Budget Feedback Received via Email (budgetfeedback@uwplatt.edu)
Standard reply if no questions were asked that could be answered by budget office: Thank you for your input. Your
feedback will be included in a summary document located at https://www.uwplatt.edu/budget/budget-reductionplanning.
If questions were asked that could not be answered by the budget office, the email was forwarded to Cathy RiedlFarrey and Rob Cramer for their input prior to responding to the sender.
Student & Alumni Responses/Questions:
12/15/14: Hello. On the issue of the budget, I think the ITS department has been given too free
of a reign. I hear many complaints from professors about ITS's failure to respond in a prompt
manner to maintenance requests especially in Otts. For my part it is very disgruntling to see ITS
take up the entire first floor of Karrmann, a move that effectively wiped out a great study
space, and which to this day I still here negative comments about from many students. The cost
of this new space must have been several hundred thousand, and it is still unclear to me what
was wrong with their old space. The Bears den received all new PC's this summer, and yet I saw
nothing wrong with the systems that were already in place, what was the need for new chairs,
and for the elimination of two rows of computer tables? It would seem to me that the ITS
department has gone wildly out of control in spending, not even addressing some of the major
ITS issues on campus (old worn out printers and broken computers). Thank you for your time.
12/16/14: You should have the open forums in February when the students are actually here.
1/24/15: I have a possible solution to help with UWP budget shortfalls. I believe UWP could
grow its enrollment at a lower cost by making it easier to live off-campus. It costs money for the
university to build and maintain new housing. So if UWP made it easier to live off campus, then
the dorm housing would have much less growing pains. Instead, these growing pains would
spread among the landlords of Platteville.
I do have a couple of possible options for doing this. First, you could make more exceptions to
who lives off campus. You could let the academically gifted, or overflow students live off
campus. You could also hire a lawyer to help students not get screwed over by their leases. You
could also let freshman or sophomores move off campus by paying a substantial fee.
1/25/15: As a mechanical engineering student and dining services employee at University of
Wisconsin - Platteville for the last 5 years, it is safe to say I've seen quite a few changes on
campus during my stay. Here are some of my thoughts:
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First off, to me it seems there is a large gap between the budgets for what we as a
university NEED and WANT. For example, what function does renovating the computer labs in
Ottensman Hall serve besides making them look more appealing to the common campus
tourist? The reality is that most of my engineering courses end up utilizing lab equipment older
than I am in rooms that probably haven't been updated since their inception. UW-Platteville's
engineering programs (the campuses most known and popular majors mind you) pride
themselves on being more hands-on than other comparative programs elsewhere, and I have
strong feelings that some of this is being overlooked. The PACCE program funds the senior
design course, which is probably the single most important course to apply our knowledge in a
hands-on manner with community partners. Making cuts into such a program seems as though
we are trying to remove some of the core values for what our engineering programs are known
for. There has been a lot of money spent in renovation that does not benefit my education in
the slightest; one could even argue it's actually hurting my education from the opportunity cost
of where that money could have been spent (that of which I have multiple examples of). I'm all
for improving the look and appeal of study areas when it is affordable to do so, but it is not a
NEED. It is a WANT and could easily have been cut. There are many places on campus where
this same logic applies.
Secondly, from a university student employee standpoint how much emphasis is put on hiring
students that are eligible for work-study? From my understanding, hiring students who are
eligible for work-study is cheaper for the university as the federal government covers a certain
amount of their wages. Depending on the job requirements, cost saving could be made by
hiring only those who are eligible for this like they do at the Karrmann library. On a similar note,
I believe we have one of the largest ITS departments out of any of the UW campuses, and far
from the most efficient. I'm still uncertain as to how that makes sense considering we are far
from the largest or most intricate UW campus; worth looking into regardless.
1/25/15: I am a junior at UW-Platteville and have lived in the area my whole life. I feel
Platteville have wasted a lot of money throughout the years.
First, ITS, they have a whole new office space they didn't need. They are still not keeping
maintenance problems around campus. With the new computers in the Bears Den in the start
of the school not all the computers had printers installed. So if I needed to print something it
was a guessing game. Also with moving ITS, it meant nobody in the Bears den all the time so
when you have printer problems you have to wait at least half an hour for someone to come
over to fix after you call them.
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Secondly, the school mascot and naming of the new mascot seemed to waste money. Pioneer
Pete custom had to cost a lot we didn't need a mascot what is wrong with keeping the
mascot/tradition in mining that is what Platteville was known for before University of
Wisconsin-Platteville was here. Another thing Pioneer Pete got a golf cart this year. How much
did that cost the school? Why does he need it? Is he too lazy to walk?
Thirdly, with the tornado this past summer I thought we wasted money and showed off more
about the campus being hit then worrying about the students. The three new resident halls had
student stuff in the rooms they lived in the past semester which cost the students $175 to keep
their stuff there. The students that had things wreck during the storm would have to go out and
buy all new things then show the university the receipt from the purchase to be refunded. As a
college student we don't have a lot of money seating around and usually live pay check to pay
check. Instead of interviewing with the new channels or tv why didn't you step up and help the
students out.
Platteville waste so much money that we don't need instead of thinking about it. Now you want
to get rid of a GREAT PROGRAM that benefits the students. The PACCE Projects that I have
participated in and watched my classmates do have further our education without the projects
we wouldn't have learn what we know today. PACCE is an Amazon department and without
them the students will not be able to further our education and that is why we are here. I am
not here to pay for Pioneer Pete's golf cart. The university needs to listen to the students.
1/25/15: As a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, I would like to show my concern
of eliminating print-based courses. I believe they are a great asset to the students. There are
students who enroll at UWP to strictly take and complete courses through print-based. Since
there are many classes that are not offered every semester, print-based courses are there to
fall back on if a class needs to be taken a semester when the class is not offered. Speaking from
experience, I have had to take print based courses because of classes that either could not fit
into my schedule but needed to be completed during the current semester or because of
classes that were not offered a semester when I needed the class to be offered. If print-based
programs are completely eliminated, I think it will be vital for the University to offer all classes
each semester. (At least one session of each class) During junior and senior years, many
students take print based classes in order to graduate on time during a pinch. I really do
believe print-based courses are beneficial for the students. My experience with print-based
programs has been a great success and asset to my education. I would like to see print-based
programs stay within the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
1/27/15: I think that the budget cuts to Residence Life should be removed.
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I believe that living on campus is a large portion of why students choose to stay at this
university.
The connections I made while attending residence life sponsored programs and activities has
built some long lasting friendships. I think that residence life has a direct influence on student
retention and taking money away from the department makes it more difficult for the
Residence Life staff to do their job of getting students involved on campus and building
relationships between students and between staff and students that help students through
their college carriers.
1/30/15: I have never really paid much attention to politics, so when one of my friends posted
an image on facebook of upset Wisconsin students and a quote saying “Wisconsin governor
cuts $300 million from public universities, proposes $220 million for private sports stadium” I
thought, “typical, but good thing I’m gone and don’t have to worry about that”. Then today my
opinion on the matter changed when I saw that the program in which I graduated with
a degree in last May, Reclamation, Environment, and Conservation (REC) is under scrutiny and
has the possibility of getting cut because it is a small program with under 100 students. I am
pretty sure last year we had a total of only 40 students! It upsets me that such a great program
is threatened because of this cut from the universities.
Three years ago, as an undecided student with an interest in environmental science at UW-La
Crosse(lacking an environmental major), I looked for a new program at a new school. Everyone
goes to UW-Stevens Point for that stuff don’t they? I looked into it but also discovered the REC
program at UW-Platteville. A few emails from the current advisor or the program at the time
(Tom Hunt) and I was sold, it sounded way better than the other options I was
considering. “Reclamation” I thought, like reclaiming the land from human destruction and
selfishness. I had already discovered that it is pointless to be an “Environmentalist” (which
everyone now sees as hippies) because it is impossible to stop companies from mining coal and
oil and everything else the earth has to offer. So I settled on making sure it was at least done
right and responsibly. I currently work for a company that is contracted by both Coal Mines and
Oil and Gas Companies, thanks to the REC degree, I am actually doing something. Not only did I
get a job out of college with the REC degree, but I am doing something good with it. There is a
need for reclamation all over the US. It is easier to get an entry level job in the western states
(as I did) because there is a larger need for the work. That’s not to say it’s not important in
Wisconsin, not at all. The only reason I left the state is because the current job selection
requires more experience for the positions available, but with the booming frac sand industry
and more mines opening up in Wisconsin, I hope to move back in the near future. It’s crazy the
connections you find…the oil companies in the west are using the Wisconsin frac sand
(Wisconsin has the largest frac sand deposit in the US) to force down their bore holes to release
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the oil and gas. After the land is exploited someone needs to fix it, the right way and someone
needs to make sure the mines in Wisconsin are in compliance and that when they are no longer
profitable to the state, that they are reclaimed properly.
I apologize if I went off topic anywhere, but I don’t know what to say. I am shocked, really. I
thought this program was amazing, and with our new advisor getting even better. I was sad I
graduated before I had more classes with him. It is very broad course and covers a lot of
different subjects, but that’s what makes it worth so much. You get a lot out of it and there is a
need for it in the Wisconsin and the world.
1/30/15: The Entrepreneurship Program here on campus is just budding and developing! It has
brought me much insight and hands-on experience in the world of business I would've not
gotten otherwise. I know the budget is tight, but I think this program is vital to our college.
Innovation and businesses run America, and we should provide such opportunities to our
students!
One of the first thing I recall as I came here to Platteville was professors and staff telling to
grasp opportunities and step outside the classroom to participate in the world. I think the
entrepreneurship program is allowing me to do that.
1/30/15: It confuses me that the Chancellor of this university makes 150% of the salary of the
Governor. If he were truly worried about fiscal matters he wouldn't have wasted so much
money on the football team and other non-essential programs at the university. This university
needs to invest in its ability to attract STEM students. I say that if he can't balance the school
budget, then he should offer up a portion of his annual pay (at least 10%). That may only be a
drop in the bucket, but it's a start.
1/30/15: While I understand the University needs to make accommodations for the budget
cuts, completely eliminating the Entrepreneurship program, and the PACCE office would be
detrimental to the University and to the Community. Through Entrepreneurship classes, we
have connected with different community partners and helped them with Marketing, and
general business decisions. This program, as well as the PACCE office have seeded and sparked
future and current business owners in the surrounding economy. Without the potential of
small business in Platteville and towns alike, you would have a ghost town. All of this stems
back to the education provided by the University through programs and funding. Without
these programs for students there's no hope for our future. Please re-take a look at what you
are doing for students, and how beneficial it is to the future of Platteville community partners
and members.
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I sincerely feel that as students, we shouldn't have to pay the same amount to get a mediocre
education. Taking way these programs would create just that- a mediocre education. I propose
we make the PACCE office a self-funded entity where community partners can go for a minimal
amount to get consulting services by students for small businesses. You can join the
Entrepreneurship department with the School of Business, and allow for funding that
way. Thus, not eliminating positions that people currently have but merely transferring them
to a different department.
1/30/15: I have a few more ideas to add to the list. I heard recently that the Entrepreneurship
program is in danger, which is bad because I have a few ideas where that program can be used
to drastically help the school both now and in the future.
First, both the Entrepreneurship program and the school of Engineering can work even
more closely with WiSys. Wisys is a UW system affiliate that helps patent and license student
and faculty ideas. Every time WiSys licenses an idea, a significant portion of the license revenue
goes to the inventor's school. So if classes in Platteville actually work with WiSys, not only will
more students get hands-on experience, but the school may receive millions of dollars.
My second idea is for students in classes to actually work for the school in a way that raises
revenue, decreases expenses, and gives those students hands-on experience. For example,
Entrepreneurship students can make businesses and programs that help supply revenue to UWPlatteville. Engineering students can work together to complete freelance engineering jobs on
Elance.com (while giving a significant portion of earnings to UWP). And Art students can pretty
up the campus, making it more attractive for newer students. These are only a few examples of
how the students can help this campus. We just need to be directed and empowered to help
this campus thrive.
2/2/15: I am greatly concerned with the proposed budget plans and particularly the
absorption of the foundation into the budget and reduction of printing Alumni Today from
three times to one time per year. Alumni Today costs the university a mere $18,364. This comes
at a time where the university is absorbing the UW Platteville Foundation back into the
university at a cost of $362,000 per year. Why, at a time of budget reductions and shortfalls
would you take over a successful program that will cost you $362,000 per year. As I understand
the foundation gifts will 100% go towards their intended purpose where currently there is a
small administrative expense. Some donors may not like this but many organizations have some
small operating expenses that have to come from the donations. What donors will really be
upset about is the fact the since the university is paying for staff, paper, and paperclips for the
foundation at a cost of $362,000 they will cut valuable programs and reduce resources. Look at
the facts and numbers to balance the budget. There is also a proposed faculty raise of 1-2% for
the next five years at a cost of several million dollars. I understand that UW Platteville is not as
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competitive salary wise compared to other universities but reducing and cutting programs only
to give the current staff a small raise will not help the issue. After reviewing the comment
section of the budget reduction planning webpage I was shocked at the number of concerned
faculty and students voicing their opinions, many of which have a negative view of proposed
reductions. As a recent graduate of Platteville I see this as a major issue on campus and could
really affect the long term stability, faculty recruitment, and opinion of the university.
The university needs to do what's best for the students and alumni and not allow hidden
agendas, power grabs, and other goals that get in the way of a quality UW-Platteville education
experience.
2/9/15: I am currently a senior, graduating in May with an Engineering Physics degree and a
minor in Microsystems and Nanotechnology (MSNT). I would urge the university to not cut the
MSNT program, research facilities, or faculty. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained
through the MSNT program have been instrumental to my success not only at this university,
but also my success in my research and future graduate school plans. I want to ensure that
current and future UW-Platteville students can have those same opportunities.
I started using the Material Fabrication and Nano Characterization Lab when I started research
in October 2013 with an Engineering Physics/MSNT professor. This research focuses on how
humidity affects Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) measurements of topography and interfacial
phenomena of mechanically exfoliated graphene. This work is very relevant to graphene
characterization and I have been accepted to present this research at the 2015 American
Physical Society March meeting, the 2015 National Conference for Undergraduate Research,
and the UW Posters in the Rotunda event. Because of my research experience at UWPlatteville, I have also had the opportunity to work as a research assistant at Texas A&M
University and at the Georgia Institute of Technology through Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) programs. Just yesterday, I received an internship offer to work with a
researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the summer. I have also already
been accepted into two Material Science & Engineering PhD programs. The work I have
performed in the Material Fabrication and Nano Characterization lab, through both classes and
research, has not only challenged me to develop a rational and methodical approach to
problems, but my work with the professors here and experience using our research tools have
equipped me with the knowledge and understanding to be able to work and contribute in many
research facilities across the nation.
In addition to the lab and equipment, the entire MSNT faculty and staff have been essential in
my success as a student and researcher. They are extremely knowledgeable about the material
they teach and have served not only as professors, but also as mentors to me. The lab manager
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position is also vital as it allows the professors to focus more on teaching and their work with
undergraduates.
I cannot stress enough how important having the opportunity to use the research equipment in
the Material Fabrication and Nano Characterization Lab and also the entire MSNT department
and faculty have been to my continued passion for research. This lab is well used by many other
students, however in just this past week alone, I have spent over 18 hours working solely on
research in this lab, with the majority of that time spent using the AFM. I strongly encourage
the university to not close these facilities or cut this program. The MSNT program may be fairly
new; however, this field is continually growing and expanding and has already demonstrated its
utility and value to students. And, given the chance, I believe this program would also be
attractive to industries looking to hire graduates with real, hands-on experience working with
laboratory equipment.
General Public Responses/Questions:
1/23/15: I am voicing my concern over the proposed cuts to the PACCE and Entrepreneurship
programs at UW-Platteville.
My office has directly used the PACCE program and have found the program of excellent
quality, not only to my organization, but also provided an opportunity to the PACCE students to
realize and experience real-world opportunities and experience. The 3 men that did our project
through PACCE did a great job, and their work will benefit 9 of our cities and villages in Grant
County alone. Giving our students an opportunity to experience actual projects with face to
face businesses is the best training tool, and PACCE provides that. That program needs to
continue to be funded.
Entrepreneurship is critical to this region’s future business development. I have been directly
involved with the entrepreneurship program on the UW-P campus, and am very impressed with
the ideas and presentations of the students. We do truly have to “grow our own” when it
comes to new businesses. This region is also lacking in entrepreneur training and I ask where
students are to find the training in business startups and entrepreneurship if it is cut from UWP? I have been serving Grant County for 15 years and I don’t know where they will find those
resources, training and education in this region.
1/24/15: I recently heard that there may be a budget cut involving the PAACE program. I am
asking that you truly rethink this! When I started our bike trail construction, I knew I wanted a
bike trail but, as a nurse, had no idea of how to create one. Someone gave me [PACCE
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employee] name and I can't tell you how much money, time, sweat, and tears the UWPlatteville students and staff have saved us.
Just starting out as a non-profit organization, to save our money to create a trail is so very
important and if we would have to hire someone to accomplish what the students have done
for us, we would already be bankrupt. The best thing is that the "kids" become invested in our
community, and we become invested in UW-Platteville, with a debt we can never repay and a
soft spot in our heart for all the efforts that were made for us!
We have a total of 4 projects. One project is a one-of-a-kind project....crossing the Wisconsin
River in a spot that there is no road, so we can bike and walk across where previously, only
boats, canoes, and kayaks could view this beauty. I was truly counting on the assistance again
of our Engineering team!
[PACCE employee] came and listened to our plans, trekked the countryside with us, and
presented this to the correct people. His job saved, again, so much time and effort that a
volunteer board could spend doing so much more!
I am truly devastated! Please feel free to call me if you need any other information and PLEASE
reconsider continuing on with our community/college bonds that we feel are vital...and all the
wonderful benefits that come with it!
1/25/15: It is essential that we all understand how PACCE provides the necessary real life
experiences our UW Platteville students need. As we strive to use best practices,
let’s remember that PACCE service learning is supported by research. Service learning projects
benefit students, faculty, and community partners in the Tri state area. PACCE is a tool that
promotes the real world experiences students need as they prepare for employment and giving
to their communities. As students learn first-hand from community partners while out in the
field, they are making solid learning connections to enter their chosen field and
occupation. Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois communities are rich with engagement opportunities
for UW Platteville students in all major areas. Let’s fully engage our students with Tri State
experiences by continuing with what the research supports in our PACCE funded program.
2/9/15: Several years ago, shortly after I started my service as Director of the Teaching and
Learning Center the University faced a funding crisis. The financial situation was pronounced
and all faculty service positions were at risk.
The Chancellor, Provost, and the Deans at that time made a decision to save the Teaching and
Learning Center by reducing the Director position to .25 time and providing a graduate student
and a $600 allowance for a student worker. The placement of the Teaching and Learning Center
in the Technology Center and the direct supervision of the Provost so that the Center was
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responding to Provost priorities, as well as a small budget - allowed the Center to continue and
prosper. The national Professional Organizational for Development (POD) association gave us
advice and with a regiment of being driven by grant money (and some support) from colleges
for indirect costs we were able to drive the Teaching and Learning for the 10 years that I served
the office. At no point did I serve at the .25 level although campus allocation stayed at that level
until [the next person became] Director.
I urge your creative effort to keep the Teaching and Learning Center alive. The Center has
enjoyed six directors with support ranging from .25 to the current staffing. I write to urge you
to allow and encourage the next Director to step forward.
2/10/15: We have heard about potential funding cuts to a respected and important academic
partner to UW-Extension’s Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.
Please see our letter of support for the Pioneer Academic Center for Community Engagement
program (specifically their Entrepreneurship program).
Attachment:
We are writing in support of the high quality and leading edge work that the Pioneer Academic
Center for Community Engagement is doing in entrepreneurship via their Entrepreneurship
minor, Pioneer Launch Lab, and events, competitions, and workshops.
In our roles within UW-Extension managing and facilitating entrepreneurship programming
across UW System Campuses, we are uniquely positioned to see what campuses are doing (or
not doing) to promote entrepreneurial skills and build cross campus entrepreneurship
communities. Through this perspective, we believe that the UWP Entrepreneurship program is
one of top comprehensive four year UW campuses leading in entrepreneurship.
When we first connected with the PACCE Director fall of 2013, we were excited by how
entrepreneurial and committed the PACCE staff was in their endeavors to improve their
entrepreneurship offerings. They sought out external consultation, thoughtfully assessed best
practices, changed some offerings, invested in and trained faculty, and created statewide
partners with SBDC, WiSys, UW-Extension, WEDC, and UW Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic. It
is our opinion that they are modeling their entrepreneurship programming after national
campus leaders like Stanford and MIT allowing PACCE to be one of the UW System leaders in
teaching entrepreneurship. Better than any of the comprehensive 4 year campuses, UWP has
used entrepreneurship to enhance experiential learning in technology disciplines like
engineering.
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Taking a step back for a moment, it is important to address the question WHY should UWPlatteville (or any college campus for that matter) invest resources into entrepreneurship and
subsequent minors, labs, and programs/workshops? The national model is to treat
entrepreneurship as a set of fundamental skills that are highly transferrable to any discipline
and career pursuit. These skills include thinking critically and creatively, seeing problems to
solve and testing effective solutions with limited resources, and being able to “sell” an idea.
Many liberal arts colleges that are far less technology and STEM focused as UWP are
incorporating entrepreneurship into foundational freshmen and sophomore courses.
Lastly, we wanted to provide some numbers on the positive impact PACCE has had on student
entrepreneurship. Since June 2014, four (4) UWP undergraduate teams have been selected for
a $25,000 Ideadvance grant to help turn their technology business idea into realty. This is a very
competitive process and requires creative ideas and highly prepared students. More UWP
undergraduates have been selected for this grant than any other UW campus. UWP’s high
selection rate and quality of undergrad ideas speak to the entrepreneurship culture and
campus support that has been cultivated as a result of the vision and hard work of PACCE.
We understand the recent budget challenges and sacrifices that must be made. We hope,
though, that entrepreneurial learning continues to be a priority at UW-Platteville allowing
students to not only create businesses that impact their community but also empowers
students to be out-of-the box problem solvers.
Faculty & Staff Responses/Questions:
1/13/15: When I worked at Lands' End there were several steps they took to save money:
 they would have hiring freezes,
 no bonuses or pay increase
 cut travel
 cut conference trainings, (did more skype meetings) ~
 early out on Fridays (only have everyone work until noon - after that the campus was
empty...)
The things that might apply to campus that they didn't do there:
 close offices totally during the holiday breaks (John Deere does this)
 2 week shut down during the summer (again like John Deere does over Holiday break)
 get a local account and buy local supplies instead of online through vendors
 food for events may have to be more basic and the cost of food may have to be
reviewed
 maybe review advertising costs?
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1/16/15: It was proposed a few years ago to go to a 14 week semester instead of a 16 week
semester with the week of thanksgiving off and ending a week earlier in December. We could
then also start a week or two later in January. Thus saving on heating a number of buildings for
an additional 2-3 weeks in the winter.
We could also probably offer a few more winterim courses with 3-4 weeks in January and thus
increase revenue as well. This would also help with graduating students in a shorter time.
1/20/15: Thanks for the opportunity to submit feedback for the proposed reductions to the
budget. Here are my thoughts:
I know the budget situation is dire, but I’m disappointed to see so many cuts to academic
programs, including the elimination of tenure-track lines. These cuts seem short-sighted,
especially now that we have more instructional academic staff than tenure-track faculty (a data
point for which we’ll surely get dinged by HLC). Moreover, the cuts seem to target education
positions in particular, which is unwise given the tremendous changes for licensure that will
affect our students in AY 2016—and that education is one of our most popular majors. Again, I
think the HLC will not be happy to see these changes.
The proposal of to eliminate English education is especially frightening. I can speak more
specifically about this proposed cut, since English is my departmental home. Eliminating this
position has very bad long-term consequences. English has three concentrations for its major,
and English education is the most popular. We currently have NO faculty in this area and have
been relying on a part-time academic staff member who plans to retire before the EdTPA
requirements go into effect (i.e. very soon). If we don’t have someone in this position, we will,
again, run into trouble with HLC as well as DPI. Essentially, by eliminating this position, you’re
killing a robust major.
I’m not as familiar with the situation in other colleges, but given the past investment in
programs like micro-systems and nano-technology, it seems short-sighted to simply abandon
the program now. This area is supposed to be a high-growth one in the future, and we’ve
already laid a foundation for it.
So what could be eliminated? In my opinion, cut the Holiday banquet in December, which is
nice but not necessary, and eliminate the Distinguished Lecturer series: fewer than 50% of
students actually attend, it cuts into class time, and it’s expensive.
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I hope that, when you’re finalizing decisions, you’re not just simply counting the number of
strategic priorities it connects to: I’ve always found it very problematic that education is only
one of six. Education is the central mission of a university, and it's where our focus should lie.
1/20/15: I see that one of the items under consideration for elimination is the smaller
computer labs. I wanted to reach out and make an appeal to continue support for the lab in
Warner. As you know, our majors [Psychology] (still one of the largest in our college!) are
required to complete three research methods courses. Two of these courses require extensive
computer-related work, specifically access to statistical programs (e.g. SPSS). As you probably
recall, our Behavioral Research II course structures nine hours of contact between the
instructor and the students, which would be challenging to block out in one of the larger, public
lab spaces; and over the last several years, we have increased the number of sections of our
research courses, which would put even more pressure on those labs. Additionally, those hours
don't include the informal opportunities that we now have, given our offices are adjacent to the
lab. Anecdotally, I believe I have greater use of office hours relative to any professor (bar one)
because of my proximity to the lab; our students access that space continually.
1/21/15: In regards to budget revenue ideas I was wondering if anyone has researched the idea
of expanding the Auxiliary Enterprise programs to include partnerships with the City of
Platteville. One such thought was the Recreation Department and the services provided by the
city. Could the city recreation department be combined with a similar entity within
the university? Perhaps the fees collected could pay for the services provided along with
combining the expenses for both governmental bodies. In addition this could create
opportunities for students majoring in related fields (internships, etc).
1/21/15: I am writing in regard to item 68 (“Review Frequency of Stylus”) on the “Reduction
Options” Excel spreadsheet. “Stylus: An Anthology of Freshman Writing” is a self-funding
project. All costs associated with the publication are generated through sales of the
book. Neither the University nor the College funds any part of “Stylus.”
1/22/15: I want to give a comment about the PACCE program. I have witnessed firsthand the
transformative experiences that are being created for our students both in semester-long
initiatives and in the summer internships.
My understanding is that PACCE has been allocated monies from student fees for their
work. At its inception, I believe that the student body agreed to increase their fees to
accommodate the program. Since then, monies from this tax have been reallocated to support
drug and alcohol abuse initiatives.
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I believe that we are doing well to support drug and alcohol abuse interdiction. However, I
believe that it is improper to tax the students for one thing and then reallocate for
another. And so I hope that PACCE funding will be reinstated OR that the fees being charged to
the students be renegotiated.
PACCE is a substantial program, one that separates UWP from most institutions. As a member
of OEPT #1 and an advocate for excellence in education, I believe that we need to support
PACCE more, not less.
1/22/15: I urge restoration of the College of LAE's PR specialist position, which is line item 65
on the budget cut spreadsheet. I realize the structural deficit requires difficult choices, but I
believe the PR position is essential. As the campus relies more and more on alumni gifts,
external grants, and non-state sources of revenue, it is more important than ever before to
publicize the work, accomplishments, and good deeds of the entire College. The PR specialist is
a cost recovery position, even if the return is not immediately or easily measurable. In 2014,
more than 5,000 alumni gave money to our foundation--surely a substantial number of these
donors are LAE alums whose "investment in the future of UW-Platteville" (to quote the Winter
2015 issue of Alumni Today, p. 26) was made after reading a story or profile produced by the
LAE College PR specialist (for a sample, please see the links below). What would it take to retain
the position? If every LAE faculty gave back $200 of their professional development funds
indefinitely, could we keep the PR specialist? I would happily make this sacrifice and would call
upon my colleagues throughout the college to support such a reallocation or a similar one.
College of LAE Student and Faculty Projects and Activities
(press releases from June 2013 through December 2014)
http://www.uwplatt.edu/lae/student-and-faculty-projects-and-activities
College of LAE Pioneer Spotlights
http://www.uwplatt.edu/lae/pioneer-spotlights
College of LAE Newsletters
http://www.uwplatt.edu/lae/college-lae-newsletter
1/22/15: I am writing to give you some feedback. People have spent so much effort and time to
build the excellent Mems Nano major. Has anybody seen the Instruments and the Clean Room
they setup? Our students are vigorously working on the research projects during the
semester and in the summer. Yes, the number of majors is low now, but it's just started. How
many of our students does the Confucius Institute teach? How many of our students benefit
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from it? If you read the news, some universities are in the process of closing their Confucius
Institute including Univ. of Chicago. http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2014/09/25/statementconfucius-institute-university-chicago.
1/22/15: I am writing to you in regards to the recent presentation of the Budget Reduction
Plan. I understand and empathize with the committee on the difficulty of making these
decisions.
However, I want to bring to your attention one item in which a recommendation to examine
the elimination of the Print Based Program on the Budget Reduction Options for Review
spreadsheet. Further review is imperative before action is taken to eliminate this program. I
am not in a position to present the financial details of the print based program, but I can offer
some information about the impact the print based program has had for some of our students.
As a staff member of the Distance Learning Center, I have held several roles. I have worked in
the Marketing/Recruiting area as a Recruiter and am currently in the Student Services area as
an Outreach Specialist/Academic Advisor.
In my experience in the role as a recruiter I spoke to many different prospective students from
all over the world, with many different needs. I am always proud of representing UWPlatteville and the quality of education we offer our students. One prospective student in
particular comes to mind. Last year I spoke to a student who was trying to decide between
attending UW-Platteville and another school. As I continued to speak with this student, our
conversation led to her “story.” She was a mother of several young children who had lost her
husband in Iraq/Afghanistan in the previous year. She wanted to use the educational benefits
from the military to complete her education in order to provide a better life for her young
children. However, she was very apprehensive about being able to manage a part-time job,
raising her children and meeting the weekly deadlines of the online courses. At that time I
presented the option of print based courses in which she had a year to complete a course, and
could complete her assignments according to her schedule within that year. She was so relieved
to hear that this was an option for her at this crucial time in her life. I am pleased to say that
she applied and is an active print based student here at UW-Platteville Distance Learning
Center. UW-Platteville claims to be a military-friendly school, and I feel this was an excellent
example of how we met the needs of a military family, that other schools were not able to
meet.
I am currently in the role of Academic Advisor. I advise a small population of students who are
only print based. A majority of these students are incarcerated and do not have access to the
Internet. Many of these students have their own stories in which we are not privy. However, I
want to point out that by offering print based courses, we provide an opportunity for students
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to work towards rehabilitation and empower them when they are re-integrated back into
society. We provide the opportunity for these students to be a contributing member of society
upon release. I currently have a female student who was released and reintegrated back into
society and is planning to complete the program in 2015. I have another incarcerated student
who is a male, African-American, who graduated from our program in December of 2014, with
a high grade point average. There are also two more students who are approaching completion
of our program as well. This may seem like a small number but it speaks volumes to how UWPlatteville recognizes and meets the needs of the underserved population and minorities in the
state of Wisconsin, as well as throughout the nation. We provide an opportunity for a quality
education.
Although there are many factors in making the difficult decision on how to reduce the budget, I
implore you to reconsider eliminating the print based program offered through the Distance
Learning Center. I strongly feel that by offering a print based course option to students, UWPlatteville fulfills its vision of “being recognized as the leading student-focused university for its
success in achieving excellence, creating opportunities, and empowering each individual.”
I have shared a couple of examples of the importance of offering print based courses. There are
other student populations in the Distance Learning Center that use the print based program
apart from the students in which I serve. I am just sharing my part in the program. We, at the
DLC, are passionate about serving all of our students, and I would be happy to meet with you in
person to discuss the importance of keeping print based courses as an option. I appreciate your
consideration.
1/22/15: First, I greatly appreciate what UABC is doing in trying to manage a very difficult
situation, so I want to start by thanking you all for your work. I couldn't tell who the chair of
the committee is, but I wanted to communicate my concerns to the committee - your name
popped out at me.
I'm extremely concerned about the proposed cut of the Teaching and Learning Center for our
campus. With 40% of our re-affirmation of accreditation now focused specifically on teaching
and learning, including resources for on-campus professional development, it seems like an
exceptionally poor choice to close the one institutional office we have that's devoted to exactly
this. I don't have access to my desktop computer at the moment, so I can't pull up specific
data, but I think that would make us either the only school in System or maybe in the dubious
company of one other 4-year institution that doesn't have a teaching center available as a
resource for our faculty and staff.
I know that one argument that may be made is that attendance at the workshops has
historically been low. Yet if you talk to those people who have participated in their programs, I
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suspect that we would learn that they have been of great value (again, no data to hand). What
other resource on campus is available to organize (at an institutional level) training on
developing writing intensive courses? best practices in assessment? new pedagogical
methods? If we're concerned about its effectiveness, then that needs to be the focus of the
campus conversation. In our last HLC accreditation review, the review team pointed out how
fragmented our efforts in many of these areas were. Eliminating the TLC suggests that
we didn't take their criticism seriously.
To support our claim that we meet the HLC's Criterion Three, that we provide a high quality
education wherever and however we deliver our programs, we have to be able to provide
convincing evidence that, as an institution - not in individual departments or colleges, we
support effective teaching. Yes, we have internal grants that a few individuals can access each
year, but no central mechanism other than the TLC to have those individuals communicate to
and share with the campus what they've done and learned. Yes, we have Dean's funds to
support a few individuals each year to attend professional conferences. What percentage of
those are directly related to improvement of teaching effectiveness? How do those individuals
communicate to and share with the rest of the campus community what they've learned and
brought back to us as a result of our investment in their personal professional
development? What institutional resources other than the TLC are available for professional
development of our academic instructional staff?
I was at a meeting of colleagues focused on improving education in biology just this past
weekend. When I shared with them that we, as a campus, are considering eliminating the TLC,
they were appalled. These were our peers, just as those who review us for re-affirmation of
accreditation will be. As we move forward with these exceptionally difficult decisions, we need
to consider carefully the implications of these decisions to those outside our campus
community, as well as their impacts on the professional development of our instructors and
our commitment to excellence as a teaching institution.
I appreciate if you would share this with the other members of the UABC. Thank you for your
time and attention.
1/22/15: I have long been an advocate of Experiential Learning. I think the PACCE program
provides a means of invaluable experience for students. In my opinion, UW-Platteville exists to
provide learning opportunities for students and that often means more than the classroom. I
realize that some hard and far-reaching financial decisions need to be made. However, I
believe that cutting PACCE attacks one of the best ways in which we fulfill our mission. I would
be happy to say more about this program and its importance. Please contact me if I can be of
assistance.
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1/22/15: Our university is known for graduating students worth experience because of how
much practical work they do worth the community. PACCE was always one of the major
reasons for getting professors and students together with the community and allow them to do
great projects that community members have greatly benefited from and students have gained
great experience that helped them in finding a good job when they graduate. Also in the area
of short summer study abroad courses, PACCE has played a great role in giving the students the
opportunity to have international experience.
1/23/15: Ideas for Budget Reduction
1. Greater cost efficiency in Distance Education
a. Change faculty compensation in online courses to a flat rate. It reduces our
instructional costs while preserving revenue, thus yielding a better margin. I
estimate that this would save, conservatively, $350k per year.
i. Average among competition is $1800 to $2500 per course
b. Reduce overlapping duties with campus by bringing DLC and campus together
i. Admissions processing
ii. Advising and retention
iii. NOT marketing, advertising and recruitment though. The campus personnel
lack the specialized knowledge in this area.
2. Increase faculty teaching efficiency
a. Increase teaching load by one course per year. If standard load is 24 credits per year,
make it 27 credits per year.
b. Standardize teaching load across University. There’s currently significant
unnecessary variability across departments and colleges
c. Move away from credit load per year to student head count per year. For example,
teach as many sections as needed to get to a total SCH.
3. Start cutting non-essential support services. We need to delineate “required” support from
“nice to have” support.
a. Student Health Services
b. Counseling Services
c. First Year Experience
d. Campus Read
e. Distinguished Lecture
f. Other non-academic support
4. Revenue Promotion Ideas
a. Incentivize undergraduate students to immediately continue with graduate program
i. Tuition incentive
ii. Continuous enrollment incentive
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5.
6.
7.
8.
iii. Other incentives (books since distance students don’t participate in text
rental)
Reduce number of inefficient course sections
a. Make it financially unwise to drop a course
i. Substantial fee to drop a class starting on Day 1 of semester ($100, more?)
b. Instead of building new labs, offer night lab classes
c. Set a strict headcount for courses (e.g. no sections with less than 20 students)
Centralize professional development funding
Centralize TLC, ICET, ITS. This eliminates several supervisory positions and aggregates
resources
Freeze and review all open non-instructional positions
a. For example, Sports Info Director position
1/23/15: This was and is not an easy process for anyone and I appreciate the time and effort
everyone has taken to try to find a solution. This is a scary time for all and thankful it is only
$5M and not more! My only suggestion at this time is to provide a few sentences sharing how
you came to these particular decisions and explain what TBD means. Maybe this is too late to
provide now and asking too much, but for future reference it would be helpful for staff to see
some reasoning/explanation behind the suggested cuts by administration. This may help when
providing feedback.
1/25/15: It is my pleasure to write about PACCE research funding. PACCE grant gives an
opportunity to work together students, community partner and faculty member. Students in
my group obtained significant experiences on working in a group collaborating with community
partner. They learned how to collect data and how to present data to audiences. I strongly
agree keeping support for PACCE grant.
1/26/15: Some suggestions to consider:
1) Set a minimum amount of students per class. If there are less students than the minimum,
then the class should be cancelled, or the instructor takes a reduction in pay or teaches an extra
section of another class and is paid a per student overload for the other class. Another option
would be to create a SCH minimum for a department and then the department and/or college
could manage how many students are in classes, as long as the minimum SCH is
reached. Obviously there would need to be work done to determine what the SCH level needs
to be to address our budget constraints.
2) Since summer school enrollments have gone down in past years, we should review any areas
that continue to employ people full-time during the summer months, but the workload has
gone down. Offer administrative assistants and/or other employees in those departments that
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do not have much summer activity, the opportunity to go to a 9 or 10 month employment
contract. If the employee needs to maintain full-time employment, then have them work for
other areas on campus that have very busy summers
(i.e. camps/conferences, admissions, catering, etc.).
3) If faculty are not teaching a full load (release time for various items), identify what impact is
being brought to the institution by the work they are doing that is not teaching.
4) Eliminate the SAIF, CIF, Grant, and Assessment incentive grants. These are all items that
should be part of people's current responsibilities. While everyone can't or shouldn't be doing
everything (with the exception of assessment), research, grants, and curriculum
improvement are all part of our jobs. We shouldn't have to be paid extra for these items.
5) Reduce the large variety of general education classes that are offered and simplify the
general education curriculum array.
6) Seriously review the list of current majors and minors and eliminate those that are not
providing the appropriate curriculum, serving sufficient student numbers, and/or where
we have problems hiring faculty. I know this is on the list of items to be reviewed, but these are
things that should have been done on an ongoing basis and have not been for many
years. While a case can likely be made for every major and minor that we have, we obviously
cannot afford everything we are doing, so we need to make the choices that best reflect the
mission and vision of our institution.
7) Utilize various technologies to reduce the amount of time that information is
presented repeatedly. For example, if there are several sections of a class where basic
information is presented numerous times each week, video tape those lectures and have it
presented to students in that format. This reduces the amount of time that information
is presented, thus having more classrooms open and allowing faculty time to work with more
students.
8) Perhaps we don't eliminate sabbaticals, but we don't offer them for 2-3 years until we
can afford them.
9) Encourage entrepreneurial activities that will raise revenue for the campus. Identify
additional revenue generating activities that could benefit the campus. (i.e. advertising venues
on the campus electronic announcement boards, advertising on the campus shuttle bus, offer
more classes/activities in the evening to utilize the campus physical plant (receive rent for this
use), etc.). Identify areas of the campus that could become cost recovery or partial cost
recovery.
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10) Reduce the amount of student drops that occur during the 10 day drop/add period-possibly incorporate some type of drop fee that would impact the decision to drop. There are a
large number of students that sign up for 15-18 credits (since there is no additional charge for
12-18) and use the first two weeks to determine which classes they will keep. Many drops
occur, so classes do not remain full and additional instructors have been hired to teach
additional sections of classes. In addition, to the additional instructors being hired, now faculty
are being paid the same amount if they have a full class or not. This goes back to establishing a
minimum SCH.
Thanks for the opportunity to give input.
1/26/15:
1) The Teaching and Learning Center should not be eliminated. We recently finished our new
mission and vision with our focus re-emphasized as a teaching institution and studentcentered. It is important that the T&LC remain to assist faculty with good teaching
techniques. Combine ICET and T&LC to have a better transition between training on pedagogy
and training on academic technology. As the teaching field continues to evolve, it will be even
more important to have staff to assist and support instructors in their teaching roles.
2) Reduce the Administrative Assistant position in the Institutional Effectiveness office or
combine with another department. Not enough work to keep person busy full-time.
3) Identify a time frame in which ORSP should become cost recovery.
4) Determine if the School of Education Office of Special Programs should/could be combined
with another area.
5) Complete a review of software licenses that departments have to insure that they are still
needed and/or if we now have a system license for them.
1/26/15:
1) Reduce printing and paper needs. We’ve started taking steps on this in the past but it’s time
to get serious. We spend half a million dollars per year on printing; get rid of the paper before
people. The way that we get serious on this is one or two (maybe both) ways. In order to
actually reduce printing we need to move from “asking” to “requiring”. First, set a per-semester
printing allowance for everyone; tie it to their campus ID and make the allowance nontransferrable. At the end of the semester, the allowance is reset and cannot be carried over.
Second, create an incentive for people to not use all of their printing allowance. Perhaps a
contest, a mid-sized (yet profitable for the university) reward.
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2) Review that value of having a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). This position is expensive, the
return on investment is questionable, and I think this is definitely a position that is beneficial
but not a requirement to be successful. If we’re going after positions, you have to cut many
low-level positions to equate to one CDO.
3) Review the Chief of Staff position. I’ve heard that this expense will soon return to our
campus. Same argument as the CDO mentioned before.
4) Review the value of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.
1/26/15: I have a concern regarding the budget reduction item noted as “Eliminate central
funding of Tuition Reimbursement for Employees (departments may still fund).”
This is a benefit that I have strong personal feelings about. I have struggled my whole life with
obtaining my bachelor’s degree. I don’t need to give you my whole history, but I do want to
share with you my feelings about it.
I could have used tuition reimbursement at previous jobs I held, but ethically, I didn’t feel right
about taking advantage of it with past employers. I have a personal belief that if I’m going to
ask my employer to help me pay for my education, that I want to stay with them and “reinvest” their investment in me back into the organization.
I truly feel that I finally have found the right career path for my life and I want to further my
career with UW-Platteville and the Distance Learning Center. With the aid of tuition
reimbursement, I can financially afford to take classes and meet my personal goal of obtaining a
bachelor’s degree. Not only will I meet a personal goal, but I also feel “right” about giving back
my time and knowledge to the university and the DLC of the tuition they invested in me, once I
receive my degree.
It’s noted that departments may still fund tuition reimbursement. If we’re making cuts campuswide, will individual departments have money available for tuition reimbursement?
Response: It would be up to individual departments to decide how to use their allocated budget
and whether or not tuition reimbursement is a priority for their department.
I’m wondering if those of us that are currently enrolled in degree-seeking programs, will be
grand-fathered in?
Response: The way it is currently listed on the reduction options, there would be no grandfathering in of those currently using the central tuition reimbursement funds. That could
perhaps be something that is done on an individual department-by-department basis using their
existing departmental budgets.
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If not, I’d like to offer a suggestion of possibly keeping tuition reimbursement in place, but to
lower the amount of reimbursement from 100% for undergrad programs to say 50-75%? Even
a reduction in what is reimbursed would help financially instead of dropping it completely.
1/26/15: What does “GPR” stand for?
Response:
Below is a basic description of the different funding sources we use at UW-Platteville:
General Purpose Revenue (GPR) – includes general funding, specific purpose funding, and
earmarked funding from the state, primarily from state sales and income taxes [Funds 102, 104,
109, 110, 402, 403, 406]
Program Revenue (PR) – includes tuition, auxiliaries, and segregated fees, as revenues received
for services or from users [Funds 123, 128, 131, 132, 136, 189]
NOTE: Segregated fees are charges assessed to students including textbook rental, health
services, student center operations, athletics, intramural sports, parking, student activities
(allocable), municipal services, children’s center and ID systems.
Federal Revenue (PR-F) – includes federal grants, financial aid, direct loans, as revenues from a
federal agency [Funds 144 – 150]
Gifts and Grants – includes revenues from the Foundation, non-federal grants [Funds 133, 134,
184, 233]
1/26/15: Question- Has the thought of an early retirement package been discussed?
Response: Yes, this has been brought up and is something the University is exploring as a
possibility.
Suggestion-A thought is to come up with an early retirement package (ask staff what would
encourage early retirement to get ideas), if decided to offer a package, then have a meeting
with all staff eligible to retire within a few years and announce the early retirement
package. Rule: “X” amount of staff have to take this retirement package by such date. If “X”
amount of staff do not take the package then the university would not be able to offer to
anyone because it would not be beneficial.
1/26/15: I strongly recommend keeping the funding for PACCE. Our Health and Human
Performance department has implemented many programs utilizing the funding to help our
majors gain valuable service learning with K-12 area schools. Last year alone, my three PACCE
grants allowed 152 K-12 students to enjoy the ropes course, geocaching, snow shoeing,
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broomball, and the fun game of Battleship in the pool area. The UWP students learned how to
utilize new technology such as accelerometers, pedometers, and lactic acid analyzer, all
purchased through the PACCE grant funding, that our department budget would not be able to
purchase.
I feel our department will be really compromised without the PACCE grant funding. We have
five faculty and staff member who write a grant every semester to help pay for needed
equipment or supplies to provide unique experiences to our majors.
Please keep the funding for PACCE.
1/27/15: It was shocking to see how much it costs ($700,000+) to provide remedial education
to overcome the lack of necessary college preparation in our high schools and community
colleges. Pres. Obama wants to make Community College free in the future. Preparing students
for college is a necessary role for Federal government in public high school and community
college education, and NOT a costly, time-intensive burden to be assumed by our financially
strapped state college system.
1/27/15: The area I supervise is included in the action item dealing with review print
shop/centralize printers. I think this is a great idea and am wondering what this entails, what I
need to do, and how I can get involved in this process. My staff and I would like to help educate
campus about print and other services we offer. Please point me in the direction of who is
handling this item so I can get started on this. I feel strongly that there are too many printers
and copiers on campus and many people could and should utilize the services we offer in
Pioneer Printing and Postal Services. By directing the campus community to use our
professional equipment and services, the university could save thousands of dollars by not
buying new multifunctional copiers. As a part of University Information and Communications,
we also monitor and help project and protect the university's brand and image with any printed
pieces we produce. Thank you.
Response: At this point, nobody has been tasked with the TBD items or given timelines for the
items. When the time comes, someone will contact you for your assistance and insight.
1/27/15:
1) Charge a substantial graduation fee. For example, if we charged a $1,000 graduation fee (or
some less conspicuous number like $980), we could take in over a million in new revenue each
year. A “graduation fee” would be like the annual fee for a credit card. That is, most people
don’t shop for credit cards based on annual fees (unfortunately); they shop based on interest
rate. Likewise, students don’t shop based on a fee that they will incur in four years; they shop
based on annual tuition. I know this is a somewhat unsavory tactic, but desperate situations call
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for desperate measures. And, after all, processing graduating students does incur costs for UWPlatteville, yet those students currently pay the same tuition as freshman.
2) One of the ideas mentioned today was to increase tuition for specific majors. I think a better
approach would be to increase tuition for specific courses. After all, some courses are *way*
more expensive to deliver than others. We could have a “base tuition” rate that most people
would pay attention to, but maybe a third of our courses would fall into one or more tiers with
more expensive tuition. I’m think courses for which there is an expensive lab component,
equipment, etc. Again, students don’t shop based on these higher fees; they shop based on
base tuition.
3) Certificate programs have been mentioned. But more specifically, I would add a strategy that
I have seen at other universities. Universities will try to sell students on bachelor degree
programs by adding a sweetener, telling them that they don’t have to study for 4 years before
getting a return on their investment. 1 or 2 years into their program, they can earn a
“certificate” in an area of study. It provides a little immediate gratification while the students
continue to work toward their bachelor degree. If we adopted this “sales” technique and
developed these kinds of certificate “products,” we could charge for them, like $500 or
something, similar to the “graduation fee” I mentioned. I think a lot of students would gladly
pay $500 one or two years into their program to get their hands on a piece of paper that makes
them feel like they’ve already accomplished something. And in the meantime, we would
increase revenue, in addition to attracting more students who like the certificate option.
4) Charge athletes to participate in their sports. I know they already pay for gear and
miscellaneous fees, but they could be charged a fee at the university level that appears on their
bill. This is not unfair and not just a revenue generating gimmick in my opinion. Athletic
programs introduce risks and expenses beyond those generated by non-athlete students. A
measly $100 fee could generate tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for the university.
5) Utilize student internships. I have had numerous student workers approach me about using
their job as an internship, but then, when they look into it, they learn that their professor does
not allow their internship to be completed on campus. Why not? I realize we don’t want to
have bogus internships just to save money on labor, but some of our student jobs on campus
offer extremely valuable experience that is difficult to find elsewhere, and the Web
Development Office is a great example. If our student workers were unpaid interns, we could
save at least $10K each year, and that’s just one department.
1/28/15: I would like to propose as a money saver, staff be encouraged to take time off without
pay during the summer months if their workload is down and have approval of their supervisor.
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1/28/15: On the subject of revenue generation, I would encourage the budget group to explore
the following:
1) Expanding online course offerings. My previous institution literally avoided serious financial
deficits because of the revenue generated by online courses. This campus seems to be limited
in its array of undergraduate course offerings. Why not expand the options for other majors?
2) Offer more graduate degrees in highly competitive fields. Look for the areas where there is
high market demand. Graduate programs bring in higher tuition.
3) Recruit international students. The University of Wisconsin has an international reputation,
but what happens to those students who dream of going to Madison and can't get in? The UW
Colleges' campuses successfully recruit students with the promise of guaranteed transfer. This
campus could begin recruitment within the state by pulling in international students who are
ready to transfer out of the Colleges. That would give us time to ramp up our own recruitment
efforts of new international freshmen and build the necessary curricular infrastructure to
accommodate ESL students.
4) Examine the value of the campus real estate. Are the campus buildings and grounds fully
utilized all year round? Are there options for renting spaces and/or facilities (either in shortterm or longer increments) to external organizations or businesses? I phrase this one mainly as
questions because I'm simply not familiar with how the facilities are used.
5) I've said this as a joke for the past 3 budget cycles, but it's starting to make more sense:
Corporate Sponsorship. If an entire collegiate sporting event can be sponsored by a
steakhouse, is there an option to bring some of that green to the academic side of the
university?
1/29/15: I was unable to attend today's session but I've already heard contradictory
information about how the move to a public authority will impact UW System employees. Will
we still be state employees? If not, what is the impact on our pensions? What about health
insurance costs? What about accumulated sick leave -- will we lose that? I'm a 19-year
employee in the twilight of my career and these things concern me very very much. Any
answers would be most appreciated.
Response: While we need to see the Governor’s proposal and read the detailed legislation to
fully understand the breadth of flexibility and autonomy proposed, I believe many of your
questions are addressed in the document titled "UW System Public Authority" which can be
found at http://www.uwplatt.edu/budget/budget-reduction-planning.
1/29/15:
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1) It doesn't make sense to eliminate the print-based program for a number of reasons:. This is
a cost recovery program that meets all of its costs, ends the year with a positive variance and
the campus gets 10% of the revenue, which accounts to approximately $35,000. So, if the
program was eliminated, it would not save anything on the gpr side of things and would
actually decrease the amount of money that goes to the campus.
2) Look at eliminating the Joint International Masters program in Computer Science. There is
an extremely low amount of students that are served, there's been less than 10 graduates in 10
years of the program. In the past, the argument has been that there's not much money spent
on the program, but with this low amount of students served, any cost is too much. There is
travel to other countries to show support for the program, hosting representatives from the
partner institutions, teaching the students from the other institutions (which was supposed to
be a 1-1 exchange--this hasn't happened) so we teach the students that come here for free,
etc. In addition, anything that the faculty are doing on top of the items mentioned above (i.e.
reviewing thesis, updating curriculum, etc.) for free is an opportunity cost of time that they
could be spending on other activities.
3) While I hate to even suggest this, we may need to look at furloughs for employees. It was
done before, it may need to be done again, at least for a year.
4) Review telecommuting options for people where it makes sense. Their pay would be cut
since they don't have to travel to work and they would be responsible for having their own
internet, computer, and phone available. I realize this would take time to work out and it does
take more management time when you have telecommuting.
5) Are there any academic departments that can be merged, thus eliminating a chair position
and having savings from that? Are there any administrative departments that can be merged?
1/29/15: As both an alumnus and employee of UW-Platteville, I have concerns that the Alumni
Today will be considered for reduction. This publication has a large impact on connecting and
engaging with alumni. Alumni help the university in many great ways, such as supporting the
endowments, recruiting potential students, and marketing through UW-Platteville gear. We
need to keep the alumni informed of all the great things UW-Platteville is doing to ensure that
alumni support remains. We need to ensure that our alumni remain connected, now more than
ever!
1/29/15: A huge thanks to everyone on this committee. It's not fun to have to do the hard work
of making budget cuts. I am grateful that you are willing to work on this messy issue. Here are
some thoughts and ideas:
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1. I ask that the group reconsider cutting the Teaching and Learning Center completely. About
a month ago, ICET (Instructional Center for Educational Technologies) and T&LC began
discussions about merging these two offices together. Both of these offices provide valuable
resources to assist faculty - particularly junior faculty in learning how to be better teachers and
how to effectively use the software that is available on campus. Both offices are also
committed to helping faculty learn and try out new methods to engage students in learning and
to assist faculty with research. Consider that if we are able to support faculty, help junior
faculty learn to be better teachers, we are more likely to retain those people. Honestly, if you
are not able to pay faculty well, then it's likely you are not getting the best teachers but instead
are getting people who with some help will grow into good faculty. This is a valuable resource
for instructional staff. Help us merge these two offices - there might be some savings in doing
this I'm not sure. We have only met once to discuss. We need more time to come up with a
plan.
2. I was told that the print-based Business degree program actually makes about $38000 each
year. It doesn't make sense to cut it if it's making money.
3. In looking at all the cuts that were recommended, ADS is being asked to contribute a
significant amount of money. If admin fees are going to be raised, it is important to first know
what those fees cover and how you can justify them. Also, what benefit do online students get
out of this? There are several offices and services available on campus that are not available to
online students. Seems like they should not have to pay for programs they cannot participate
in (WATR, Tutoring, Veterans Center, Women in Engineering etc). Also, the financial model that
has been in place in ADS is "make the money first before you spend it" They have been fiscally
responsible and their programs are critical in supporting the university. I think they are doing
their fair share of supporting this campus. If you make these cuts and require them to pay
more, I'm pretty sure those programs will no longer be the steady income they have been. This
division has been and continues to be fiscally responsible. If you take all the cuts/increases that
are proposed, that division will likely nose dive. Do you really want to mess with that income
source that has been consistent? If the traditional student population flatlines, the DLC in
particular is going to be the thing that keeps you going. If you don't let them continue to do
what they are doing, you hurt even more in the long run.
I don't hear anyone taking responsibility for the error that was made with TSI
income/expense. The buck has to stop with someone! If administration doesn't make changes
to how they have done business in the last 2 year to let this error go and not hold people
accountable then this is a useless exercise. It would be nice to hear that SOMETHING has been
done so this kind of thing does happen again.
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TRAIN department heads better and HOLD them accountable if the distributed budgeting
model is going to continue. If they go over budget, then someone else has to cut. That's how it
works plain and simple. But someone still has to be the one to close the gate when we go over
budget. Stop spending money you don't have. If there were hires made for TSI programs in the
last 3 years, they should be evaluated and perhaps pink slipped. You didn't get the numbers.
Some program(s) has/have to have fewer students than they were expecting.
4. A caution about looking for redundancies and merging offices. I think this is necessary to
examine and determine if there are redundancies. If areas merge, training is critical and the
level of service CANNOT drop and should actually increase in order for a merge to be seen as a
good thing.
5. Suggestions:
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Are there instructional departments that can be merged together (maybe
temporarily?). This may reduce admin assistant, one chair goes back to full time
teaching.
Seems like we have some professional advisers and then in other cases the departments
do the advising. Is the "split" model really efficient and fiscally responsible? Are costs
more/less to either have all advising done with a professional staff or all advising done
within departments?
I support cutting programs with low enrollments. Suspend programs that don't have the
counts. You can bring them back if we ever start seeing more money. No new programs
should be approved unless they can show a profit.
Consider hybrid models of teaching where one teacher either has recorded lectures or
teaches large lectures rather than multiple sections that tie up additional faculty. In
other words, are there ways we can use technology to help us teach more students? Be
careful! You need to educate faculty to be able to effectively teach in this model etc.
Workshops or courses may be necessary to assist faculty.
Have we exhausted the number of courses we could offer in the summer AND not hurt
enrollments during other times of the year?
Is it time for paycuts? Or furloughs?
I know tuition is frozen, what about resident hall costs? Can they be raised?
Raise the cost of the parking permit.
Positions that were hired due to grant monies need to be evaluated. Once the grant
runs out, the position may not be automatically absorbed by the university.
Is there any foundation accounts that could be used to help us?
1/29/15: I do not know if you are still taking ideas for budget cuts, but here is my idea.
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WATR receives half of what they would normally get.
Here is how it works:
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Students will still pay the same amount of tuition
Say, for example, WATR receives $300 from every students tuition
Cut that in half, and WATR receives only $150 from every students tuition
The other $150 from every student can go towards the overall budget and wherever
else it is needed.
I am sure almost 70% or more of all UWP students do not use WATR, and those that do go are
there for assignment requirements. There could even be an informal poll to find an exact
number. Most of the people I talk with, though, say they only used it when required to by class.
1/29/15: I haven't been able to attend any of the budget meetings but I was wondering if there
has been any discussion on unpaid leave days?
We did that a lot in Illinois, that is until people started to complain about staff absence and
restored expenditure cuts. At NIU you hardly ever saw faculty on Fridays, it helped offset
grumbling about low salaries.
1/29/15: I have several observations about the budget cuts that I have heard proposed.
First, LAE seems over represented in the proposed cuts. This is the biggest college on campus,
and we already get less resources. I am sure there have to be more ways to find cuts in EMS.
Second, I think it is a huge error to cut the English education position. Most of the majors in
English are English Ed, and not having a faculty member who can help them navigate the
process is a huge disservice to those students and will likely result in us losing majors.
Finally, I think that there are some other places where cuts could be found:
Campus read (this is a great program, but not many professors use it)
Distinguished Lecturer: this is just a waste of money
Sports programs (this is not a division one school; do we need as many different
sports programs as we have?)
Administration: there are too many administrators at this university, and many of them are the
highest paid positions. It would be more affordable to eliminate some positions and move
certain areas of governance into the hands of faculty, even if this means granting the occasional
course release for it.
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Also, I think it should be on the table to have higher tuition for more expensive degree
programs. Many of our majors do not need to utilize any of the expensive lab equipment, but
their tuition ends up footing the bill for more expensive programs.
At the end of the day, I think we should remember that the primary goal of the university
should be to educate students and prepare them for their lives and careers. The cuts that I
propose would have the least effect on the educational experience of our students here.
Thank you so much for your time and for the opportunity to give this feedback.
1/29/15: What exactly does "centralize other activity centers - graphic design example" mean?
What are activity centers?
"Review print shop/centralize printers," what does this mean? Will this be incorporating the
McKinstry recommendations about cutting back on departmental printers?
Response: Activity centers are areas that provide a service to internal constituents. The topic
includes a review of the activity centers that are on campus to review for any duplication of
services and to see if any efficiencies could occur if they were centralized.
This means a review of the how the campus prints and review for efficiencies. The McKinstry
report may be used as an informational resource.
1/29/15: In light of the extreme budget cuts we are facing, I strongly believe we should be
exploring the option of voluntary furlough. I personally would be willing to give up one day a
week and take it as unpaid if it meant keeping my job vs. losing it and also if it meant others
losing their jobs. I recognize some may argue why the work can now be done in 4 days when we
were previously allocated 5 days and I understand that is a fair argument. People will need to
understand we will need to work a bit smarter and harder in those 4 work days to accomplish
the same level of work, but I am more than willing to do so if in the end that means keeping my
job vs. losing my employment.
Before this option is simply removed as a viable option, why are we not exploring how many
people would be willing to participate to understand the potential cost savings? This not only
would show a cost savings from a wage perspective, but also from the amount of resources
each employee is using while on campus each day. (heat, electricity, printing, paper, phones,
etc)
1/29/15: Here are some possible ways to save money:
1) Do we need to be a “full-service” university given our small-town location? Perhaps some of
our specialized services could be decreased or eliminated, including Student Health Services
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and Counseling Services. Can’t we instead run a shuttle bus (on an on-call basis) to the local
clinic and hospital instead?
2) Eliminate some, even most, sports programs. We spend a considerable amount on sports,
and they’re not central to the academic mission of the university. Sports fans can support the
Badgers (Madison’s only an hour and a half away, and I see plenty Badger apparel on campus).
3) Become a paper-free campus.
4) Decrease—but not eliminate—funding for conference travel—for administration and for
faculty. When you factor in flight, hotel, conference registration, etc., they are very pricey. For
faculty, perhaps the university can, through various departmental, college, and university
resources, fund a conference every two years rather than one (or multiple)/year. If we do this,
either we should prioritize conference travel for probationary faculty or change RST plans when
relevant.
5) No merit raises for the next couple years—for everyone. As we all know, faculty are way
behind the national average for pay, but I think most of us are more concerned about job
security—for as many people as we can keep—than raises. I do think promotions should still be
funded.
6) Mandatory furloughs of some sort for people who make over X amount ($75,000?) a year,
for the next couple years. The pay range varies considerably on campus, and I don’t think the
burden should be shared equally with someone making $35,000 and someone making
$100,000.
I’m aware that this doesn’t address ongoing cuts, but it does give us a couple years to really
think and plan out what we can do. I’m very concerned about making decisions too quickly—
especially since HLC is coming up.
7) Eliminate or reconceive (see next paragraph) some high-level administrative positions. My
understanding is that we have added enough positions that, in salary, we are paying well over
$500,000/year more than we were four years ago. Additionally, the pay level for some top
administrative positions has jumped considerably. Do we really need all these new positions in
the long-term? Moreover, it’s part of a national trend in higher education: our student
enrollment has increased, the number of administrative positions has increased, and the
number of faculty has decreased. Some administrative duties certainly used to be faculty ones,
and some should be under the purview of faculty.
Given this context, is it possible to break up the different duties of an administrative position
and assign them to a few different faculty members and give them a partial course
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release? This strategy could be a real advantage—obviously economically, but also it might
improve the communication between administration and faculty (an area pointed out as a
weakness in the COACHE survey).
8) We need to make the effects of these cuts very visible to students, parents, and the greater
community, who probably has more power/sway than we do on this issue. Just to give an
example, perhaps we need to limit the number of majors in, say, Engineering, because we don’t
have faculty numbers there. Or perhaps we’re not able to offer the appropriate number of a
required general education or prerequisite course, or we shut down several computer labs. I’m
not thrilled about any of these suggestions, but students and parents need to be aware that
huge cuts like these negatively affect the quality of education we’re able to offer.
Moreover, I think they should be aware that the legislature specifically wants to see layoffs (i.e.
“blood in the water”). That is not something our university or system wants; that’s a mandate
from on high.
As # 8 suggests, I think we need to be very transparent with the community about what gets cut
and why—and the effect it has on them. (This is why we need publication specialists—though
their duties might change a bit). I also think if there’s ways to make some temporary rather
than cuts, we should do so. We need to have enough time to consider the long-term effects of
our decision. So limiting the number of majors, requiring furloughs, decreasing the number of
sections we offer—we can change this in the future. Eliminating an academic program? That’s
not reversible. We need to protect the academic core of our university and the positions most
directly connected to it.
1/29/15: How much money would we save by eliminating the Textbook Rental Center? This
would pass some cost onto students, but we could impose a limit on textbook cost/course. And
with the rise of e-books, the cost is not as prohibitive as it was. Finally, shouldn't students have
textbooks from their college careers, especially books related to their major and future career?
1/29/15:
Structural Imbalance
On January 26, 2015, the Karrmann Library staff discussed the structural imbalance between
University revenues and expenditures, as noted in Chancellor Shield’s letter of January 16,
2014. The Budget Office recommended that Karrmann Library reduce one Library Position
($83,481). The library staff agrees to accept this recommendation as our support to the
university community.
Providing Outstanding Education
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We support this recommendation with strong reservations. While we will continue to provide
an Outstanding Education to our students, it has become very difficult to achieve. Over the
past two decades, the library’s budget has remained relatively flat while the rate of inflation
has increased. In addition, the student body has nearly doubled, but we have lost several
library positions. The result has been a reduction of library services. Some librarians and staff
have been stretched so thin that they have actually provided services during their personal time
to fulfill their professional responsibilities.
Impact
From our discussions, the library staff enumerated several areas that will be impacted from the
loss of the Library Position. The loss of the position will impact library services to the university
community as follows:
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Library hours will be reduced.
We will continue to operate without strong, visionary leadership that a Library Director
provides.
The loss of the library position will further stretch the resources of the remaining library
staff.
A reduction of electronic databases may be necessary.
Student Employment opportunities will decrease as the hours are reduced and the
budget is stretched.
Reduction in library instruction sessions will be necessary.
Reduction in resources may possibly affect academic accreditation with the Higher
Learning Commission and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology
Conclusion
In closing, it should be emphasized that the librarians and staff of Karrmann Library will always
strive to provide our students with the knowledge, tools and information they need to achieve
an Outstanding Education. We want the UW-Platteville students, faculty and staff to
understand and acknowledge, however, that the proposed position reduction will impact the
services that the library will provide.
1/30/15: Thank you for taking the time to collect and consider feedback from the entire
campus community. I would like to make the case that we look very hard at making what we do
as efficient as we can before we start cutting people moral on campus has already been
affected by the thought of coworkers losing their jobs. I think we are all willing to make
sacrifices to ensure the security of people’s jobs when and where that is possible. Below are a
few revenue and cut ideas.
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Can we look at getting rid of fax machines and the phone lines that go with them? I’m sure
there might be one or two that we can’t completely cut out but everyone has the ability to take
a picture or scan a document and send it.
Has the duplicate services between the Distance Learning Center and university been looked
at? It seems like it is run more like a mini university instead of a part of the university. Which
duplicates many of the departments, systems, and services already in place.
More of our classes should be offered online to bring more revenue to campus by allowing us
to reach people where they are. Having more hybrid classes that have the option of being taken
on campus or online would kill two birds with one stone. With online classes we don’t have to
worry about classroom space, computers, maintaining/building new buildings. I would think
that this could be a very big revenue source if we added a couple of students to every class
through online option or added a few sections that are online options. I would think that the
students we serve would also appreciate this option.
Can we cut a certain percentage from across the board from the supply budgets and all
departments would be responsible to make those adjustments?
Can we look at travel costs we know that professional development is very important but can
we look at cutting back to a particular radius from campus? Maybe enough to travel to Chicago
for example would still offer quite a few opportunities, we could encourage more webinars
and, online meetings.
Has having students buy their own books been looked at? This could save on the books,
staffing, equipment etc. and books could be updated at any time necessary.
I was glad to see marketing on the list. There are a lot of savings to be had by modifying how we
market our campus and the dollars spent on printing. However as a campus we are
understaffed in marketing and we should be looking at being more green, less printing, more
smaller personalized publications sending people online and keeping the printing in our on
campus print center instead of sending it off campus keeping the dollars here. By creating a
marketing plan for the campus and being more strategic in how programs fit into that plan we
could printing less off campus, and use more digital marketing-emails, e-publications, and
websites. A couple items that could be considered are:
1) The Alumni today is the only publication on the list for cutting and it is one of the highest
quality publications that the university puts out. It seems to me we should be looking at
publications that are sending many of the same messages and aren’t as high quality and might
total the same dollar amount. Some of these might be college/division/department newsletters
or alumni publications from other departments. Some of these could be an ePub or a website
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only. The alumni today could be done mostly online with only a few that are printed and mailed
for the older audiences that want the print version?
2) Look at internal marketing versus external marketing and what departments are spending on
marketing to students that are already here. For instance Dining services and Residence Life are
marketing to an audience that has already committed to coming to campus. Why are the
dollars they spend on off campus printing in a year so close to what is spend on recruiting
publications for the entire year?
1/30/15: Thank you for providing a forum for suggestions related to the current budget
concerns.
What about a realignment of people, job function and spaces to create a Learning Resource
and Technology Commons that promotes student learning and faculty teaching?
The Karrmann Library space could be repurposed to Karrmann Commons. To promote effective
use of learning resources and technology to support faculty, a merging of departments could
occur here - at a minimum, Academic Library, MTS, ICET, TLC - under one director. To support
student learning, services such as WATR and other tutoring options could also be housed in the
Commons to work together. Eliminating the administrative overhead would reduce costs, but
even more so, promoting collaboration among these departments could eventually produce
revenue with new ideas and initiatives.
The Commons idea could be furthered with the addition of instructional designers to support
faculty and departments in the development of hybrid and online courses that could then
be administered through the individual departments/colleges. Give students the option to take
courses in a traditional class setting or online when they register. A separate
registration/admission process would not be necessary.
The redistribution of current resources (people, expertise and space) to a Commons could be
done to piggyback on efforts already in process. With each of these ideas, the reduction of
administrative leadership that would occur could be accomplished with retirements,
realignments and attrition. Staff currently in the roles could be placed in similar roles either
centrally in the Commons, absorbed into similar functional units on campus, or added in newly
developed roles at the College or department related to the redistribution of current online
programs. In the Commons model, one director with a few strong managers allows a model
where all of the departments and areas that are currently separated could work together to
accomplish wonderful things to support the students who come to UW-Platteville to learn and
the faculty who are committed to providing them a quality education.
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1/30/15: Testing Center. I have had meetings on that floor this week and I see 2 people in this
center doing nothing. This is one of those areas we have full staffing when it's a center that
peaks and valleys. Are there ways to make this more efficient? I may be wrong on this but
wasn't the intention that the testing center would pay for itself? Is it?
Sell off technology that is not being used. Seems like there were kiosks that were purchased in
the college of EMS. I've been told they have never been installed. If we aren't going to use the
equipment, then sell it. Is there other equipment not in use that could be sold? (old tractors,
cars, machines etc)
1/30/15: #57 Reduce # EMS Asst Dean FTEs: Current EMS Asst Deans are: .5, .5, and .75 for a
total of 1.75 FTE. Consider reducing to at least 1.5 or 1.25 FTEs. At least .25 could be allocated
back to teaching instead of paying extra for backfill.
#70 Reduce 2nd Asst Dean for LAE: Is this in the red because it has already been cut or because
it's been decided not to cut it? Is there absolutely a need for this position? LAE functions
without it currently and a budget crisis is not the time to add new positions.
Response: Yes, this 2nd Asst. Dean position in LAE has already been cut as part of the current
budget reduction, which is why it is shaded in red for “no”.
How many Asst. Deans FTE's does BILSA have? Should that be reduced?
Response: The BILSA Asst. Dean FTE is 1.25 (.75 and .50).
#87 Review DLC backfill for positions: This should be reviewed. Departments are not fully
reimbursed by DLC for backfill.
#48 Eliminate sabbaticals: At least consider reducing the number of sabbaticals by giving them
more careful scrutiny. Actual gain should be received by the university from the sabbatical, not
a vacation for a faculty member.
Beginning Fall 2015 NEW faculty are going to receive $5000 in start-up funds, some will receive
an additional $5000 from EMS. Since UWP's mission statement is to promote excellent
teaching and be a student focused university we should be hiring professors whose main focus
is teaching. Many new faculty do not do very much research and if they do, most of them do
not need expensive labs or equipment. Consider cutting this completely or, at least, only
funding new faculty who can show a definite need for start-up funds.
"The mission of the Patricia A. Doyle Center for Gender and Sexuality is to provide a supportive,
equitable, and safe environment for all persons on campus in relation to gender and sexuality."
There is currently an open position for an Associate Coordinator of this area, is it possible that
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their mission could be met with only 1 FTE allocated to a Director? This area is small compared
others that function with a part-time chair. Portions of this position can be covered by other
areas-for instance retention of students through PATH, designing brochures and print based
materials through UIC, etc. Is there some overlap of services between this and WEMS? Could
consolidation of services alleviate some expenses?
Reduce the amount of out-of-state or long distance traveling. Some traveling is necessary for
professional development and training, but expensive trips could be reduced.
Is there duplication of services between PATH and Academic and Career Exploration Services?
Could there be some consolidation?
Reduce food purchases for meetings and private parties.
1/30/15: What are the assumptions regarding savings behind the following proposed cut items
on the list:
Item: Cut the print program: What revenue vs. costs are being assumed that would put this
item on the green list? At first glance a program that uses 16% of its revenue per course to pay
for instruction should have plenty of margin left over to cover overhead costs and still bring in
revenue (16%=tuition dollars vs. dollars paid to faculty to teach the course.)
Response: The item is TBD as no revenues or costs have been looked at. The item is meant to
review those items to ensure that the program is operating on a cost recovery basis and not
being subsidized by other programs within DLC.
Item: Review backfill policy for DLC positions: Does this mean hiring adjuncts instead would be
less expensive? If faculty are released to teach in the distance program, it seems the
incremental cost of benefits for a faculty member is less than the cost of hiring an adjunct,
especially if the adjunct teaches multiple classes.
Response: The item is to look at the backfill policy and charging the actual costs of those
individuals that are performing the job duties instead of charging the backfill costs of an adjunct
who is teaching the on-campus course.
Item: Review release time positions: Is the assumption that the release position is not
needed? If the position is needed, isn’t it less expensive to release a current faculty/academic
staff and pay the backfill than to hire an individual outside the existing staff even when you
factor in the cost of hiring an individual to backfill? (additional benefit costs, cost of seeking,
interviewing, processing new hire vs. using an individual who is already an employee of the
university. This assumes an academic department already has a pool of academic staff to draw
from.)
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Response: - The item is to look at what release times are currently given and is there a need for
that release time. This would be evaluated on a case by case basis.
Item: Cut PAACE and Entrepreneurship minor: PAACE and the minor raise the visibility of the
university, the value of which is not quantifiable. Students who participate in these programs
come away with the hands on experiences we tout as our unique strength to prospective
students. Community members benefit from the fresh ideas from students who then positively
view the benefit of having Platteville in their region. These programs are relatively inexpensive
to run and have already built a direct and strong connection with regional businesses and
potential donors. While budget cuts we face are going to be tough, let’s prioritize based on
what provides the best long-term return to the university. These programs are already up and
successfully running.
1/30/15: First, I would like to thank the UABC for their work. I attended their January 22
meeting and understand the very difficult task they have been given, under a very tight
timeline. I appreciate the thoughtful, professional, and swift discussion they had regarding how
to allow for multiple opportunities and avenues for the campus community to provide input to
the budget reduction options despite the tight timeline they have been given for submitting a
final recommendation.
I would like to provide feedback regarding item #81—Examine elimination of Print-based
program. I work very closely with our print-based courses and feel strongly that eliminating
this course delivery method would have a pronounced impact on serving our Distance Learning
students. We have students that are completing their degrees mostly through print-based
courses, due to the flexibility it provides. We serve non-traditional students who are typically
working adults, juggling a busy work and family life. The pleasure of my job is getting to know
the stories of our students and what obtaining a bachelor’s degree means to them. The
independent nature of the print-based courses allows them to set their own goals/timelines for
completing the course(s) that works for their own personal situations. I believe that if you
eliminate this program, there are students that simply would not attain their bachelor’s
degree. In addition to our Distance Learning students, we have campus students that are
referred to our office specifically for our print-based courses, for a variety of situations,
including when the course(s) they need for graduation are not offered in a particular semester,
continuing on with course work while they are on an internship, or to take classes while not in
Platteville over the summer.
I would appreciate information on how the decision was made to put this item on the list. I
understand what a serious time this is and the difficult task that this group was charged
with. However, this program is cost-recovery and if a program is serving students and utilizing
tuition dollars to reinvest back into the program, as well as the campus, I am uncertain why it
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would be eliminated. I would welcome and encourage a dialogue with those of us that are
directly involved with this program before a final decision is made.
Response: The item is TBD as no revenues or costs have been looked at. The item is meant to
review those items to ensure that the program is operating on a cost recovery basis and not
being subsidized by other programs within DLC.
1/30/15: Hello, below please find my suggestions/ideas to help reduce the impact of the
budget shortfall:
1) Rather than subsidize textbooks (textbook rental) students will purchase their textbooks
each semester. A limited buy-back program could also be implemented to soften the impact on
students’ finances/financial aid. Since 1990, UWP has offered textbook rental. From the UWP
website: “About 40,000 books valued at $1.5 million or more are handed out each semester,
said Mary Larson, UWP's Textbook Center director and manager… If students do not return
their textbooks, they are billed for the full price, said Larson. ‘That can go as high as $700,’ she
said.” For example, if a student incurred a cost of $1,400. per academic year in text books, with
8,805 students, the cost-savings to the university would be significant.
2) All Faculty/Staff take a two-week furlough.
3) When possible, staff have the option to telecommute, using their own phone/internet, and
accept a small pay decrease in lieu of reduced travel expense/parking permits.
1/30/15: Here are a few of my suggestions for reducing expenses on campus to compensate for
the projected budgetary reductions:
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Eliminate the Governance Office Director position. The governance bodies have existed
for years prior without this position and should still be able to function without it should
it be eliminated.
Eliminate the URCE Coordinator position. These duties have been part of the ORSP
duties in the past and could be added to the responsibilities of existing ORSP staff
moving forward.
Reduce the number of upper-level administrative staff (i.e. Vice Chancellors/Assistant
Vice Chancellors) by consolidating responsibilities.
Reduce or eliminate the professional development money offered to faculty.
Eliminate the Introduction to College Life courses and take it out of the general
education requirements. Students and faculty both have said that this course is a waste
of their time, and time is money. If there is a reason the course still needs to be
offered, perhaps it could be offered instead as a one-day seminar as part of the new
student orientation instead?
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
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Streamline more of the processes on campus to make them electronic/online. There
seems to be a lot of wasted time and effort transmitting paper forms for things that
could be handled much more efficiently electronically.
Hold off on offering salary increases to faculty. If the budget is in such dire straits that
the university is having to cut positions, now does not seem to be the time to be
increasing the salaries of others on campus. Increasing faculty salaries to be more
competitive should wait until we are in a better position financially.
Offer incentives to reduce printing on campus and encourage more utilization of
electronic means of disseminating information (i.e. posting assignments on D2L,
encouraging students to submit assignments through D2L, etc.)
Reduce and or eliminate the number of small clubs/teams and spending for said
clubs/teams. I have seen teams funded for thousands of dollars in travel, etc., which
was only beneficial to the handful of students who participated.
I know that some of my suggestions may be highly contentious, but with the severity of the
budget cuts that are being forecasted some tough decisions have to be made. We have to take
a serious look at everything that the university does and seriously consider whether or not
these activities are essential to the ability of our students to obtain a quality education, which
is, after all, our primary reason for existence.
1/30/15: Early Retirement Window. In the late 1980's the state did an early retirement option
for people with 25 year in the system. This allowed people to leave with full retirement with
less than 30 years.
With the budget cuts that are coming this would allow employees to retire with possibilities to
not fill their positions. Or bring them in at a lower rate. With the retirement's you might be able
to keep more employees in valuable positions and not have to release them.
I know that health care might hold some back but it would be great to consider.
1/30/15: A few questions on the items that are listed on the budget reduction options
spreadsheet:
Consolidate help desks further is listed as an action item. What help desks are being
considered as part of this consolidation?
Response: This item includes both ITS and DLC help desks.
Centralize marketing and identify savings is listed as an action item. What marketing areas are
being considered as part of this consolidation?
Response: This item includes all marketing on campus (UIC, DLC, Auxiliaries, etc.)
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Centralize other activity centers. What constitutes an activity center on this campus?
Response: Activity centers are areas that provide a service to internal constituents. The topic
includes a review of the activity centers that are on campus to review for any duplication of
services and to see if any efficiencies could occur if they were centralized.
1/30/15: The current Excel form indicating the three levels (yes, no, maybe) for budget
reduction planning suggests that the Teaching & Learning Center be eliminated. I believe this is
a poor idea and should be reconsidered.
The review of UW-Platteville by HLC focuses, in part, on how we develop our faculty to provide
the outstanding education we claim. The Teaching & Learning Center can meet that demand.
While we can legitimately say that the faculty are reluctant to use the T&LC fully, the reality is
we have a resistant culture for excellence on campus. In other words, we have to change that
culture. This is not accomplished overnight.
In addition, the T&LC staff could suggest some ways to save money, rather than eliminating the
program entirely.
I understand that the recommendation could be a ploy to rally support for fighting the
proposed budget cuts. However, this may backfire on us, particularly if the HLC criticizes our
current disconnected, but multiple attempts to offer and support professional development.
Please listen to the suggestions for improvement. Please reconsider elimination of the T&LC.
1/30/15: Just some ideas for brainstorming, though I'm not sure if these have already been
considered as potential revenue sources:
When considering the world of entrepreneurship, we should think of what products and
services do students leave campus to acquire? What other retail establishments do students
(and faculty) desire in Platteville that we might be able to provide on campus?
Are we in a position to market printing services to community businesses? Businesses located in
proximity to campus also could use in-house printing facility to create attractive posters,
brochures, proposals, case studies, annual reports, event tickets, newsletters and any other
marketing communication materials that they might need to promote their companies. Could
also offer design, copywriting and editing expertise as well, and perhaps we could provide
inexpensive IT help for businesses while giving students real-world work experience.
Someone else joked about corporate sponsorship, but perhaps this kind of partnership is
necessary. I've heard a few institutions rent space on some buildings for cell towers – UWOshKosh, the University of California, Davis; the University of Colorado at Boulder, and
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others. Also, selling naming rights for new (or old) buildings. It could even work to name
different parts of a building (basketball court, PAC fitness rooms, etc).
1/30/15:
1) Eliminate Campus Read (save $20,000+ per year)
2) Combine the Teaching & Learning Center with ICET, sharing one director, to save a .75% FTE.
3) Eliminate the Intro to College Life Class. It is redundant with the welcome to campus
activities. If certain programs need to have such a class, let them fund the class as part of their
curriculum. Save all of the funds we put into teaching those courses.
4) Close the Markee each night at 5:30. Let students eat in Glenview or the Roundtree dining
areas. Unknown potential savings.
5) Lower the temperature in every building to no more than 66 degrees. Most of them are at 75
degrees or higher during the winter! Do these thermostats even work? Unknown potential
savings.
6) Shift classes to a four-day plan (Mon-Wed and Tues-Thur). Close classroom buildings on
Friday. Keep only essential buildings open. Unknown potential savings.
7) Make student organizations self-funding. Eliminate that part of segregated fees.
8) Do not eliminate PACCE! It is too important.
9) Since walking is a healthy exercise, raise student and faculty parking passes by 10%.
10) Put all overload, adjunct, and distance classes on the same pay plan for faculty. The
Winterim and summer courses are actually more difficult to teach than the regular semester;
but the pay is significantly less for the shorter courses. Overload pay hasn't changed in years!
Being paid by the "head" for distance courses makes sense, since the instructor has no control
over how many people are put into a class, but should the faculty there make less or
considerably more than the faculty do in overload status for a face-to-face class?
11) Eliminate tuition on internships. Set a flat fee for these courses. Pay the faculty who
oversee the internships a flat fee for overseeing the students (per head).
12) Eliminate one upper administrative position (savings about $300,000).
2/2/15: It appears that the Microsystems & Nanomaterials (MSNM) major is one of very few
majors (if any?) targeted for removal. This is a disappointing decision, as the program has
already survived an elimination and revival in Spring 2013, and revisal in Spring 2014. With our
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recent addition of a new faculty member with expertise in nanomaterials (2013), a laboratory
manager, and new equipment acquisitions, plus positive reviews from our external advisory
board and the internal university program review process, I felt that the Micro/Nano program
was as strong as it has ever been.
I suspect that it was targeted for its weakness: enrollment. The program was hardly given a
chance: when a program gets cut, then revived and revised, recruiting students is
challenging. This Fall’s students are the first whom we were able to recruit as incoming
freshmen for the MSNT major.
While enrollment in the major is low (for now), there is a robust program of undergraduate
research and laboratory projects: we have 16 (!) undergraduates working in the nanomaterials
lab, just in the current semester - from several programs and departments. Our research
facilities, plus the faculty and staff to ensure they can accommodate a large number of eager
students, is a core strength that I hope we can keep. There are just not many places that can
offer the nanomaterials experiences and research opportunities to undergraduates that we do
at Platteville. This is truly “high impact practices” at its finest, as feedback from the alumni of
our minor in MSNM minor have attested.
2/2/15: I've been thinking about the budget problem, and the fact that some accounts actually
have $$ left over that are not GPR funds. It seems like we should be able to use some of those
funds to help pay for GPR expenses, and this is an idea I thought might work.
Since you have to cut 10 million from 17 million dollars of GPR funds and the total budget is
over 100 million, you should first consider how many GPR expenses you can transfer to other
funding sources. Cost recovery programs (housing, food service, DLC, Cont. Ed.) or TSI funded
areas may have left over revenue that they could use to pay for services provided by GPR
departments.
For example, the Physical Plant uses chargebacks for everything that they do for other areas
and the funds may be coming from accounts other than GPR (hence reducing expenses from
Physical Plant GPR funds and a net reduction in total UWP-GPR costs). Why not have
chargebacks from other service areas (for example IT and Publications)? Some of the
chargeback funds would be coming from TSI or cost recovery accounts and that would reduce
GPR expenses for IT and Publications. It would be more equitable to have cost recovery or TSI
and other Program Revenue (123, 128, 131, 132,136, 189) funds paying for the work done by
service areas than for cost recovery areas, etc. to have leftover $ while GPR accounts are being
cut.
I believe that is the way the new budget model will work—each area receiving funds generated
by tuition $ for their classes, etc. and paying out fees for administrative services. So, why not
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start now with IT and Publications charging back for their services. It seems like it wouldn’t be
too difficult to set them up with a per hour cost and keep track of hours spent on a project the
same as the Physical Plant does with their work.
2/2/15: Some thoughts:
Charge students PAC memberships. My daughter goes to a UW school and pays $100/year. It
seems like the PAC is under construction more than it is not. Some of the membership fees
could be used to maintain it.
Charge ALOT more for drop/adds for students. Go to the Cashiers office or the Registrars office
a few weeks around the final drop date and you will see hundreds of students/day dropping
classes. A higher fee would make students think twice about taking classes and then dropping
them. This would also keep the classes open for the students who really wanted/needed to
take the classes in the first place.
Have a fundraiser (either through UWP or with the city of Platteville) to raise money if the
Heartland Festival needs to be continued.
Have furlough days again. I thought furlough days saved the last budget crisis? Let the days off
be up to the people having to take them though. If they want to take them on Fridays in the
summer, so be it. Days off without pay are bad enough, the people taking them should at least
have a say in when they are.
2/2/15: Just a few ideas and thoughts to review:
1) Reevaluate the shuttle buses, how many students use these, and how often? Remove the
service of transportation for anything less than a mile. With obesity on the rise walking a mile
should be encouraged. Keep regular shuttles available for the handicapped as an on call basis
and the night shuttles for safety, but explore ways to cut cost in this area.
2) Freeze new hires and cut the number of vice chancellors, reduce the number of assistant to
the associate etc.. positions
3) Do you offer stipends for teaching online and at distant locations, discuss removing or
lowering those.
4) The Alumni Today and other publications, make this an opt if you want to receive, this would
help with printing cost. Place them in open areas for all to see vs. to each department chair,
manager, and program.
5) Tint windows to save on energy cost.
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6) Schedule evening classes on the first floor of the building and in blocks to conserve energy.
7) Stop ordering bottled water, we have water fountains and people can bring their own bottle
to fill.
8) Explore the cost of air hand dryers in bathrooms vs. paper towels. This would help with
mess, janitorial time, and cost.
9) Can we utilize our expertise on campus, we have professors and professionals who are
experts in their field, yet the university hires outside consultants for advice. Utilize the school
of agriculture for designs and building infrastructure. Create an internship for a student with
the best concept, use the business area to help with investments etc…Projects can be done by
in-house by facilities employees, sure it may create overtime, but the savings could still be 3050% vs. having outside contractors. The university has qualified contractors, electricians, ac,
etc...
10) If new positions would need to be filled, starting salaries could be much lower to save
money. If the candidate doesn’t want to come on at that salary, at least the money will be
saved and existing faculty and staff will not be demoralized by having someone new at a salary
close to theirs in what looks to be a time of few raises in the future.
11) Refurbish existing unused furniture. Thousands of dollars are being spent on new furniture
when there are high quality pieces sitting in Warner basement.
12) In 2010 the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay switched the default font on its e-mail
system from Arial to Century Gothic. The university says the change sounds minor, but it will
save money on printer ink when students print out e-mails.
13) Could we privatize a school, while retaining state funding for the rest of the university?
14) Ask vendors to reduce their fees, if we are expected to contribute to addressing the budget
deficit, ask the vendors, who make money off the contracts to share some of the burden or
remove contracted vendors, you can normally find a lower price elsewhere.
15) Can industrial and mechanical engineering be merged? What other areas could be merged?
This would save a chair, assistant, business administrator.
16) Are we set up on ACH for all business transactions? This could save money in returned
checks and would save in postage and supplies, as well as time and effort of staff.
17) Look into outsourcing the operations of information technology, with the negative feedback
in this area if you consider outsourcing, this should be an area to look at first. Contact IBM,
Accenture etc…
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18) In the financial crisis building projects should be stopped. Such as updating labs,
classrooms, and offices.
19) Review the undergraduate classes and push towards online courses. If handled correctly,
students can learn just as much at a lower cost. If the colleges would like to teach face to face
have them provide justification. Some may need to have face to face for true understanding
and knowledge of the course.
2/3/15: One area that I believe could be looked into and considered for reduction is our
athletics. Cut some of the programs. If just one male and one female sports program is cut, the
savings would be significant, but might limit the impact to our campus and students. We are a
teaching/academic university and our students are here for that. Athletics do not make us
money.
Another area to look into is the many layers we now have at the university. Do we need a
Diversity officer or Admissions & Enrollment person at the Assistant Chancellor level? These
have just recently been added and should be reconsidered. We now have a Risk Manager,
Sustainability, Project Manager, PATH program, and more new positions. All of these areas
could be considered at as well. They are one or two individuals and have not been around long
enough to determine the position’s value, but with Budget cuts do we have the luxury of
waiting to evaluate the impact(s)? Can some of these areas be combined? Could services be
centralized or deleted? Necessity or Just “nice to have”?
Another area to consider is the academic support staff consider having them as 11 month
employees. Faculty are not around during the entire summer and the savings might be worth
assessing. The impact should be a smaller imprint on the campus, but the savings might be
significant.
2/3/15: I propose the campus absorbs the DLC. I do not know enough about the functioning of
OCE, but they could also be absorbed by campus.
Economies of scale can be gained by incorporating both the student services, and marketing
into campus. This will allow the marketing department to also promote on campus courses to
perspective students in the area which can increase revenue. Student services including
advising will allow on campus students to choose distance courses that fill the requirements for
their major while offering them greater flexibility. This then could be incorporated into the
marketing strategy for at least the surrounding area to bring in new revenue.
As part of the plan of the campus absorbing the DLC, the Teaching and Learning Center should
be consolidated with ICET to provide an Academic Technologies department which will provide
both the on campus faculty with pedagogy, technology, and instructional support. The
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instructional designers that are currently in charge of designing distance courses along with D2L
administrator and small (1 to 2 students and 1 FTE) tier 2 support/production assistants would
also part of this department. This will allow the instructional designers to help with blended
classrooms, flipped classrooms, online instruction, integrating more technologies into courses,
and designing a course that is equally fully on campus and fully online allowing a better ROI per
course.
Part of this consolidation would be the incorporation of distance General Education
requirements being offered online by UW Platteville. The departments and their chairs would
be required to support these courses, and can go to the Academic Technologies department for
assistance, or be charged back for the development of courses. This will bring in revenue lost
to UW Colleges, and provide a better student experience by having the student only having to
work with one university.
Normally in such dire circumstances of budget deficits the first thing that comes out is a hiring
freeze. This freeze should start immediately.
The DLC is constantly hiring new employees for positions that aren’t really needed, or could be
done by campus departments.
2/3/15: Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback in this process.
In regards to the revenue options spreadsheet:
-Charging a fee per participant for intramurals seems like a reasonable thing to do. It also
seems like an option to explore prior to cutting the intramural program in general as mentioned
in the budget reduction options.
-The amount proposed for rent to the DLC seems very high for the size space they are currently
in. Has a market comparison been done for the cost per square footage for office space in the
city of Platteville to justify this amount? If not this may be a very short term solution as they
could then move off campus and rent space at a substantially lower cost.
-The list in general is very short. It would seem that efforts need to be focused in this area to
help us in the long term. Is there a committee in place or one being formed to focus on long
term revenue generating options?
Response: As part of the Strategic Plan Priorities, the Control Our Own Destiny team has a
committee specifically dedicated to this effort.
In regards to the budget reduction options:
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-Once a cost per day has been established for the savings for closing campus, investigate other
scenarios besides just the last week of December. An example might be 4 day weeks during the
summer with campus being closed on Fridays.
-Anywhere merging departments is mentioned needs careful consideration. Things that sound
or seem similar may be found to be vastly different and offer very little cost savings. Many of
these are also listed as TBD currently.
-Explore short term suspension of items on the list marked for elimination like
sabbaticals. Perhaps a short term solution is to suspend them now and find a new revenue
stream to fund them in the future.
-There are a number of contradictory items on the list in regards to the Distance Learning
Center. On one side the list says things like cut the print program, merge their marketing with
campus, merge their help desk with campus, etc. On the other side the list says give them the
graduate on campus programs, charge them more rent and up their administrative cost. If we
expect them to grow and contribute more than they currently do to campus we have to make
careful decisions on what changes are made to their operation.
-Moving things like MCIC and the Heartland Festival to a cost recovery/self-funding basis seems
wise. Great things to have on our campus but not necessities in these tough budget times.
Overall a strategy that balances short term and long term impacts is needed.
2/3/15: Thank you to the Academic Staff Senate for giving us the opportunity to present
feedback Monday and consider our requests.
This is in regards to University Information and Communications, of which at least eight of
these proposals directly or indirectly impact. For instance, the elimination of the speech writer
and LAE public relations positions would make those duties absorbed by our office without us
adding staff. UIC is willing to do our parts, but with the understanding that the public relations
and publications areas will have to set priorities over future projects.
Some we very much applaud. For instance, consolidating print services could save the university
tens of thousands of dollars by not buying large printers or copiers. The professionally-trained
staff and state-of-the-art equipment at Pioneer Printing and Postal Services can handle the
campus printing needs and deliveries to campus. Likewise, we look to work with campus on
integrating our marketing and other like services.
The one area of concern is the proposal to consolidate video production support from UIC and
Media Technical Services. It comes with a $40,000 savings, which means a position would be
eliminated. We are offering an alternate to that proposal.
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The need for video will only increase as the university
·
continues to depend on enrollment for revenue
·
makes public the capital campaign
·
increases the social media content
·
plans for the sesquicentennial
·
flips classrooms
Our proposal than is to keep the video team as is and combine it with our vacant social media
position. When we started the social media position almost four years ago, it was important to
have a full-time position in place to help departments establish their accounts as well as set up
university guidelines. Now that our various accounts are up and running, the university’s social
media efforts should be focused on the best possible content, and that content is video.
According to Digital Sherpa:
·
YouTube is the number two search engine in the world
·
100 million internet users watch an online video each day
·
46 percent of internet users view at least one video online over the course of the month
We propose that we keep the video positions and pick up the other social media responsibilities
in our office. We have actually been doing that in UIC for some time already. By keeping the
video team intact, we can eliminate the social media position, which would save $43,000
instead of the proposed $40,000. UIC and MTS will collaborate more on video, but this crucial
component should be increased, not decreased. Please consider this alternative solution that
will allow us to continue reaching audiences via video while actually saving the university
money at the same time.
2/4/15: I suggest that early retirement should be offered.
There are too many Chiefs and not enough Indians! Drop some of the upper management
down into open positions to fill those positions that need to be filled.
2/4/15: Here are a few suggestions. You have probably considered them already, but just in
case….
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1) Eliminate (or postpone) the Writing Emphasis requirement. The underlying idea is okay;
however, implementation is problematic and will require additional resources (smaller class
sizes). Also, it will require extra credits for some majors and increase time to graduation.
2) Self-examination of all programs requiring more than 120 credits to graduate. Make each
defend.
3) Determine if General Education requirements can be reduced. I haven’t worked out the
numbers, but I would think even a 3 credit reduction would equate to significant savings. For
example, require a total of 9 credits from Hum/HP/FA from at least two areas instead of the
current 12.
4) Have an “internal” spreadsheet of all positions and salaries so campus-wide input can occur
for all areas.
5) Examination of all new administrative positions created in the last 4 or 5 years. How many
are absolutely critical versus “it would be good to have a person that….”
6) Review all administrative positions for percent time spent “on the job”. Some people appear
to be working full bore 100% of the time. Others seem to have insufficient work to fill a
day. (This is anecdotal – need to measure and assess).
7) High impact practices are good but in some cases VERY expensive. If we were to give certain
types of experiences to all students, the cost would be enormous. Examine all current high
impact practices. Keep the ones that impact the most students for the lowest cost. Suspend
those that impact a small numbers of students at a high cost per student.
2/4/15: Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback to the budget reduction items that
have been proposed by Senior Leadership – and to propose additional items for
consideration. I offer the following:
Comments
1) I support the items identified in green (Action: Yes) in the budget reduction spreadsheet,
with the following exceptions:
a.
Eliminate Teaching Learning Center: Combining it with ICET, as was proposed elsewhere,
seems to be a logical move.
b. Examine elimination of Print-Based Program: This program serves a wide variety of
audiences, and is generating revenue for the campus. Cutting it would represent a loss of
revenue for the campus.
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2) I support the items identified in yellow (Action: Maybe), with the observation that there
are very few items in this category –and I hope the suggestions coming from the budget
feedback form, the Senates, Budget Committee and Strategic Planning Committees will be
included in this section for continued review and feedback of students, faculty and staff.
3)
I support many of the items identified in red (Action: No), with the following exceptions:
a.
Eliminate Camps and Clinics: This activity would benefit from additional campus
resources being invested in centralized marketing, oversight, coordination, etc. I trust that
including it on this list doesn’t mean it will remain “as is” – but that further work will be done to
introduce improvements.
b. Eliminate Confucius Institute: I whole-heartedly support not cutting the Confucius
Institute funding. We need to maintain this valuable cross-cultural resource for both the
campus and community – community members, including young people, have a rich, unique
experience and awareness of our global connections when they interact with Institute faculty
and staff (Enriches the Tri-States). Institute faculty teach the Mandarin language classes on
campus that generate tuition dollars, at no cost to the campus.
Questions
1)
What is the $40,800 cost for Camps and Clinics?
Response: This is the position for an Assoc. Student Svcs Coordinator paid for by Residence Life
and Dining that is currently vacant.
2)
What is the $601,000 cost for Remedial Education?
Response: This represents the budget for the estimated amount to be spent on remedial
education in the current year.
3) Do all of the buildings on campus have a motion sensor for lights and heat – to help save
utility costs? And related to that, do all computers – including those in classrooms – go into
automatic “sleep” mode when not in use?
Suggestions
1) Re-examine the practice of distributed budgeting for managers GPR and PR funds – and
go back to the centralization model for a period of time, until robust training has been
developed for department heads and other administrative positions – to ensure they have the
skills and information needed to manage these funds. Or require that account managers
demonstrate a certain level of knowledge before they are given the authority to manage
funds. If there are areas on campus spending money they didn’t have, why would this be
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allowed to continue? A basic understanding of accounting principles and the university’s
financial system (WISDM) is something all account managers should be required to learn and
demonstrate.
2) Recognize the accomplishments and preserve the ability of cost-recovery programs and
units (for example, Distance Learning, Continuing Education) to operate without a deficit and to
generate sufficient revenue to reinvest in program enhancements and expansion, thereby
helping to increase the revenue that is coming back to the campus. The DLC and OCE have
been very entrepreneurial and fiscally responsible while serving the needs of thousands of
students. If substantial cuts are made to these areas, or a substantial administrative fee is
assessed (10% - 20% or more), they will not be able to continue to grow and will eventually
begin declining in revenue – and the campus will have lost a valuable source of revenue.
3) Look at the economics of having students pay for what they use – instead of providing all
of the products and services that are currently available for free. This includes activities such as
the printed Campus Calendars, Campus Read, Distinguished Lecturer, Textbook Rental, PAC
membership, etc. Some of these items have appeared in other comments. There is no doubt
that these activities provide wonderful benefits to those who use them – but maybe they aren’t
all adding critical value to our students’ campus experience. Students may be willing to pay for
their own calendars/planners, textbooks, fitness center membership, etc.
2/4/15: The metrics I used were (1) how to ensure that my friends here keep their jobs; and (2)
does it help the students?
1. My first suggestion is to have an across-the-board 5% salary cut; everyone from the
Chancellor to the lowest paid employee.
2. Leave PACCE as is. The students voted for the differential tuition increase for this. It would
be a "slap in the face" to students to cut this funding. In addition, it is one of the researchdetermined high impact practices. It directly benefits students.
3. Leave the Teaching & Learning Center. Because it, in so many ways, helps those of us who
teach be more effective, it benefits the students all across our campus. Personally, I use their
services on a regular basis.
4. Eliminate such events as the holiday luncheon. It is lovely; it is fun and it does not benefit
students.
You have a Sisyphean task ahead of you. I commend the UABC for all your hard work.
2/4/15: I’m disappointed that the burden of these cuts falls disproportionately on one college
(LAE) over the other two (BILSA and EMS). By my calculation, just going by the color-coded
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spreadsheet, fully 82 percent of LAE proposed items were approved for cutting, while only 15 %
of BILSA’s were. All of EMS’s cuts were listed as “TBD.”
Additionally, LAE is bearing 11% of the overall burden of the cuts, while BILSA is bearing 4% of
the burden and again, we don’t know about EMS because their cuts are all “TBD.”
2/4/15: Could we look at pushing the Athletic Department towards cost recovery? The Budget
Review & Reduction Reference Materials PowerPoint states that the Athletic Department
receives $1.3M in GPR. I know the Athletic Department already generate some revenues in the
form of concessions & admissions. We have great athletic venues and could host additional
high school & club sporting events to generate revenue from tournaments fees, concessions &
admissions. A couple other revenue generating ideas were mentioned already on the budget
feedback website: charging for PAC membership and charging intramural fees for students.
Can we look for other areas of collaboration within the UW system? For example, we are
collaborating with UW-Whitewater for our new phone system.
This policy may already be under consideration… I think we should wait to disburse Financial
Aid until after the 100% drop period is over. Financial Aid typically disburses during the first
week of classes and students are still dropping course after FA has disbursed. Student’s FA gets
recalculated after a drop if they received grants or their student status changes; causing us to
collect the FA that was already disbursed to the student. Changing this policy would eliminate
some of our bad debt and reduce the time and energy in trying to track and collect that bad
debt. We should also look at increasing the drop fee, which is currently $15.
The print-based program shouldn’t be cut. This program has had a positive variance of over
$25,000 annually. 10% (typically $35,000) of the tuition revenues generated from the printbased program goes directly to the campus in the form of our campus overhead charge. Not
only does this program provides financially benefits to our university it also benefits our nontraditional students giving them the flexibility needed to complete their degree.
I don’t think we should increase the overhead charge of the cost recovery programs from 10%
to 20% of revenues. The DLC already supports the campus in numerous ways beside this
overhead charge; for many years we’ve contribute approximately 22%-25% of our revenues to
the campus annually. This additional 10% charge wouldn’t allow us to grow and offer additional
programs to remain competitive in the online market. This may be a short-term fix for the
campus, but this will hurt the DLC as well as the campus in the long run.
Lots of talk about furloughs in on the budget feedback website… Aren’t furloughs a short term
fix? I thought we were looking for long term results?
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Thanks for letting our voice be heard.
2/5/15: Has anyone noticed that Academic Staff and Classified Staff seem to be taking the
greatest amount of this budget-cut burden? Faculty are still getting raises, faculty can still
travel, and faculty are rarely seen in the cuts. Academic Staff and Classified Staff provided
faculty with a lot assistance. Perhaps, a faculty member could add in hours to his/her day to
work in the TLC or Writing Center.
Morale will only decline among the Academic Staff and Classified Staff if the above conditions
continue. Hiring staff to replace those who leave is more costly. And, with a hiring freeze, who
will be able to do the work if a person cannot be replaced?
Perhaps we should consider eliminating the raises of faculty, at least in the near future. Also,
have we approached looking at the budget with what do we really need vs. what do we really
want approach? Needs should be prioritized first. Wants should come second. Instead of
cutting to cut, we should be strategic in the long-term implications some of these cuts have.
2/5/15: Although this is not significant, we should reduce the number of students sitting in
reception in the Chancellor's office.
There are usually two students at all times. I believe the phones can be covered by existing
staff.
2/5/15: I suggest we explore the cost/benefit of working more closely with Southwest Tech
(and the greater Wisconsin Technical College System) to develop and strengthen pathways for
successful student transfer to UW-Platteville. This would involve developing partnerships
beyond articulation agreements, including the development of program pathway maps to
streamline the transfer process. It would also include the establishment of marketing,
recruiting, admitting, and student services to attract and support this population of students.
2/5/15: Budget reduction ideas
1.
With the new flexibility, request shutting down the University for one week in
December/January (requiring only 3 days of furlough). Save on personnel costs only since the
utility savings go to UW System.
2.
Voluntary furlough days during spring break.
3. Early retirement option- pay out $5000 -$10,000
Personnel
Tenured or tenure line faculty
Current salary
$60-$70,000
New personnel
$50,000
Savings per year
$10-20,000
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Full Time
Academic staffSr Lect.
$41,400
$34,275
$7000
Program assistants
4.
Four 9 hr weeks for staff= 36 hours staggered weekday shifts in departments for
summer and during school year. Permanent changes to hours.
5.
Consider phased retirement/shared job options for administrators, and key program
assistant positions
6.
Incentives for big ideas that are implemented - $50 for savings of $5000
7.
Go paperless—sell file cabinets- use electronic only agenda for meetings - scan
documents and use electronic storage and retrieval system (cloud, shared drive)
8.
Eliminate textbook center (have students purchase online) to reduce staff, security
systems, etc. use Segregated fees to fund PACCE.
9.
Review contract with Follet and bookstore to see if we could make money from selling
tshirts etc. and if we don’t close textbook center, combine textbooks and book store.
10.
Eliminate internal catering- or make prices competitive- reduce or eliminate food at
events for faculty (wine and cheese, catered lunches) – charge for outside use of venues for
weddings, business meetings and outside groups
11.
Eliminate low attendance committee meetings - as Faculty Senate is discussing (uses
Program assistants time to type, manage)
12.
Interview all applicants via Skype, negotiate costs for recruiting services- Don’t spend
$50,000 to recruit a Dean position
13.
I Move marketing out of Admissions and Enrollment and into the Business department
where students could serve as interns. (3 open LTE positions as NF Status Examiner- eliminate
all of those)
14.
Combine multiple events- Homecoming, retiree breakfast, October, March
15.
Don't video tape meetings- have missing attendees read minutes
16.
Anytime anyone retires, re-evaluate, redistribute duties (like TLC did )
17.
Evaluate administrative positions- not fill University Research Position, eliminate
Director of OIEA position, re- assess and combine duties.
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18.
Implement a wellness program to lower insurance rates for the university- survey to
determine fee structure for services on campus for the PAC etc.
19.
Limit travel for Chief Diversity Officer. Combine Office of Multicultural Student Affairs
with Gender and Sexuality (leave unfilled open positions interim associate coordinator of
Gender and Sexuality).
20.
With no funds for future building, eliminate Campus Planning and moving people to
other open positions (includes campus planning and project management)
21.
We have an International Program Director and staff in International Education and a
team that includes recruiters and outreach specialists AND an International Admissions Advisor
in Admissions. Combine and sit under Admissions since both are about recruiting and retaining
international students? The transfer personnel could be a branch under Admissions and
Enrollment.
2/5/15: I wanted to share a few ideas I’ve regarding the budget shortfall and some possible
revenue streams.
1. Moving from a textbook rental system to a buyback program. I understand that the
textbook rental program is a popular option for keeping college affordable, but by shifting to a
system where students buy their textbooks and then sell them back to the bookstore at the end
of the semester we could create more revenue while still providing a price break for students.
For example, students would purchase their Intro to Engineering textbook for $120, but would
sell it back to the bookstore for $60 at the end of the semester. This provides a greater revenue
stream than the rental program but the students are still saving money in the long run. The
bookstore could pay out more for general education and intro level textbooks that would get a
lot of use and not pay as much for the more advanced, degree-specific books. This in turn may
encourage the students to keep these advanced textbooks as a resource as well. UW-Madison
uses this system with great success, so we could look to them as a resource when modeling our
own program.
2. Furlough. I have heard several people suggest a furlough for faculty and staff but I would
urge caution when considering the time frames. While some people may be able to absorb two
weeks without pay around Christmas time, it could be very difficult for others. This could also
negatively impact workload as items would pile up over the course of two weeks and student
registration and other areas could be negatively impacted. I would instead suggest having 1-2
furlough days a month. This would spread out the burden on employees over the course of the
year while still providing cost savings for the University. Or you could implement a fall and
spring break the included a furlough of three days in a row. Again, you still have cost savings
without employees seeing a drastic pay reduction in one swoop.
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3. Overlapping services. I am not familiar enough with the roles and budgets of certain groups
to know if this suggestion would be practical, but I would suggest taking a critical look at
organizations with overlapping services and duties such as ITS, ICET, and the Teaching and
Learning Center. While they are all assets to campus, it is possible that some of these
organizations could be consolidated. This would be a very large project with costs of its own,
but I think looking critically at these services and how they complement or compete with one
another could provide long-term cost savings and efficiencies.
Thank you for creating this open line of communication. I wish you luck with your deliberations.
2/5/15: I would offer the following input for the current budget deficit:
1) Eliminate the MEMS/Nanotechnology major and potentially eliminate 1.0 FTE
2) Eliminate the Philosophy major and potentially eliminate 1.0 FTE
3) Transfer the Media Studies department to the School of Business to produce the $117,011
savings as indicated in the Budget recommendations
4) Eliminate the Computer Science Master’s Program and potentially eliminate 1.0 FTE
5) Increase the current parking permits as follows:
a) Annual Staff from $215 to $265
b) Semester Staff from $115 to $150
c) Annual Student Residence Hall from $190 to $200
d) Semester Student Residence Hall from $105 to $115
e) Annual Commuter Student from $190 to $200
f) Semester Commuter Student from $105 to $115
g) Staff Motorcycle from $105 to $115
h) Semester Staff Motorcycle from $55 to $65
i) Ensure that all parking lots are enforced during the summer when there is the
perspective they are not
6) Eliminate the Collaborative Lab monies to produce the $200,000 in savings as identified in
the Budget recommendations
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7) Reduce the EMS Assistant Deans by 1 FTE to produce the $88,250 in savings as identified in
the Budget recommendations
8) Move responsibility for the Collaborative Engineering under the supervision of the Distance
Learning Center to produce the $221,300 savings as identified in the Budget recommendations
9) Merge the Teaching & Learning Center with ICET to produce the $77,129 in savings as
identified in the Budget recommendations
10) Do not eliminate the print-based BSAD program, this is already a $35,000 annual positive
revenue generation
11) Approve the move of the graduate processes to the DLC to produce the $31,859 as
identified in the Budget recommendations
12) Approve the elimination of the Director of Graduate of Studies to produce the $76,508 in
savings as identified in the Budget recommendations
13) Do not approve the increase in the current administrative fee of 10% for cost recovery
programs to 20%. In the case of online learning, they are already generating a substantial
amount of money that goes directly back to this university, why penalize them for being
successful? Raising their administrative and beginning to charge them $400,000 annually in rent
will not allow them to put their proposed 5-year plan into action. Penalize the programs that
have not been successful in generating revenue or being wise stewards of revenue generated
by student tuition.
14) I would also be in favor of all the Budget recommendations that are currently identified as
being “green”, with the exception of eliminating the print based program as discussed in #10
above, or others I would support to produce approximately $2.5 million in cuts.
2/5/15: Just a couple ideas for cost savings.
1) No longer print the Exponent and just have an online version.
2) For all departments instead of printing flyers for events, pioneer appeal, retirements, career
fair, etc (all printed flyers) no longer print them. Create a place online where you can house all
these electronic files that ppl can view. Like an online event board – then you can click on the
link and still get the flyer, but you don’t have to pay for a printed flyer. Or have them sent out
via email from Paul Erickson or someone in publications to all staff.
3) Implement a policy like SWTC where there is no work on Fridays (June-July) for departments
where that can happen. Ppl either have to use vacation or work 10hr days. This will save on
energy consumption.
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4) Short term – Furlough days again
2/5/15: The one truly difficult part of this process is talking about changing or eliminating
positions without people thinking it is something personal. There is no one on this campus who
wants to see anyone lose their job. With that being said, as part of a cost recovery department,
I know that we would see a 5% budget savings or gain by ordering our own office supplies
through Staples, rather than going through Physical Plant's Central Stores. By ordering supplies
directly, the 3% markup used to fund the central stores position would be eliminated, plus we
would receive a 2% rebate for using our p-card.
Another position that I believe can be eliminated is the interior decorator position. My
understanding is that this position not only orders furniture and décor items, it also handles
space allocation and room usage processes. I am certain that each department is fully capable
of ordering any furniture they might need, especially so they can ensure that they receive the
items that will be most functional for them. I was under the impression that at one time, the
space allocation and room usage process was handled by the campus planning office. As we
look at the possibility of slowing down on building and remodeling projects, there shouldn't be
the need for a full time interior decorator, and campus planning should be able to handle any
changes in facility use and allocation changes.
I would like to quickly comment on the cost recovery departments on campus. Unfortunately,
many people do not realize that as revenue is generated, plans are being made at the same
time to cover the expenses for the next fiscal period, and for maintenance of buildings and
equipment. There are supplies that continue to be needed and by having a little extra revenue
at the end of the year, there is the possibility that projects that continue to get further behind
might be addressed. Also, as revenue generating departments, we are finding that
administration is continually coming up with expenses that they push out departments to
cover, so when we think we might have a balanced budget, the next thing you know there is a
new expense that we haven't had time to budget for. Cost recovery departments are not the
"pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow, but they are definitely helping support campus in many
ways.
Thank you for the hard work being put into this difficult process.
2/5/15: 1. After the Chancellor leaves, make plans to sell his house and grounds. Previous
interim chancellor did not live in the Chancellor's home and it sat empty several years until our
current Chancellor was located. Maintaining a residence is expensive and may not match the
tastes of the Chancellor.
2. Merge academic departments, eliminating a chair position and administrative assistant
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2/6/15: On January 19, the Telegraph Herald published a story about $12.2 million dollars being
directed to upgrades for two Uw-Platteville dorms- Dobson and Melcher....beginning this
summer. This was on the heels of a $5.7 million budget cut proposal published to UWPlatteville's website the preceding Friday. Why, in the midst of this "budget crisis" would
millions be directed to "renovations" for dorms that have adequately served our needs since
the 1960's. After building two new dorms (2012 and 2013) and renovating Porter (2012),
couldn't those dollars be better spent addressing other priorities? Cutting majors, minors and
academic programs poses a very real risk that those dorms may not be needed. I recognize
those "building commission" dollars likely reside in a different pot of money than operating
funds....but I think all those dollars are green. It appears that dollars get re-appropriated when
it suits the decision-maker's needs. In this case, the dorms can wait. Investigate the re-directing
of some or all of those millions of dollars. Thank you.
2/6/15: I wonder why we are operating the dining services at Southwest Wisconsin Technical
College. It does not cover costs, so we are losing money, and that does not even include all the
added duties in accounting for the funds every week/month. Also, what does this service have
to do with education here at UW-Platteville?
2/9/15: Some ideas/comment/feedback regarding budget reduction.
1) Many suggestions have been made regarding fees charged. These include items such as
charging a higher add/drop fee or increasing the graduation fee to $1,000. The senates and
UABC should take a look at UW System policy F44. https://www.wisconsin.edu/financialadministration/financial-administrative-policies-procedures/fppp/f44-tuition-and-fee-policiesfor-credit-instruction/. For add/drop fees, these are only allowed after the 100% refund period
has ended and that the fee is to cover "administrative costs." Fees need approval of the Vice
President for Finance at UW System. We cannot arbitrarily create fees. They need justification
and system approval.
2) UW-P has discussed adding withdrawal fees (all classes). Financial policy F44 allows $50
during the first week and $100 during second week. This should be enforced. To cover this
potential fee, the admission deposit should be raised to $200 as allowed by F44. F44 also
allows a $100 fee if the tuition is not paid in full by the due date. I believe we currently charge
$30. We should raise that fee to what UW System allows. A22 under F44 allows a $50 late
registration fee which should also be enforced.
3) Consider eliminating tuition plateau like UW Stout. Charge a flat per credit hour fee. The
plateau is a benefit for some but a hindrance for others. There is also abuse of the tuition
plateau.
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4) Enforce excess credit policy. Waivers have been granted for nearly every student but other
campuses are enforcing.
5) Eliminate print-based program. This idea is on the original list. Some have given feedback to
continue the program as it is cost-recovery and state that it provides $35,000 to the
campus. However, this program creates a lot of continuous manual processing in various
administrative departments on-campus. Eliminating the program can improve efficiencies and
perhaps create some cost savings in excess of the $35,000. The number of students served is
relatively small given our entire campus population. Our print-based courses are available online. For those who prefer the non-standard term individualized approach, there are other
options to complete the courses elsewhere and transfer them to UW-P.
6) Eliminate duplication of functions (admissions, financial aid, cashier, registrar) between
campus and DLC. It may mean moving some positions but could result in a net reduction of
staff.
7) Charge students on a per page basis for printing eliminating the bulk allotment. There are
other campuses that do this.
8) Review Winterim. What is the financial cost vs. financial benefit? There are some regulatory
issues that need to be addressed which may require Winterim to be part of a term in the future
(similar to the pre-session and post-session for summer). This would have a financial impact if
we still have the tuition plateau. Some non-UW schools have eliminated their Winterim session
and start spring a week earlier. These schools offer a "May Term" instead. Pros and cons
should be evaluated.
9) Admit new students for summer as degree-seeking instead of special. This may encourage
more summer students.
10) Several have commented on remedial education. Some campuses do programs in the
summer requiring students who need remediation to complete those programs prior to their
first semester. Would there be any benefits to doing this at our campus?
2/10/15: ITS staff spent time at a recent staff meeting brainstorming cost savings and revenue
generating ideas. We explored ideas internal to ITS, more broad ideas across campus as well as
looking at collaboration and outsourcing ideas. We have identified a short list that we will
continue to explore in more detail. The longer list of ideas is also attached. Please note this
was a brainstorming exercise and not an in depth review/analysis.
Cost Savings Ideas
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Personnel/Positions
Reduce student labor and concentrate on hiring more work study students
Eliminate student IT lab consultants in labs on weekends and during evenings
Reduce student employees working after 5PM and have no evening IT Help Desk
Outsource Printer Maintenance and replacement
Fit gap analysis of positions if vacant
Printing
Reduce number of printers on campus
Purchase recycled toner cartridges instead of new toner cartridges
Continued consolidation of printing/copying/scanning/faxing - Move to MFD’s with leases
Set duplex printing as default for all printers
Operational
Close ResNet office and staff ResNet out of Help Desk
Evaluate consolidation of ITS and DLC Help Desk
Cut travel for conferences and meetings
Have all helpdesk requests automatically be generated in helpdesk database instead of someone re-entering
tickets.
Review support agreements and levels
Delay or lower priority on new projects/requests
Review and explore chargebacks for ITS projects/services
Technology Hardware
Reducing/Eliminating computer labs across campus
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Research moving all students to laptops and reduce labs. Campus currently has over 1400 lab computers
Extend warranty on computers and keep longer instead of replacing computer
Reduce devices per person [iPad/phone/desktop/ laptop]
Increased use of the Virtual desktop across campus and reduce cost of computers purchased.
Explore sharing data centers with other universities
Software
Explore if we can reduce the number of software platforms we have. IE: Oracle, SQL, etc
Fewer Customizations in PASS
Review updates to existing systems & reduce/delay/eliminate based on need
Look at Site license vs. individual license
Continue to negotiate on software licenses and hardware leases
Revenue Generating Ideas
Charge students for virus troubleshooting, or reinstalling software on their personal computers [i.e. ResNet]
Charge departments for ITS services
Charge – back for [personal] computer repairs
Become HP and Apple certified so we can charge back for repairs
Connecting MTS with other campus’ to provide services
Selling old hardware
Combined ITS Brainstorming Ideas-Longer List.pdf
2/10/15: Here are a few thoughts regarding some of the ideas being considered and a few
other ideas as well.
I support:


eliminating the Confucius Institute,
moving the Heartland Festival to self-funding,
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


reviewing of the Writing Emphasis,
consolidating gender/sexuality services,
eliminating sabbaticals for a few years,
I do not support:





eliminating Director of Graduate Studies - oversight of grad programs at the senior
administrative level is needed
eliminating print based program - won't reduce costs
moving graduate processes to DLC
suspend SAIF and CIF for a few years
increasing administrative fees for DLC to 20% and increasing rent DLC pays - trying to
get the cost recovery programs to fund the campus by burdening them is counterproductive. The cost recovery programs provide an opportunity to generate more
revenue, but not if the campus is going to penalize the programs severely.
Another source of revenue:


eliminate Graduate Assistantships
increase the number of enrollments in cost recovery programs
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