Budget squeezes Johnson State

And now, the Vermont State College system, including Johnson, will raise tuition rates by 4 percent this year.

To pay those bills, Tymon relies on a job in the college maintenance department, doing landscaping and other physical work. His pay comes partly through federally subsidized work-study programs for students, and from the college budget.

But he could lose part of that lifeline.

With declining state government support — Vermont was already among the lowest in the country — the college is cutting some of its student work hours as of July 1, to help deal with cuts in its $30 million budget.

“I know they are trying to do everything they can not to cut faculty,” Tymon said. “That’s great; we know we want to keep faculty here, but we need to keep kids here. The kids are paying for this college. Do we want to cut them?”

In this tight budget year — a state government struggling to avoid a deficit, and federal stimulus money drying up — Vermont colleges face some tough choices.

To deal with a $700,000 budget gap, Johnson State is planning cuts in a number of places. It will cut $100,000 from student payroll (federally funded work-study money won’t be affected), and $100,000 in part-time teaching jobs. That could mean eliminating one class in each department.

Also cut are $100,000 from supplies, and $50,000 to $100,000 from marketing — the work of recruiting new students.

The college is losing $332,000 (7 percent) in state funds, and faces increases of 10 to 12 percent in benefit costs, including insurance, and 20 percent in utilities costs, including fuel.

The budget proposal “is still very much a work in progress,” said college President Barbara Murphy, but should be finalized by mid-May.

Where does money go?

Tuition and fees supply about 60 percent of the college’s budget.

About 15 percent comes from hosting events and other functions; 9 percent comes from grants and other miscellaneous revenues. The remainder, about 16 percent, is the state’s share.

In all, Vermont public college costs are the most tuition-dependent in the country, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers, a nonprofit higher education group. Students pay 84 percent of college costs in this state, the report said. By contrast, students in Wyoming pay under 12 percent of their education costs, and the national average is about 37 percent.

What will happen in the Johnson budget year that starts July 1?

It’s too early to say. The college is still working and reworking the budget, said Sharron Scott, dean of administration, but the plan is to spread the impact over all departments.

“I don’t think anyone believes this is going to be the death knell to any program or anything,” said Tyrone Shaw, chairman of the college journalism department.

Jan Herder, director of the Dibden Center for the Arts, said he’s glad the college is taking the shared-sacrifice approach, but as the arts center relies on student workers to put on plays and concerts, he expects a hard hit.

“Frankly, everyone is tightening their belt, everywhere — so I know Dibden isn’t excluded from that,” he said. “Of course, I would prefer to see cuts made that did not affect the student work-study and non-work-study area. But overall, the pain is being spread out over all the departments, so it isn’t that bad for any individual department.”

Salary costs

As with other institutions, pay and benefits have been driving up Johnson State’s expenses.

The college is also paying retirement benefits that will cost around $1,315,910 this year.

Murphy ($153,437), Academic Dean Dan Regan ($119,636), Scott ($111,306) and Dean of Students David Bergh ($91,569) are the top-paid administrators at Johnson State.

Its most expensive teachers include state Sen. Bill Doyle, a longtime political science professor ($96,534), and Paul Silver, a humanities professor ($89,793).

Susan Green, a sociology professor ($72,941), thinks salaries at Johnson State are a bargain, considering the quality of the teachers and comparisons to the University of Vermont.

“The two recent administrative and faculty hires at the University of Vermont, receiving salaries that total $500,000, has caused much conversation among students and faculty, and concerns about Vermont legislative priorities regarding funding UVM,” she said. “$500,000 would collectively pay for 16 new full-time faculty at JSC.”

Murphy, whose pay is set by the Vermont State Colleges chancellor and board of trustees, took a pay freeze last year.

Murphy said she will accept a freeze again in 2012 if the board and chancellor ask her to.

Would she take a pay cut?

“I don’t think it’s on the table for comment,” she said. “It’s not as small of a question as that,” because the college has to be careful about what it offers administrators, so it can attract, and keep, good people.

Scott said administrators making more than $60,000 got a 2 percent pay raise last year, administrators making less than $60,000 a 4 percent increase, teachers a 4.25 percent increase, and support staff a 5 percent increase.

The working budget for fiscal 2012 shows a 2 percent raise for full-time and part-time faculty, and a 4 to 5.75 percent increase (based on seniority) for other staff members. Contracts for college administrators and technical employees are still under negotiation.

Students want to know

Students hope the budget process, and the resulting cuts, will be delineated and explained clearly to them.

“I just want to know,” freshman Kayla Wisell said. “I want to see all of the numbers.”

Interviews with students reveal a palpable sense of frustration, but it’s not just at Johnson State. At Lyndon State College, also part of the state colleges system, students protested after teacher layoffs were announced last month. Lyndon projects a deficit that will grow from $350,000 in the coming fiscal year to nearly $1 million three years from now, without significant action. 

University of Vermont students are facing a 5.8 percent tuition increase this fall, part of an effort to cover a $5 million shortfall.

“It’s like that everywhere,” said Johnson State junior Tone Z Veillux, who may well lose his job in the college registrar’s office in the cuts.

“We’re not the only ones,” he said. “You just have to adapt to it.”