UTPA, UTB asked to make 5 percent spending cuts

EDINBURG — The Rio Grande Valley’s two public universities are feeling the pinch.

The University of Texas-Pan American and the University of Texas-Brownsville are cutting $6.2 million and $2.5 million, respectively, from their general revenues for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years.

But in a letter to faculty, students and staff, UTPA President Robert Nelsen said the university will have to find an additional $1.2 million for benefits, bringing the overall cost to the university to $7.4 million over the current biennium — the state’s budget is written in two-year blocks. He said he hopes some of that $1.2 million can come from tuition and fees from new students if the university’s enrollment continues to grow as it has.

“It’s going to be tough but we’re going to make it,” Nelsen said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the University of Texas System released its plan to reduce spending by 5 percent in the current biennium, as requested by Gov. Rick Perry last month. The plan lists proposals from the system’s administration as well as its 16 institutions.

In all, the system plans to cut $175.3 million from its and its institutions’ general revenues from the state.

UTPA had asked its colleges and other departments to find areas where they could make cuts in their budgets.

The bulk of UTPA’s cuts will come from flexible hiring freezes — which means the university will only fill vacated positions that are necessary to fill — and from postponing renovation projects.

Other cuts include limiting travel for staff and administration employees and postponing programs the university wants to implement, Nelsen said.

“Our university will feel these cuts. Our community at large will feel these cuts,” because there will be fewer jobs available, he said.

And with the possibility of the state asking for more reductions later, UTPA will have to work smarter, Nelsen said. The university can save by taking advantage of technology it already has, including having staff attend necessary meetings via Web conferencing and broadcasting professors’ lectures to students in another room.

Most of the University of Texas-Brownsville’s cuts — about $2 million — are in new revenue offsetting reductions, according to the UT System. The Brownsville university referred comments to the UT System, but officials there said they did not have a specific breakdown of where cuts were made at the institution.

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Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.