UWRF holds forum to discuss budget and enrollment updates

On Oct. 16, 2024, faculty, students, and members of the River Falls community met at the Kinnikinic Theater at UW-River Falls to discuss the university’s current budget and enrollment updates.

At the forum, various members of the administration, Deans, and Interim Chancellor Michael Martin discussed the current financial situation of UWRF and spoke on various issues in regard to the budget and student enrollment.

“This is something that takes a village,” Martin said at the forum.  “I appreciate everyone’s commitment to how far we’ve come, and your future commitment to where we’re going.”

The University is currently undergoing budget cuts across campus in efforts to close the deficit gap which has been occurring since 2021.

“In the recent past we’ve been having to pay back significant amounts,” Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Dave Ruhland stated.  “Last year we paid back $4.6 million, which took a significant portion of our reserves which is why we are where we are.  It’s not sustainable.”

In the last three years, the University has had to pay back a total of $10.3 million, according to the university’s website.

In order to change these trends, the administration have decided on a multi-pronged solution.

“We either attract or retain more students,” Ruhland said.  “We can also increase tuition rates which after a decade freeze, is now an option.”

Another way to reduce the gap is by undergoing a budget cut, Ruhland stated.

“The big driver for fiscal year 25 is the $4.2 million budget reduction,” he said.  “It is painful, and we all acknowledge that, but as you look at the numbers you can say that it is overdue.  We cannot sustain the paybacks.”

To make these cuts, the university has utilized a voluntary retirement incentive program (VRIP) for eligible faculty members.  The program seeks to reduce salary and benefit costs due to the funding challenges, “...while recognizing the invaluable contributions of its employees,” according to the university’s website.

The VRIP program allows eligible employees to leave UWRF for at least two years before returning or retiring altogether.  The University currently has 130 eligible employees, with 44 applicants, 28 of which were approved.  This measure is estimated to save the university roughly $950,000 according to Ruhland.

College Deans at the university also discussed their college budget updates during the forum and expressed the different ways they are approaching the cuts, its challenges, and unique circumstances of their respected college.

“A lot of the cuts that we have been making revolve around retirements and not filling those positions,” Dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science Michael Orth stated.  “Some of those positions going forward will not be filled unfortunately.”

“I am a little bit concerned because some of the areas where we are going to be short are our some of our biggest programs in equine and companion animal,” he said.

Orth also stated that due to being an agricultural school, the college is allowed to have differential tuition due to the higher cost of equipment.  Utilizing the differential tuition was a useful and effective way to pay for some of the more expensive equipment required for the college’s programs, according to Orth.

The Dean of the College of Education, Business and Allied Health (CEBAH) Muhammed Chishty also discussed the college’s methods in meeting the budget cut requirement.

“We have basically met our 15% budget cut by not filling faculty positions,” he said.  “This is obviously going to impact academic programs.”

To compensate for the lack of faculty, Chishty and department chairs have collaborated and reworked several majors and sections of coursework.  The college recently was able to create a new master's degree in business analytics and an undergraduate business administration degree completion program, according to Chishty.

CEBAH is also in the process of developing two new master’s degree programs in special education and healthcare analytics, according to Chishty.

The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Wesley Kisting discussed the unique challenges of the college with the budget cuts.

“CAS has served a unique purpose in the university with serving around 80% of gen-ed students,” he said.  “The freshmen classes have been growing in the last two years...that places additional pressure over and above the 15% cuts that are already placing significant pressure on our college.”

With the service of a vast majority of general education students, the college has to redirect resources and funds away from the upper division programs in the college to cater to the general education population in a “shadow cut” scenario according to Kisting.

According to Kisting the college still has a long way to go in order to fulfill the $1.5 million budget cut placed on CAS, with estimates of around $615,00 left to shave off the current college’s budget.

Kisting also stated that the addition of the university’s new Science and Technology building gives him hope for the future of the college.

“It is a huge opportunity,” he said.  “That is something that will absolutely lift all boats if it is properly leveraged...that is something that can change perceptions on the campus and the region...it makes a memorable impact whenever a prospective student and parent steps foot on our campus, to see that visible representation of growth and innovation.”

This sense of marketing to prospective students and retaining current undergraduates was also discussed as an area of high importance by Martin and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Wes Chapin.

“In the context of marketing, are we best communicating it to students, are there things that we can repackage to attract more students to campus?  How can we make families and their students knowledgeable about the opportunities that they would have if they came to River Falls?  Those are all things we are working on,” Chapin stated.

Plans to market J-Term and Summer classes are also currently in the works, according to Chapin.

“So, the bottom line here is that there is an upside that we can all get behind,” Martin said.  “I believe everyone here on this campus is part of that process, no matter who you are.  The better we make the student experience here the more likely it is that we can continue to attract really outstanding students and keep them when they get here.”