In the face of falling state revenue, budget review teams have begun evaluating the first four areas targeted for cost savings on the Urbana campus. In addition, the Stewarding Excellence @ Illinois Web site is soliciting ideas for approaches to address financial and educational challenges, as well as ways to generate more money.
An increasing state-funding backlog for the university is the reason for the reviews. The state is now $487 million behind in payments to the university, and the number could soon exceed $500 million, said Mike Andrechak, associate provost for budgets and resource planning.
In the charge letter to each of the committees, Interim Chancellor and Provost Bob Easter and Richard P. Wheeler, interim vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the campus has to examine its expenses and how they contribute to the UI's mission. "As a campus, we are engaging in a thoughtful and thorough evaluation of how we use resources toward the broader aim of advancing excellence in our scholarship, education and outreach activities," the letter said.
The first areas under review are the Office of Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement, the Institute of Aviation, allocation of undergraduate scholarships, and information technology services.
Written reports are due April 2 for the review of the Institute of Aviation and scholarships; written reports are due April 16 for public engagement and IT services.
Additional review teams will be created in the coming weeks, and the Steering Committee is seeking suggestions for potential project team members. According to the charge letter for the project team reviewing IT@ Illinois, a potential cost savings could be $10 million. The letter suggested savings could be achieved through consolidation of services or outsourcing. Team members for the IT review also are charged with examining whether external funding could be used for services.
Each project team has been given a set of questions to be answered regarding the efficiency of the unit's operations.
The charge letter for the team evaluating the Institute of Aviation asks whether the pilot training program should be continued - particularly for freshmen - and whether the UI could partner with Parkland College, which offers pilot training.
The letter also asks the team to consider what the implications of discontinuing the institute's programs would be for Willard Airport and its commercial airline service.
Another team is in charge of looking at a program that could be a recruitment asset in the current economy: undergraduate scholarships.
The team is in charge of seeing whether merit awards are used effectively in certain academic units and whether reallocating some scholarship money can help in other financial aid areas.
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement is another area under review. Its project team is charged with examining whether its functions of engagement, corporate relations and sustainability are replicated in other units on campus. How can the campus most efficiently support public engagement? Is a central Office of Corporate Relations necessary? And since the campus currently spends a great deal of money for sustainability activities through the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability, in Facilities and Services and in the colleges, is it necessary to maintain an Office of Sustainability with a full-time director?
The charge letter also asks whether the Illinois in Washington program, an internship program based in Washington, D.C., meets strategic needs.
Steve Sonka, the interim vice chancellor for public engagement, said the office employs 15 full-time equivalent employees.
Sonka said the small office helps the campus's public engagement efforts. However, Sonka said he understands the current crisis and the need to look for cost savings.
"The state's financial conditions are what they are and it's important that the campus be looking to enhance (financial efficiency) across the campus. ... We don't want to say we welcome this, but it certainly wasn't unexpected. .. It's something all of us at the university are going to work our way through. Somebody has to be first. We plan to participate in that process," Sonka said.
Deba Dutta, dean of the Graduate College, chairs the Campus Steering Committee that meets twice a week to create a transparent evaluation process and also determine which programs, activities or units should be examined.
"We believe as we go through this process of cost-cutting and opening up new sources of revenue, that the institution will come out stronger," he said. "We've received many ideas of what projects might be cost-cutting projects or revenue-generation projects, and we discuss all these ideas in the steering committee."
A link on the Web site allows anyone to offer suggestions by filling out an online form - anonymously, if they wish.
Although the steering committee, comprising deans and other campus leaders, is charged with one of the most stressful jobs on campus, it's an important one that Dutta is determined will remain open and consultative.
"Each and every project ... impacts people, students," he said. "It's very tense. It's very stressful."
"It's something we have to handle for our institution and we have to have a plan that when this is all done, we come out stronger as an institution, albeit with a smaller footprint if budgets are being cut.
"It may be that some things we have been doing for years and years we may not be able to afford to do, even if they are excellent."
Dutta said he believes in the process because it includes so many people and their ideas.
Criteria for determining cost-saving projects
- Those where high cost savings (short-term or long-term) are possible
- Those that rely on Provost/Chancellor Office funding
- Those that are primarily administrative in function
- Those for which costs are increasing
- Those that include redundancy or duplication
- Those for which efficiencies could be enhanced
- Those that may no longer align with campus strategic goals
- Those that hinder innovation in scholarship or teaching
- Those that have the potential to increase revenue generation (short-term or long-term)
- Those that could reinforce and extend excellence
- Those that have the potential to enhance cross-campus intellectual synergies
Source: Stewarding Excellence @ Illinois Web site