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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1979)
Summer Nebraskan, Thursday, June 28, 1979 Page 3 Roskens o o "Clearly inflaUon his ttruck at the very heart of the University," Roskens said. "It has quietly eroded our strength and vitality by diminishing our competitive positioning in the marketplace for qualified faculty, staff and students and by sapping the spirit of our current faculty." in 1969-70, Roskens cited, the avenge faculty compensa tion at UNL was $12,400. Today, with the inflation rate, the same faculty member is only making $11,000, he said. Roskens said by taking into account the inflation rate, the average income of Nebraskans rose 9.6 percent during those years. Weakened through Inflation The University is being weakened through inflation he said, and the problem is being compounded by signifi cant increases in workload throughout the University. Some shortcomings under the present budget Roskens cited were: The colleges of Business Admins tr&tion at UNLand UNO, have had to turn away 10 to 15 percent of all ap , plicants. Pre-registration for UNL's college of Engineering ex ceeds available class space by more than 900, he said. xSince 1967, the College of Dentistry, has increased enrollment by 100 percent but is lacking 20 full time facul ty, according to national standards, he said. . UNL's English department cannot meet space re quirements for 400 requests in English composition, he said. The University has also fallen behind lie sais, in maintenance and replacement of research and scientific equipment. Roskens also said the College of Medicine has not receiv ed new equipment for eight or ten years. Permanently received Because of a lack of funds, Roskens said UNL's equip ment budget will be permanently reduced by $450,000 this year. And, because of a 7 to 20 percent inflation rate annually, libraries have not been able to purchase journals, periodicals and books needed to keep faculty and staff abreast of their fields. "UNL will have less than $200,000 this year for library book purchases, an amount totally unacceptable for a graduate research institution," he said. Roskens pointed out that the faculty and staff have done everything possible to minimize the affects of budgetary cutbacks. Although the budget has been cut, he said, the universi ty has been asked to increase the number of citizen pro grams. He added that production has also increased. Even with these problems, the university faces even greater problems in the future he said. r , UNL must reduce its current operating budget by more than $1 million. Previous reports from UNL Chancellor Roy Young place the figure a little over $2 million. Similar size The medical center, including the College of Dentistry, is anticipating a loss of $1.1 million in funding which sup ports core programs, Roskens said. During 1978-79 NlTs College of Dentistry had the lowest expenditures of all public colleges of dentistry of similar size in the United States, he said. If the financial picture does not improve in the coming years, Roskens said, the university will have some undesirable choices to make. Roskens said he thinks tremendous pressure will de mand a tuition increase, even though NlTs tuition rates are currently the highest in the Big Eight. Secondly, if more funds are not made available, limita tions on class size and enrollment may have to be made, he said. Thirdly, ihe university can opt to cut funding which would further erode the quality of education. The fourth choice facing the university, he said, may be to terminate entire programs and services that are not of- HEW Two interpretations Lovitt said he feels there are two interpretations to the regulations and that other schools in the Big Eight and across the country follow approximately the same pro cedure that Nebraska does. Young contends that if there had been any wrong doing, previous audits ty HEW would have turned up discrepen cies. This practice apparently has had the approval of HEW as it was not questioned in audits at this institution, or other institutions which followed the same procedure until the past year," according to a prepared statement by Young. However, Joseph Wettstein, Assistant Regional Ad ministrator for the Bureau of Student Financial Assistance, said the audits were not designed to turn up the discrepencies. The fact that it was not picked up by an audit does not negate their (university officials) responsibility," Wetts tein said. "I can see how they would lean on it," Wettstein said. He said he can see why the university is using that logic If everyone is doing it. it does not make them look so bad, he said. . . J. William Keifer, regional administrator for the Office of Student Financial Assistance, said he did not know how much money would have to be paid back into the fund by the university. "We are going to work with the university to deter mine some satisfactory method of determining how much money will have to be paid back," Keifer said. According to Keifer this would not affect the UNL cam ' pus alone but also the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center as well. It is cot readily apparent how. much money has been made from idle cash investments, Keifer said, because NDSL idle money is lumped together with many other ac counts before it is invested. Even if the University does have to pay back money for ' past years, Lovitt said, he thinks they must pay back only money for the past seven years because of the statute of liniitationfr Ci However, the director of the Division of Certification -. M r . n . TETIT T.ai. Miuum mmtA Ka A'A not Hhink the statute of limitations would affect repay- meat.'" '- - ''- " ' " ' v If after the university exhausts it's appeal procedures and sliU does not pay back monies into the NDSL account, ths university could lose some federal aid, said red Kin ney, HEW ecspllance ofSdaL . ' - 1 tiwrn Ml t - J -t mm m tM.I mmmm- tica to force the university into compliance with HEW rtgt:btkffis. Kinney said. - Yours said fee thinks many other schools across the country vXftt a letter sialhr to the one hs received roa HEW. ' n-"'- - r A dti with some' other isstitutioss la th Uj Elsit showed that esse were in compliance with the reLttica and scsss were cot. " ' ' ' ' The Uciversity f Colorado credited NDSL accounts with interest c&de' n lilt cash fer thCrst-tias tiiav year, said! Herb Dunham, Assistant Vice President for Finance and treasurer. Dunham said the University of Colorado has received $13.9 million since the program's beginning in 1959. In 1978 the University received $2 million in NDSL funds. The interest earned on the idle cash for 1978 was about $6,000, he said. According to Donald Hoehle, Fiscal Operations Office for: the Columbia Campus of the University of Missouri,; said he felt Lovitt was. probably correct in saying that ; many other universities also have mishandled the funds. " The problem, he said, is that some states require the university to give up NDSL idle cash funds to the state for 'investment It is then difficult, he said; to determine how much interest the fund has generated. Missouri universities do not give up the funds to the State for investment by the state, he said. Kansas may have some ofthe same problems as Nebraska, said Craig McCoy, comptroller for the Universi ty of Kansas. McCoy said that in Kansas all monies must be turned over to the state treasurer who then redistributes the money to the university. fered elsewhere in the state. Type of University Nebraskans must decide what type of university they want, he said. "Nebraskans must now confront the question of whether they want their university to maintain and Improve its stature as a major teaching and research institution wor thy of the name," Roskens said. "We simply cannot continue our current decline with out suffering dire consequences for ourselves and the state as well." Roskens said that Nebraska, is not a poor state and can afford the university. Many of the programs of the university save the state large amounts of money, he said. New charge plan for health center Because of the rising costs of inflation and limited resources, effective July 1, the University Health Center will implement new charges for students using specific areas of the center and adjusting existing charges to be in line with comunity charges, according to Health Center of ficials. The Health Center is primarily funded by student fees which generated over $1.1 million in income for 1978-79. The budget for 1979-80 is projected to exceed $1.6 million. In order to meet budget requirements, the center has analyzed many existing programs and has rearranged other areas to meet student needs within budgetary limita tions. The most significant change, according to the officials will be in dermatology, allergy, orthopedics, and neurology where students will now have to pay an annual charge of $15 if they use these programs. . The change will result in a reduction of approximately $11,000 from operating expenses for the coming school year. The new charge was recommended by the Fund B Study Group during the fall of 1978 and was endorsed by ASUN during last year's budget review process. Health Center officials are uncertain as to what impact these charges will have on medical services to students because some students may elect not to receive these ser vices and avoid "user fees." - .The Health Center is also reviewing hospital charges, and meal charges which will require rate adjustments ef- fective the beginning of academic year 1979-80. . Al and Dona Stiverson's - A --' mm mm mm mi mm m mm mm mm mm m mi J At Clock Tower East-70fh & A X C Don't be misled on the price of fireworks. Shop j5 p around, then come to Oock Tower. We'll have the lowest prices in town! . f FE20G S UCJ eAt3JL,x with 1 otirehsss) or mors) & SPECIAL JUNE 30 to JULY 4 Convenient MEMMftf OJC in tho Nebraska Union Mon. 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