Tuition could increase at Winston-Salem State University next year as the university tries to reduce its operating expenses by 10 percent.
State officials, anticipating a $3.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2011-12 fiscal year, have asked the 17 schools in the UNC system to find ways to cut their budgets. That means that WSSU officials are looking at about $7 million in possible cuts in the next fiscal year, Nancy Young, a spokeswoman for the university, said in an e-mail message.
Any tuition increases would likely be in addition to those already authorized by the General Assembly earlier this year.
In the spring, the General Assembly authorized a tuition increase of as much as $750 for UNC schools for 2010 to 2012; WSSU decided to raise its tuition by $390 for the 2010-11 school year, and by $233 in the 2011-12 school year.
Young said that no final decisions had been made about cuts or tuition increases. She said that the school’s board of trustees would likely discuss the university’s budget when it meets next month.
“We have to look at the ramifications of everything,” Young said.
“If we cut adjunct faculty, we will be reducing the number of classes we can offer,” she said. “That may mean that all the students who need those particular classes won’t be able to get them when they need them, thus extending how long it will take them to graduate. So, we have to consider where we can reduce with the least amount of impact on students.”
The university’s total budget is about $140 million, Young said. About 75 percent of the university’s expenses are personnel costs.
Other public universities throughout North Carolina also are trying to reduce costs. The UNC School of the Arts, the only other public university in Winston-Salem, is discussing a number of potential cuts.
John Mauceri, UNCSA’s chancellor, said in an e-mail to the school community that it would consider cutting its film school as one of several “worst-case scenarios.”
lgraff@wsjournal.com
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