Surviving Budget Cuts on Campus: Part 1
By Jane Ann Thomas, President, NCCCC
This paper was presented as part of the NCCCC/NOCDLS/CCDLA joint session at the NAEYC Conference in New Orleans (November 1992) entitled, "Child Care and Child Development Labs on Campus: "Getting Blood from a Turnip in Difficult Times."Shrinking Budgets and Shifting Priorities
Most of us have become painfully aware of the fact that institutions of higher education have entered an era of financial belt-tightening. Recent statistics indicate that colleges and universities have less money and need to respond to the financial crisis at hand. Expenses have grown at a higher rate than income from tuition, endowments, grants, contracts, gifts, and interest. Studies show that donations to 70 private universities have dropped by three percent, investment returns from endowments is down four percent, and corporate and foundation giving has decreased by one percent. In the past year, two-thirds of public institutions have lost ground in their operating budgets. Thirty-six states are providing less money to higher education, representing the first decrease in the nation's history and involving a $500 million decline in the past two years. We are entering an era of retrenchment in higher education. (McMillen, 1991; Jeschik, 1992; McKenna, ed., 1992; Zemsky and Massy, 1990).These statistics support the conclusion stated by Chabotar and Honan (Change, 1990) that "the 3R's of the 90s will be Reorganize, Reallocate and Reduction." Institutions will have to rethink their goals and priorities relative to their missions and measure expenditures against their stated purposes.
Growth by Substitution
Many institutions use a strategy called growth by substitution to meet the challenge of shrinking budgets (Zemsky and Massy, 1990). This strategy is based on the premise that resources are finite and growth in one area requires corresponding reduction in another. As institutions respond to the charge to "reorganize, reallocated, and reduce," they will examine programs, including campus children's centers, relative to their perceived priority, and these programs will be in competition for existing funds. The challenge for us, then, is to find ways to improve our positions on campus in order to get the money we need to keep our centers functioning and to maintain the quality we demand.Go to part 2 of Surviving Budget Cuts on Campus ...
For many items on this site, the Adobe Acrobat reader is required. If you do not currently have the Acrobat reader, you can download a free copy.
Page Last Updated: December 4, 2007
Send comments to NCCCC Webmaster