see black ink instead of red for the first time in recent memory. According to SAS Dean Samuel Preston, who took office in January 1998, a balanced budget will have far-reaching ramifications, enabling the school to step up its recruitment efforts and ostensibly increase faculty salaries. "It's very difficult to plan for a situation when you can't pay for the things you're already doing," Preston said in June. Included in the cuts is the Physics Department's Tandem Accelerator Laboratory, a building that was recently vacated in an attempt to streamline the budget. SAS administrators say the move will save the school an estimated $250,000 in operation and management costs. SAS will also cut funding for certain research centers -- including the Center for the Advanced Study of India and the Middle East Center -- that will be expected to raise external funds on their own. And various department-based business offices have been combined into regional business service centers, providing both "cost savings" and "improved services," according to Preston. And the school curtailed its use of non-standing faculty by hiring fewer lecturers. University administrators maintain that the budget cuts were made with careful consideration to both academic departments and their personnel. "I think [SAS] has left no stone unturned in terms of looking for ways to be more efficient without hurting academic programs," University Budget Director Michael Masch said over the summer. Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Roger Allen said that while a balanced budget puts SAS in a "stronger position" and out of "budget crises," it also raises a potential "question of emphases" in terms of which disciplines are more highly valued and prioritized. "When push comes to shove, what wins are market forces," Allen said, adding that the subjects the "American public" most want to study are often considered indispensable by universities. SAS' strategic plan, a series of initiatives released by Preston in April, calls for increased funding for six traditionally popular academic departments -- Biology, Economics, English, History, Political Science and Psychology. "The plan would have seemed like it was written in invisible ink if we didn't have the means of paying for it," Preston said. And College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman noted that about 70 percent of SAS revenues comes from undergraduate tuition, stressing that, "We have to make sure that undergraduates get real value for their tuition dollars." In addition, SAS will increase its revenue through the creation of several new master's programs -- in biotechnology, environmental studies, bioethics and medical physics -- as well as through the hiring of four new chemistry professors, many of whom bring with them federally funded research grants that will help cover the costs of the IAST laboratories. SAS administrators also credit an increase in financial support from University President Judith Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi, who last fall allocated a $10 million estate to the school, which was seen as instrumental in helping the school's economic status. The projections for a balanced budget are more than purely speculative, according to Mandl, who said the administration's "assumptions for next year are reasonably robust." Still, he added that the school must continue to carefully manage and develop its resources, as it implements the new strategic plan. "That will require new resources," said Mandl, who assumed his position at the University in January 1998.