Western Michigan University - Brown and Gold Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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rn's finances are experiencing lily rises in expenses, but with- .t a similar rise in their corre- ondin g revenue categories. WMU's administration is faced th a need to either cutback in penses, and thus services, or to ake up additional revenue. Mak- g additional revenue can not be sily accomplished in today's ght money market, so the univer- ay is forced to reappraise their iorities and determine where tbacks can occur without hin- ring Western's ability to teach a studentsg obviously its primary lrpose. Westem is already rated as one the lowest salaried schools in e state when it comes to faculty. ren so the outlook for significant ises is at best doubtful since the iiversity cannot afford salary in- eases at a time when its own idget is being curtailed. This di- rnma alone may force some fa- lty members to migrate to gher paying institutions. Cutsin e Auxilliary Activities budget e next to impossible with main- nance costs rising and the Uni- rsity commited to improving its hletic facilities and police de- rtment. Student Aid will be ore needed than ever. Student ervices will, however, suffer some cuts in the General Fund. But such cuts will not be' of the magnitude expected in the academic areas of the university where President Bemhard has already ordered a hiring freeze for the university, precluding replacing anyone who decides to leave the employment of Western. The number and var- iety of classes will be the most no- ticable cutback as larger more crowded classes become the norm. This will help to both cut the cost per capita of classes and also make up for any instructors who fail to be replaced due the freeze. The only making up of revenue will be a small raise in dorm rates and an increase in out of state tui- tion. The rise in tuition is neces- sary because the state now de- mands that state supported schools pay for seventy-five per- cent of the cost of a non-residents education, and the increased dorm rates will to a great extent reflect rising food costs. Everyone is caught up in the same double edged problem. First it was simply a problem of rising costs, now the added burden of stringent revenues has served to multiply the difficulties. Faculty members are living with rising prices and little hope of early, sig- nificant raises. Students are find- ing themselves caught between paying more for their education while enjoying less opportunity to find employment in order to gain an income. The administrationtoo is caught in the middle of trying to maintain an acceptable level of services while suffering a substan- cial loss in net revenues. The combined effects of reces- sion and inflation have forced Western into decisive action. The result will be cutbacks in nearly all fields of service that the university offers and increased efforts to raise revenues merely to offset inflation- ary losses. These changes will uri- doubtedly detract from Western's ability to serve both its students and the society it trains them for, but if it continues to display the fiscal awareness and sensible man- agementthat it has in the past, WMU should survive relatively unscathed its Worst financial diffi- culties since becoming a Univer- sity.

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WMU Finances - Stretching Dollars . The state of our nation's econ- omy worsens each week. Inflation and recession have effected ever- yone and everything: Money is in greater supply than ever, but spir- aling costs daily reduce the value of each dollar. Westem Michigan University is no exception when it comes to feeling this financial crunch. Revenues from the state, students, and other sources, are higher than ever, yet the money is buying less and paying fewer salar- ies as rising expenses outdistance plateauing revenues. All of this places Western in the position of needing to raise more money from the state and other sources even as these funds are dwindling and making it nearly impossible to maintain its hard earned and con- sistently above average services to its students, staff, and community during these hard pressed times. The university receives revenues from the state, students, and a few other miscellaneous sources amounting to close to sixty million dollars a year. The state contri- butes over half of this sum but has been forced into budgetary cut- backs due to the loss of the state's sales tax on food and drugs and unexpected drops in the state in- come tax because of the country's economic slump. Since Michigan's constitution does not allow deficit spending the state has had to cut back on money previously ex- pected to be appropriated to the state schools, as well as withdraw- ing funds appropriated for expan- sion or new facilities but not yet spent. This automatically sets Westem's proposed Fine Arts buildings and new College of Busi- ness out in the cold. About a quarter of WMU's revenues come from the students in the form of tuition and dorm fees, and this percentage 'is considered nearly optimum. Asking for more money from an already inflation riddled and employment hungry student body would put such a hardship on many students that it would force more out of school, therefore caus- ing the opposite of its desired ef- fect. The University's few other sources of revenue, such as athletic gate receipts, parking meters, and the student unions are considered fairly static. Westem spends over sixty per- cent of its budget on faculty salar- ies. The operaton and mainten- ence of the campus, including the upkeep of buildings and the pay- ment of staff salaries eat up an- other twenty percent. Expenses in the category of Auxilliary Activi- ties cover the maintenance of the dorms and athletic' facilities, sup- port of the Athletic Department, and financial backing for the Uni- versity Police Department. Stu- dent aid annually amounts to over three million dollars in the form of scholarships, loans and employ- ment for students qualified for such funds. The Student Services area of the university has a yearly budget in excess of two million dollars to support the different campus organizations as well as instituting many of its own ser- vices, programs and activities. The General Fund feeds money into the three campus media organizations WIDR, Herald and Threshold. All the other organizations request funds through the Student Budget and Allocations Committee that distributes the monies collected through student assessments. All of these various drains on Wes-

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ag' . I Applied Sciences -What Do You Think O Damn car! I knew I shou1d've never bought a foreign car. Maybe it's only a loose distributor wire. Hmmm. . .I wonder where the distributor wires are. Maybe the battery's dry. No, that's not it. I know! It's probably out of gas. Hell, I can't even get it to turn over. It sure is dark out here. I wish I was on a main road. I'm going to get the hell out of here. Maybe I should register for an auto tech. class. When someone says College of Applied Sciences to you, what do you think of? These and many more areas of study should come to mind: Agri- culture, Military Science, Food Dis- tribution, Aviation, Engineering and Technology, Home Economics and many more. Students in the College of Applied Sciences learn more than just theory. They get actual training that pre- pares them to step out of the class- room into a job. Almost every stu- dent graduating from the College of Applied Sciences finds a position immediately. Even teachers coming out of the College have relative ease in finding jobs, much easier than in- structors in other areas. The College of Applied Sciences does work on a strict University budget but outside help from con- cerned businesses is accepted by the 0