Johanna Estrella, Staff Reporter
Johanna_Estrella@csumb.edu
Feb. 28, 2008
An invitation was sent to the CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) community to review and attend the third presentation of the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 General Fund Budget (GFB) on Thurs., Feb. 14. The presentation took place at the University Center, and was held by James E. Main, vice president for Administration and Finance, along with John Fitzgibbon, associate vice president for Finance. Presenters broadly went over how the base operating fund for the 2007-2008 Fiscal Year ($69,545,267) has been affected by the state budget cuts, and how CSUMB has been coping with the numbers given. Although there has been an increase in revenue of about $7 million from last year’s GFB, CSUMB’s reserve is significantly lower than other institutions. A reserve is a significant amount of money that is put aside for any unforeseen expenses. While ideally the institution’s reserve is about 10 percent of the GFB, CSUMB’s reserve is less than 5 percent. Most of the money from the operating fund comes mainly from taxes, fees, and trust funds, and the original numbers are divided among different CSUMB divisions. A Budget Advisory Group (BAG) for 2007-2008 Fiscal Year met from March to August last year with 10 meetings total, at which time they reviewed the GFB of last year to see where the money would be likely to move this year. A final budget review was presented to the president on Aug. 30 after the state budget had been signed. The largest increase found was in student affairs ($1,106,718), and the lowest in University advancement ($4,321). The expenditure is also used to pay off onetime expenses, such as the new library. The presentation showed 57 percent of GFB goes to paying personnel salaries, 21 percent goes to benefits and 22 percent goes to operating expenses such as electricity, facilities, contractual services and etcetera. Main explained in recent years a college education has undergone some changes. The state once paid about 90 percent of college expenses to students needing to pay about one third of their educational fees. While tuition increases each year, one third of the funds from those increases go to a state grant for financial aid. Still, it depends on how things are seen since the same money goes back into the school. Main described how “limited revenues make it impossible for academic planning,” and went on to explain his frustrations with the state after government agencies were asked to take a 10 percent cut, while the state has better prisons than educational facilities. Rudy Medina, a third year Humanities and Communication (HCOM) major said although the budget cuts have not affected him directly, he easily sees how they have affected CSUMB as a whole. As a student leader, Medina explained he does not understand the lack of funding when making an event, since tuition and enrollment has increased since he first arrived in 2005. “There are several complaints about CSUMB, how it lacks events and student participation and the budget cuts have not help solve the problem,” said Medina. He also explained how some students are suffering from the budget cuts, stating that some students who miss grants “are hit the hardest because they make enough money not to get financial aid, but not enough money to pay for college” said Medina. They have to take several loans, investments, and these investments sometimes scare students into not attending four year universities or transferring into a four year college. During the presentation, Main stated his two goals are to find a way to increase the university reserve and work better with the budget deficit since we are “living on this band aid.” The current budget allows no room for any expense to come up during the year, whether a guest speaker or any other unforeseen expense. Still, CSUMB sets money aside for these issues which help the financial situation.
