A6 • METRO • FEBRUARY 12, 2009 •THE METROPOLITAN • THIS JUST IN: Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient
at waking you up in the morning.
Budget in Limbo
Bracing for impact
As the economy skids off the road, and Colorado’s
funding for higher education crumbles under
collapsing tax revenue, Metro is fastening its seat belt.
By Andrew Flohr-Spence
spencand@mscd.edu
Metro’s bare-bones budgeting
since last fall should cover this year’s
loss in state funding, but next year’s
budget looks even thinner, the col-
lege’s administration reported last
week.
Metro President Stephen Jordan
and his staff outlined plans to deal
with almost $8 million cut from the
college’s state funding over the next
two years and warned that Colorado
could take away even more.
Revising revised budgets
Speaking on Feb. 5 at the month-
ly meeting of Metro’s Trustees, Jor-
dan and staff updated the govern-
ing board on the college’s changing
financial situation and told of tough
times ahead.
From this year’s budget, Metro
has to give back about $2.9 million of
$49 million in state funding. Most of
this would be covered by the money
saved by not hiring any new faculty
or staff per Gov. Bill Ritter’s October
announcement of the state’s hiring
freeze, Vice President of Administra-
tion and Finance Natalie Lutes told
the board.
Any more needed would be
saved by only making essential re-
pairs instead of planned remodeling,
purchasing only essential equip-
ment and cutting other minor costs,
she said.
Things look even slimmer for
next year.
Colorado’s latest budget proposal
for 2009 to 2010 (beginning July 1)
leaves Metro with about $5 million
less than this year — and the state
may have even less money, Lutes said.
Colorado’s next budget forecast
is due out in March and, if there is
more bad news, the state may have
to cut more from Metro’s funding.
Lutes said the more than 11 per-
cent already cut in funding would
set Metro back to its 2007-2008
funding levels, around $44 million,
and the college has several hundred
more students now.
“The challenge is there has been
enrollment increases and other
things that make that very difficult
to meet,” she said. Metro’s spring
enrollment is up almost 7 percent
this semester over past spring, and
enrollment is projected to continue
to increase.
Next year, more cuts will be
needed in addition to the hiring
freeze and cost containment.
Some money will be saved in sal-
aries, Lutes said. The college’s staff,
along with all state employees, lost
1 to 3 percent in yearly inflationary
pay raises and the decision has not
yet been made if the faculty and ad-
ministration will lose theirs.
But more money needs to be
trimmed. The office of administra-
tion and finance will be working
with each of the vice presidents and
deans in the coming months to lo-
cate areas each department could
simplify its operations, for instance,
where existing staff can take on ad-
ditional responsibilities, Lutes said.
Jordan said because some areas
may need more people than others,
they wanted to be able to work with
each department “to get the people
where we need them.”
Communication essential
Dialogue between the various
departments and the administra-
tion was the key to isolating where
money could be saved, Jordan said.
He said he intends to keep each de-
partment informed of the situation,
and wants departments keeping the
administration informed of their
needs, he said.
The president will meet with fac-
ulty and students Feb. 16, spending
some of the town hall-format meet-
ing to explain what is going on, but
leaving much of the time for open
discussion with the audience.
Jordan said his office will also be
communicating externally: aggres-
sively active in presenting to the leg-
islature, the media and to the public
Metro’s case — that the college is
falling behind in funding compared
to other schools.
Metro had finally gotten a little
extra from the state to make up for
the inequality, and now the college is
back where it started.
Colorado higher education statis-
tics show Metro gets less state money
proportionally to other schools. The
president said he hopes when further
budget changes are made, Colorado
legislators will consider Metro’s last
TOWN HALL MEETING
Metro President Stephen Jordan will host a town
hall meeting for the Metro community to discuss
the current fiscal climate. At the meeting he is set to
propose a set of cuts according to each department.
TIME: 8 a.m.
DATE: Feb. 16, 2009
PLACE: King Center Concert Hall
“It is hard to argue that it is fair for those institutions to receive about 60
percent more funding with three quarters of the number of students we
have. This is part of the issue that we’re trying to overcome. So when the
governor chooses to not use the funding formula as also a way of going
down, that is to try and create equity, this is the kind of disparity that
results from a public policy perspective.”
- METRO PRESIDENT STEPHEN JORDAN
place in per-student state funding. and should be put off until base sal- tinue moving forward with the plan-
Lynn Kaersvang, president of the ary increases resumed. Studies have ning of the Metro neighborhood,
Faculty Senate, agreed that Metro shown that bonuses in an economic a multi-million dollar project that
had long been treated unfairly and downturn promote favoritism, and would see the construction of more
said Jordan was handling the situa- the extra money also makes pay lev- than five new buildings to create a
tion well. els between staff unfair, for example Metro-specific area on Auraria.
Kaersvang also said the presi- giving one teacher a $10,000 bonus, Raj Khandekar, a tenured profes-
dent was doing a good job keeping while the next teacher would receive sor of management, said he agreed
the faculty informed in the process less money than the year before when the school should press on with the
of making decisions. She said the ad- adjusted for inflation, she said. plans despite the cuts in most other
ministration was sending her e-mail In that case, the faculty would areas, including possibly his pay.
updates and both Lutes and Aca- work with the board on how the “You have to keep dreaming —
demic Affairs Vice President Linda more than $2 million set aside for you cannot give up your dreams,”
Curran had made presentations to the plan could best be used in an al- Khandekar said after the Feb. 4 Fac-
the faculty to keep them informed of ternative way this year, she said. ulty Senate meeting.
the latest news. “You always have to adjust your
“I really love that the faculty are Exploring funding options dreams to reality, but the world lives
being involved in the process this Areas the college will not be cut- on hope, Wall Street lives on hope…
time,” Kaersvang said. “The faculty ting include Metro’s planned growth whether the economic situation is
really appreciates it.” and programs aimed at alternative going down or up we still have to
Giving her report to the board, funding, Lutes said. plan so that if and when conditions
Kaersvang said if the faculty did not The office of development, the improve we are ready to go.”
receive its so-called “base building” department responsible for raising Jordan told the board that his
pay increases for next year, it advises private money for Metro, as well as office was looking into several other
against going ahead with the pro- the college’s Alumni Foundation funding options for the coming year,
posed pay-for-performance bonuses would not have their budgets ef- and that in the coming month he
for teachers with high end-of-year fected. will narrow down the college’s op-
evaluations that have been more “We still need to make sure we tions and report back his findings to
than four years in the making, and have … people out there getting the board.
were slated to begin this year. grants and doing the things that will After the state’s March budget
Kaersvang said the loss of the make us less reliant on state fund- update, Lute’s office will prepare the
yearly salary increases for all faculty ing,” Lutes said. revamped July 1 budget for presenta-
would corrupt the reward system The college also hopes to con- tion at the Trustees’s May meeting.

Members of the Metro Board of Trustees talk among themselves prior to the start of the Feb. 4 board meeting. Photo by Matt Marsh • mmarsh17@mscd.edu
Projected budget
still up in the air
By Andrew Flohr-Spence
spencand@mscd.edu
Metro could face budget cuts in
addition to the $5 million proposed
in January.
Depending on the state’s March
revised budget, more money may be
cut from higher education.
“I’m not going to say (the state
budget) could get worse, I don’t
think it will get better, but we have
to know that this $5 million could
change after the March economic
forecast,” Vice President of Admin-
istration and Finance Natalie Lutes
told Metro’s Board of Trustees.
“We’re not saying the $5 million is
all that it could be.”
If enough money can’t be found
elsewhere, or if the budget gets cut
any more, radical changes may need
to be considered,” Metro President
Stephen Jordan said.
In the coming months, Metro
officials will discuss alternative fund-
ing options with higher education
officials and state legislators, Jordan
FYI: Your fingernails grow four times faster than your toenails. A7 • METRO • FEBRUARY 12, 2009 • THE METROPOLITAN
said, including capping enrollment,
or raising tuition above the state’s
allowed levels.
Both measures would require
legislators to rewrite the state stat-
utes in these areas for the first time
in the college’s history.
Limiting enrollment would
change Metro’s state mandate as a
college with open enrollment, an op-
tion Lynn Kaersvang, president of
the Faculty Senate, agrees the school
needs to look at. “I have no idea how
— we’ve never done that before, but
looking at it is really important,”
Kaersvang said.
Raising tuition would require the
state to rewrite its laws limiting the
maximum yearly tuition increases at
7 percent, and could also complicate
the number of Pell Grants for Metro
students. The state requires Pell-eli-
gible schools to cap tuition increases
at 5 percent.
Jordan said they would be last-
resort options, but if the college
couldn’t find the money, then they
were “options we have to consider.”
Metro ranks last in funding
By Tara Moberly
tmoberly@mscd.edu
Compared with other schools in the state, Metro re-
ceives less state funding per student than other colleges,
leading many to ask why the college gets no love from the
legislature.
In the Fall of 2007, Metro had 20,523 resident
undergraduate students and received $49 million in
funding. At five other four-year institutions in the state
—Western State College, CU-Pueblo, Fort Lewis College,
Adams State and Mesa State — the combined under-
grad population was 15,300 students. Funding for those
schools totaled $80 million.
For the 2007-2008 school year, Metro received
$3,028 per student from the state, less than the other five
colleges. In comparison, Western State College received
more than twice as much, taking in $7,821 per student.
“This is what I’m talking about in terms of the equity
question,” Metro President Stephen Jordan said at the
Feb. 4 Board of Trustees meeting. “It is hard to argue that
it is fair for those institutions to receive about 60 percent
more funding with three quarters of the number of stu-
dents we have. This is part of the issue that we’re trying
to overcome. So when the governor chooses to not use
the funding formula as also a way of going down, that is
to try and create equity, this is the kind of disparity that
results from a public policy perspective.”
This year, Metro received an 11.2 percent increase
in general fund money, aimed at catching the college up
to the level of its peer schools. The increase, the largest
given to any school in the state, was taken back once bud-
get cuts were announced, leaving Metro to fall behind
again.
Others at Metro have joined Jordan in criticizing the
funding process, pointing out that it is Metro students
who pay the price.
“Not only have we (the faculty) been treated unfairly,
but our students are being treated unfairly. It’s Metro’s
students that are being treated like chopped liver, I mean
[they] are not getting the services [they] should be get-
ting,” Faculty Senate President Lynn Kaersvang said at
the Feb. 4 Faculty Senate meeting.
While changes aren’t likely to be made now given the
“extreme” budget situation facing the state, Kaersvang
said she hopes the legislature remembers the cuts it made
when future budgets are formulated.
But according to state Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Den-
ver, the state does take into account the per-student fund-
ing when making decisions.
“The desire of the legislature is a goal of getting every-
one to the medium of their peers. Given the budget con-
straints, it’s just not possible. Given the constraints with
K-12, corrections and Medicaid, because of the process,
you (higher education) tend to take larger of the brunt of
the pain because you don’t have the same protections,”
said Ferrandino, who is a member of the Colorado State
Joint Budget Committee.
“The problem with the budget system is that there
is very little flexibility. Unfortunately, higher ed is one
of those places. We’ve done everything possible to avoid
cuts,” Evan Dreyer, spokesman for Gov. Ritter said.