Student suggestions, pt. 2
Editor’s note: The following comments were sent to budgetcomments@iastate.edu and will be reviewed by ISU President Gregory Geoffroy, Provost Elizabeth Hoffman and the University Budget Advisory Committee, as they make “the difficult budget decisions that lie ahead,” according to an e-mail sent by the president to students Oct. 15.
The numbers correspond to the order in which the e-mails were received.
Contributors’ names and e-mail addresses have been withheld, as consent to publish could not reasonably be obtained.
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I don’t know how much of the budget is used on our power bill here, but one possible avenue of savings would lie there. This is a somewhat half-baked thought, but here goes:
Around the university I see a lot of lights on in unoccupied areas. These days you can get light switches that, by default, only activate the lights when a built-in infrared sensor determines there is someone in the room, and these are pretty cheap these days.
We have a tremendous number of computers on campus. Computers have a lot more smarts built into their power management capabilities. Although the expected reaction of your typical research lab might be, “No, we need our computers at full capacity,” these new, smarter power managers can do everything transparently — and can support levels of granularity down to the processor level [e.g., the processor can sleep during idle periods, which might be many millisecond bursts per second]. Most of our computers aren’t switched off at night around campus, I suspect, but they wouldn’t have to be with automatic power management. This is an article I’ve been applying at home myself recently that has some good ideas — it’s based on Linux, but the concepts are largely independent of the operating system: www.spencerstirling.com/computergeek/powersaving.
Besides the desktop PCs, most of which probably end up effectively being just souped-up e-mail terminals for students, we have these large-scale research computing farms and supercomputers [BlueGene, the VRAC, etc.] that in all likelihood spend the majority of their time powered up to do nothing. That stuff adds up over time.
The downside of either of these ideas is that there would be some materials and labor costs, so some sort of cost-benefit analysis would be needed before moving forward. Some costs could possibly be offset by somehow taking advantage of the new federal green initiatives. I don’t know anything about that; but perhaps Sen. Tom Harkin [D-Iowa] would, or members of the university staff who specialize in green technologies — for example, those folks who built the energy-efficient house for the national contest.
Layoffs and furloughs and such are most likely the quickest ways to recover the most money, as salaries are likely the largest fraction of the budget, but killing off jobs is going to be very unpopular and exacerbate the problem that got us here to begin with: The state ran out of money because of too few taxes, because of too much unemployment. Looking elsewhere to recover money would be the wisest long-term solution.
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There are many small changes that can be made around our campus that would allow it to run in a more financially efficient manner. Some possibilities include:
- Turning the AC temperature up in the summer by a few degrees could save us huge amounts of money. Many classrooms are already uncomfortably cold in the summer, so this would eliminate that problem as well.
- As a member of the marching band, I love all of the perks we receive, however, if it would benefit the university as a whole, I would be willing to sacrifice my complimentary pre-game meals. This custom was just started a few years ago, and it is appreciated, but not completely necessary.
- If the university is cutting back on its janitorial staff, one thing that can go along with that is not emptying certain trash receptacles on a daily basis. Several of these have bags that are nearly empty, and as long as they don’t have obvious odor-causing debris in them, it is wasteful to empty them.
- Many buildings on campus stay lit up during unoccupied hours, or are entirely too brightly lit during occupied hours. This is quite wasteful of energy.
- With regards to CyRide, many of the drivers engage in “jack-rabbit” starts and stops while driving or leave the doors open with the heat cranked up while at a stop with no one around, both of which lead to very poor fuel efficiency. Many of the CyRide buses are often close to empty, so the university could use more small buses from its fleet more often.
- Finally, I have noticed many student jobs across the university that seem unnecessary, particularly because many of these students do close to nothing while on the job. This seems particularly evident at the library, where I have, on multiple occasions, found student employees earning my tuition and fee money to sit around on Facebook waiting for something to happen, i.e., somebody requesting something from them.
As you can see, if many of these possibilities were to be enacted, it would also help toward our university’s pledge to “go green!”
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I think part of the problem is that we give free tuition to too many people. I’m talking about affirmative action. If we are so intent on affirmative action, then only give it to the people who are 100 percent Indian, black, asian or whatever. And they must be born in the country of their nationality, otherwise, if they are born here, they will be completely Americanized, adding no cultural difference to the campus. I am sick of hearing about stories of people who are only percentages of other races and still getting free tuition. Worse yet, they are totally Americanized because they were born here, therefore adding absolutely zero diversity to the campus.
I think making a diverse campus is a huge cost that just does not make sense in times like these, especially if the money lost to affirmative action is wasted on completely normal, everyday Americans who happen to have trace amounts of another nationalities. The money allotted to people of different nationalities should be based on the cultural difference they offer to the university, based on their cultural experience and personality, not on their appearance.
So before you raise my tuition, or surcharge me, or cut the salaries of our hard-working and well-qualified staff and professors, modify the current inefficient and ineffective affirmative action system.
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I have read many of the budget comments in the Daily and find it curious that more people don’t see the advising system as a logical place to cut. Obviously there will always be some need for this service, but a central advisory center serving the entire student body surely would be good enough.
I wonder how many other universities have the system Iowa State has with advisers entrenched in all departments and spread all over the campus. Although many advisers are put to work teaching a course, especially good as pinch-hitters, serving on committees or handling other thankless departmental tasks, most are really only busy advising two months a year — the pre-registration period, when students actually have to trek to their offices for official signatures.
When I was an adviser, the other two women I worked with conducted personal business half the week; after their course work was finished, there really wasn’t much else to do. Other advisers I met worked overtime trying to prove to their departments how necessary they were. In reality, advisees rarely had questions that couldn’t be answered with some personal effort of their own — reading course catalogs, adding up their credit columns. I rarely felt that my services were needed or valued, other than as a buffer between the faculty and the students. If a student is smart enough to get into college, surely they should be able to add up their credit hours and see what they’re missing? Perhaps, if they don’t, they don’t deserve to be here. At any rate, I fled back to teaching as soon as I could, even though it meant much, much more work. I wanted to have meaningful contact with students, not play “buddy” or emotional prop, as some see their advisers, or worse, some bureaucratic placeholder.
At any rate, I’m sure this will go nowhere because the whole advising system has become so thoroughly entrenched since I was a student here — class of ’78, with a M.A. in ’83. And none are paid well enough to pay all that much attention to, but I don’t think their loss would be much of a loss to the mission of Iowa State. Students would have to tot up their own numbers. A few would occasionally screw up, which would help them learn to take responsibility for themselves, a critical skill. A core of these bureaucratic advisers could be kept busy with students who have serious problems, but it seems to me that faculty should get involved when students have serious questions about the content or direction of their courses in a particular discipline. The numbers-toting should be done by students.
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Don’t do stupid things. We didn’t need to renovate State Gym. It doesn’t need a walkway to Beyer. Don’t overheat/cool every building so much.
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I don’t know how much of this is still under debate — reading the Daily and e-mails that come through, though, I have to expect there is still quite a bit of debate — but here are a few more suggestions:
- Parking enforcement: If we’re honest with ourselves, this is one of the most derided functions by faculty and students alike within universities. It does provide a source of student employment, granted, but it’s a very questionable priority in times of severe budget problems. If it is not a net gain for the university to leave it at its current level, it should be greatly scaled back.
- Police: I remember hearing at orientation that Iowa State maintains its own police force, separate from Ames PD. If it also is funded out of our budget, we should scale that back as well. Again, if we’re honest with ourselves, no one really cares how many open container and public intox charges show up in the Daily from week to week. Any major problems can be handled by Ames PD, and, in the end, we don’t have much of a crime problem here, and that’s mostly because it’s Ames, not because of a large police presence.
- Student orgs: From personal experience, I couldn’t determine that the student organizations office does much besides create idle rules to beat student organization officers over the head with. We should have some place to go to when we need the university’s help, but I see too much of its function as a bloated bureaucracy that could stand some trimming down to strictly a core mission to help the students when needed. Reviewing constitutions and processing “Compliance Agreement Forms” does not meet that standard, in my opinion. The majority of clubs, I’d wager, are departmentally affiliated anyway, and the departments could take care of their own. In the rare event some legal concern arises, those could be dealt with on a case by case basis by university administration.
Student suggestions, pt. 1
Editor’s note: The following comments were sent to fy10budgetcomments@iastate.edu by students of Iowa State, and will be reviewed by President Gregory Geoffroy, Provost Elizabeth Hoffman and the University Budget Advisory Committee, as they make “the difficult budget decisions that lie ahead,” according to an e-mail sent by the president to students Oct. 15.
Contributors’ names and e-mail addresses have been withheld, as consent to publish could not reasonably be obtained.
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You can post-pone the Beyer Hall renovation — that project seems to be poorly timed.
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Thank you for being open all of the ISU community. As an out-of-state student set to graduate in spring 2010, I feel I have given all I can to Iowa State. I have been given little to no scholarships throughout my years here, and, trust me, I have applied for everything. I don’t think I can spend any more money on tuition, as I am already going to be close to $75,000 in debt upon graduation. On top of that, I have been diagnosed with a chronic incurable disease and, as I become a non-dependent on my parents’ health insurance, I will struggle to find insurance that I can afford.
As part of a solution, I would encourage cuts in the ISU Dining services.
Being an employee of ISU Dining, I see first-hand the waste it produces.
Look into it and see what we can cut — limit the amount of food students can take with one meal plan, lessen the variety of food offered, etc.
I know Jamie Pollard and most of the athletic department have taken temporary salary reductions. I feel that President Geoffroy and the executive staff can take the temporary salary reductions also, if they haven’t already.
Thank you for listening.
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I am a non-traditional student who has attended classes part-time for eight years. One area of inefficiency that I see is how wasteful departments are when using money appropriated to buy such things as new computers, when the old computers work just fine. For example, these departments are told if they do not use the money designated for buying new computers, than they must return the money so the department heads will buy new computers — even if they don’t need them — just so they don’t have to return the money. I believe thousands of dollars could be saved if this policy was changed. In addition, this mentality carries over to the professors. I have been told by professors who I personally know that heads of their departments have told them to buy a new laptop because if the don’t they have to give the money back. In my view, this policy is flawed and needs serious review. Even my friends who are professors don’t think that is right. I hope that you will consider my recommendation.
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I believe that some aspects of this financial challenge may be viewed as an opportunity. There are some cost-saving measures the university could enact that would synchronize with its goals of sustainability. For example: While I don’t know what the university’s electricity bills are, enacting stricter efficiency rules on simple things like hallway lighting, computers and their monitors, and so forth could translate into saved dollars. Other utility bills could likewise be reduced by being mindful. Classroom paper and printing costs could be decreased by increased use of WebCT, which features downloadable PDFs of course print-outs.\
Departments could also seek used options whenever possible for purchases and be more mindful of what is available at university surplus. Setting up recycling bins for deposit items, such as cans and bottles, could be an additional potential source of revenue. Although they’re small steps, these could add up to some savings while furthering Iowa State’s image of sustainability.
To add a quick 2¢ on tuition and salary issues, although I recognize my bias in saying so, I would avoid laying too hard on us graduate students and the student body, in general. Most of us are rather poor, as it is, although I shall grant some are simply bad at managing their finances or have very spoiled ideas about their needs. As a general suggestion, I think we all need to think about doing more with less, which is a great lesson to learn from sustainability. Let’s rise to the challenge instead of getting all doom and gloom!
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Whatever you do, don’t take anything else from 4-H/Extension… rural 4-H can’t afford to lose any more than they already have.
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What percentage of the budget are utility costs? How consistent is building infrastructure? What sort of savings might you see from lowering building thermostats to 68 degrees in rooms that see regular use, and 55 degrees in rooms that are not regularly used (excepting labs that must be kept at a certain temperature to preserve phsyical data samples or equipment)? How about cutting back on upgrading computers? Or increasing parking permit fees?
I think it is a terrible idea to consider a tuition surcharge. Many students and their families are struggling as much if not more than institutions in this economic climate. The same goes for lowering salaries on lower-paid staff.
Is it possible to temporarily renegotiate contracts with vendors like whomever provides dining services (I’m guessing Sysco, I don’t know)? How about a 25 cent/ride CyRide charge? That would increase income but end up being far less burden on students than a several hundred-dollar tuition surcharge. If it could partially offset the fuel cost for buses, that would have to help.
Sorry if these have been suggested already.
Good luck at figuring out what to do.
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In light of the frustrating situation that lies ahead, I would like to suggest that you, the Board of Regents, stay true to your word and that there will be small cuts across the departments. However, it concerns me, as a French studies and education major, that I could have classes dropped simply because my department is so small. I cannot express how utterly worrisome it is to receive e-mails from professors, warning us that we may not have senior-level classes offered because of the minimum number of students not registering. The university has already dropped my senior seminar; it should not be dropping other courses. I urge you against this not only because it is unbelievably frustrating to map out alternative credits for faculty, but because it makes students like myself feel like they have been cheated in their education, and that we are not receiving legitimate degrees. I do not want to graduate and have to come to terms with the fact that Iowa State has not prepared me for teaching French in public schools. At this point, I am very tempted to start doubting the quality of education I have received, and, at times, regret my decision to transfer from Luther College simply to be here. If you want to make cuts, consider cutting the salaries of engineering professors, some of whom make close to $200,000, as opposed to English professors, who make $100,000 less.
Additionally, you may have to come to the hard reality that you will have to cut the amount of research going on at the university. I understand that is one of our staples, as an institution, but it honestly does not look any better to essentially strip smaller departments of their resources or class opportunities. I hope you will keep this in mind for the future.
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I have been at Iowa State for five years now, and throughout that five years, I believe that I have received an excellent, quality education. I am proud of the heritage and future of Iowa State but feel there are many ways to reduce monthly costs without raising student costs or firing faculty.
First of all, I believe the university could save a lot of money on energy costs. I am currently enrolled in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and I have noticed many shortfalls in the energy use here. When classes first began this fall, the basement of the college was kept very cool. Often, students were wearing coats, jackets, etc., while having class in this part of the building. Now that we are into October, parts of the building are extremely hot. These temperature issues are not just seen in the College of Vet. Med. As an undergraduate student, I spent many days in Gilman Hall, sweating while trying to focus on organic chemistry. This is a huge waste of energy, and I believe that these wasted funds could be better spent elsewhere. Another concern is the amount of lighting that is left on in the buildings when no one is using them. I am often on campus after hours and walk into large rooms where all of the lights are on and no one is there. Why would we begin cutting faculty budgets when we could make simply changes in order to save lots of financial resources?
Secondly, I have noticed throughout my years here that the grounds and maintenance crews will be “working on a project” when all I see them doing is standing around sipping on cups of coffee. These people are paid employees, and if they do not have enough stuff to do to keep them busy, why do we keep paying them?
Couldn’t we better redirect these funds?
I would ask you to consider the suggestions I have made above. I love Iowa State and want to continue to see her as a leader in research, teaching and environmentally sustainable agriculture.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
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My friends and I would be in favor of a tuition increase so as to lessen the budget reductions felt by Iowa State. We are willing to pay what is necessary to be able to take the classes we need and want and not have those classes dropped or increased in size too much. In addition, we realize that we are paying for our education, and we want a quality one. If that means investing more money, then that is what we’re willing to do. Public education is still relatively inexpensive, and we believe students should cut back on their own extra expenses and help carry a greater burden in this budget crisis.
Please seriously consider raising tuition. We don’t want to see instructors laid off, classes and programs eliminated, etc.
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I’m sure you have had plenty of good ideas or suggestions. The only idea that may help with the budget crisis — we may need to look at changing the structure of services at the university. By this, I’m suggesting we take our service-type jobs, such as lawn care, janitorial and even food service positions, and change those to contract-type positions. Without knowing all of the numbers, we may make a large dent in the budget just by eliminating the benefits that are offered to those employees. We may also have the ability to continue to keep the cost down with short-term contracts with contracting partners. Some decisions are hard to make, especially when it comes to letting full-time service employees go, but some sacrifices must be made to continue to operate without effecting education.
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I have a few printing-related savings ideas:
Require professors who insist that your homework be typed to accept submissions online, rather than asking students to print them out. Not only would it save money on paper and ink, there are annotation tools — in Office ’07 and Acrobat, both of which most professors have current access to — that would make homework feedback more useful to students.
Also, have senior design posters rotate on the monitors already installed in buildings and be NOTICEABLY available online, rather than printing them.
Start using the already-installed monitors for university-related advertisements, fliers and notices, rather than printing and posting them on walls.
Require professors to make class handouts and syllabi available on WebCT, rather than printing off a copy for each student.
Ask that professors print tests two-sided, when possible. Answer keys can be offered online. Bubble sheets can be reused for multiple tests. Diagrams, photos and maps can be put on the projector, rather than printed on every test. Reference sheets can be reused year to year.
Stop mailing us notices, bulletins and scholarship rejections and e-mail them, rather than printing them. You’ll save on envelopes and postage, too!
Use the “Forms” function of Adobe Acrobat in your online forms so that they can be filled out on the computer, instead of printing. Added bonus: Secretaries campus-wide will love the increase in legibility.
Stop printing “Go Green” banners and fliers — their existence is hypocritical and wasting money. Feel free to include the phrase on things that will already be printed, and especially on electronic communications.
Default printers to two-sided fast-draft. Those who care about quality know to change things, but those who just want a quick print really don’t notice or care about the quality of the print.
Also, as printers break, let them naturally become more sparse to encourage people to think about whether they really need to print or not. And don’t spend money on new printers. When they become sparse enough, high quality, high efficiency printers can be purchased, furthering the savings in the future.
Ban office printers — they waste energy, ink and paper. They frequently get jammed and cause driver issues, wasting IT resources, and they’re generally of low quality, compared to a shared printer. Also, as ink companies have started putting timers on their cartridges, one person using a cartridge can be a highly significant waste.
Expand the system that the College of Design implements, where, after sending your document to the printer, you must go physically approve of its printing when you are at the printer. This way, there would be less paper waste from multiple printing, forgotten printing, and accidental printing.
Lastly, break down printing credits by week, rather than by semester, to discourage students from printing posters, books or large amounts of cram notes.
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Possible cuts:
- In the newly constructed buildings — chemistry and Ag. engineering — try turning off the lights at night and all weekend.
- Lights, in general — make staff attempt to keep lights off.
- Try to minimize number of ISU vehicles there are, and minimize them driving around aimlessly all the time — ISU parking!
- If it boils down to a surcharge to students, I feel you should give everyone BUT engineering students a surcharge, and then give the engineering students one if needed. I feel this way because we, as engineering students, already pay a large surcharge that other colleges’ students don’t pay, and I don’t see why, either… very pointless.
- Also, in the engineering college, you could easily reduce the amount of printer pages that every student receives, from 2,000 to 1,500 or 1,000. I think you could make this change very easily.
- Maybe the ISU basketball team didn’t need the leather chairs, Playstations, Wii’s, etc., this year… why not put a hold on using that facility, rather than building learning facilities, like ag. eng., chem.!
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I do not know how much Iowa State spends on heating and air conditioning, but I’m sure it’s quite a bit. This past summer, I was rarely on campus without a sweatshirt, as many of the buildings are over-air conditioned. I actually resorted to wearing a stocking cap in my office, in the summer! For more than a year, now, my office-mates and I have been struggling with the facilities staff to try and fix such problems, but they have not been fully resolved. I know other buildings have such issues as well. Also, now that the boiler is on and the building is being heated, we still have the air conditioner running! It is hot here in the morning, and then the heat trips the air conditioner and it’s a little chilly in the evening. These systems just need to be shut off, but no one seems to be able to do that simple cost-saving task!
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If you started turning out lights in all of the buildings and computers, it would save a lot of money. There have been reports of high schools and businesses doing so, and they ended up saving a lot of money!
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I’m very pleased with the outreach effort to students on budge issues, so I’ll keep this short.
I think it would be wise to review what services all students pay for and cut items that are not being utilized.
For example, I know there are many library journal subscriptions with very low utilization, as well as PPP service offered through IT services.
I’m against a surcharge because I plan my budget out for the school year each year, and a surcharge would force me to take out an additional student loan for the surcharge. My assumption is that multiple students would be in the same position as I am in, and a surcharge would increase student debt here at Iowa State, which is already a recognized problem.
I strongly urge the committee to reconsider this before making a decision about a surcharge. Thank you for your time, and good luck with this tough decision.
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I’m a little ticked at the tuition surcharge in the spring. Paying for school is hard enough as it is. I’m working two jobs and going to school full-time. Every year the tuition increases, and it hurts me and my family when we are already suffering in this economy. When I walk around campus, I can’t believe all of the wasteful spending there is. Within the last two years, almost every building has gotten these new flatscreen TVs to hang in the hallways. How much did that cost? Was that a necessity or a luxury? Nobody pays attention to the TVs; they are distracting to students who are trying to study in these areas, they don’t work half of the time, and they serve as an announcement board most of the time — simple paper flyers would suffice for announcements. Not only were these TVs expensive, I’m sure, but running them is pricey, I assume, too. Why don’t you sell all of those TVs on craigslist for a little fundraising. That’s what we — students — end up doing when we can’t make our budgets. Or what about the solar-powered compacting trashcan outside Curtiss Hall??? Why in the world did my money pay for that? Or the new sign outside the Memorial Union?
Also wasteful. The university’s poor spending habits and budgeting has definitely attributed to the high student debt at Iowa State. I’m a senior this year, but, looking back at how the university has handled its budget and spending and seeing the constant increase in tuition dollars, I don’t know that I would choose to enroll at Iowa State again. If you don’t have money, then you shouldn’t be spending. The university is not setting an example to the students about careful financial spending.
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We have an unusually large student body this year. $25 million sounds like a lot, until it’s divided by the number of my fellow students.
Students in clubs are students who are giving some of their free time to pursue hobbies they enjoy, and I’m positive they would not mind the fact that doing things they enjoy can benefit the university.
I think by merely challenging the leaders of all of the existing clubs on campus to come up with a fundraising idea on their own and making the stipulation that it has to have something to do with the club itself, you would be pleasantly surprised with the results you get.
You are already talking to volunteers, who are likely to understand that the reward is helping the university, our professors, other people in clubs and ourselves. The only thing it would cost the university would be a few minutes, an e-mail, and a congratulations to the people who did the best.
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To encourage people to do their best and to encourage friendly competition, it would probably be best to wait until after any decisions have been made, as to which clubs are staying. Otherwise, you are likely to get fundraisers for the sake of fundraisers, out of a sense of scared obligation — in spite of any assurances that the who-stays-and-who-goes decisions have nothing to do with fundraisers — rather than brilliant people at their best trying their hardest to do right by the university, and your return will probably be much higher for your patience.
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I have a friend who works at the University Book Store in IT. He told me yesterday that people from departments come in, sometimes, toward the end of semesters and ask him how they can spend the rest of their budget money as fast as possible in order to retain the same budget for the next year. My friend said that often when this happens — they will buy 10-20 computers, usually averaging around $2,000 per computer. So it seems to me that we could close the budget gap through more accountability to spend only what is necessary, not what they have.
On a different note, I was in a conversation the other day with various staff, and one person said that if the administration wants to reduce salaries, then the administrative leaders need to show that they are going to be hurt by these reductions as well.
My wife had an interesting idea as well, although it would not be nearly as popular: She said that if the state cut the budget by 10 percent, then all employees should take a 10 percent salary cut.
As a student, the idea of a tuition surcharge does not incite warm, fuzzy feelings, but it would seem fair that students bear a share of the burden as well, in order to maintain high education standards.
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As a non-traditional student working, raising a family and liquidating a dairy farm to meet financial challenges, I have a few suggestions. I have worked in the health care industry and human resources before returning to school; I am a senior in kinesiology and health — the financial cost shifting placed on the students is wrong. Speaking with young college-bound seniors, I have found many to be heading out of state to college because even paying out-of-state tuition is a cheaper alternative to Iowa State. When these talented young people head out of state, they do not typically come back. I understand everyone shares this financial burden. The idea of an emergency one-time fee on the students next semester is something most of us did not budget for when long-range planning.
ISU grads continue to be the most indebted upon graduation of all the Regent universities. The economic downturn is facing many of us graduating with the realization that we may not secure jobs after graduation.
I am proposing a few minor suggestions that come nowhere near the $24.5 million-mark but will get you closer. The state health benefits are amazing, when compared to the common worker. Working in human resources for a self-funded health plan, we were required to raise family premiums — the amount the employee contributes to their health plan — and raise the office co-pay from $15 per visit to $25. Working as a nurse in the health care industry, this is a common amount. Requiring them to pay more of their share for prescription medications is another piece of this. The employees will not be too burdened by this, as it is virtually impossible to pay the thousands of dollars it costs for private insurance. The next step is to decrease the amount contributed to the retirement plans for these employees. This is a temporary situation, and I think the above measures will make people appreciate that they have a job with benefits. I am not sure of how contracts read, etc., but it could generate a large amount of money by doing this. The idea of the hiring freeze is good and is only temporary.
All of the combination above could help generate some income.
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Thank you for your time and understanding. We are all in this together. Make the adjustments across-the-board, so everyone has a shared percentage.
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Alumni Building, new rec. center, new basketball practice facility, Hixon-Lied student center, Gilman renovation, and the hotel in the Memorial Union…
Close them down or suspend these things until the budget is back to normal.
We don’t need an alumni building, new rec. center, Hixon-Lied student center, Gilman renovation or a hotel in the Memorial Union — employees, costs or utility bills.
The basketball players didn’t have any problems practicing in State Gym, shut down the new one and save some utilities costs.
If an athletic program cannot make money, cut it — keeping Title 9 in mind, so you’d have to cut a women’s and men’s sport. This is a school.
And ask the state government why they are giving away $50 million annually to some random business of their choosing when there is a budget crises in all of the state schools
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Please Do Not raise tuition. It is hard enough on a student in my shoes to pay the ridiculous price on their own and still think that we will be able to afford the cost of living. Students pay a lot of money to come to this school, and it is not acceptable to have tuition raised and make it even harder for the average student to get a great education.
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Here are my suggestions to reduce costs and raise capital:
1. Continue the moratorium on all new building projects — complete those already in progress, but each new project brings new costs. Each new building completed brings long-term expenses. Think about the long-term.
— If you cannot maintain buildings you already have, do not build new buildings.
— If this has not been done already, stop construction on the addition to State Gym. Invest the money from that project into maintaining the residence halls to attract and retain future students. OR use the money to invest in the upkeep of places where students and the public congregate — like the Memorial Union.
2. Ask for a loan.
— Since Iowa State and US Bank are partners, ask for a loan from US Bank.
— Use the money from the rise of the number of tuition-paying students this year to pay off the loan quickly.
3. Request funds from the ISU Foundation — their fundraising efforts have been phenomenal. Use some of that money to make up for some the shortfall.
— Don’t build any more new buildings for the ISU Foundation.
4. Cut expenditures on the athletics dept. — yes, this is near-blasphemy — reward the atheltics department with new buildings and facilities if their teams earn them.
— Ask any professional sport team that has a state-of-the-art stadium and a losing team — fans come to watch their team have a decent chance of winning. An empty state-of-the-art stadium is a huge expense for a team that does not win even part of the time.
5. Carefully examine the bureaucracy that runs the university — what has been duplicated?
— Who is part of the “customer service” aspect of the bureaucracy but is giving poor customer service?
— Who or what is really essential for bringing in and managing the the students?
That is all my suggestions for now. May things work out.
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In regards to the budget concerns, I often wonder whether the TVs in academic buildings that run 24/7 are worth the university’s funds. These televisions often show screen shots of various academic opportunities, although they are nothing students are unable to see on flyers around campus. About 1/4 of the time, however, the TVs contain a blue screen with an error message displayed for all to see. Moreover, the TV’s are running when buildings are locked and, thus, are useless. I encourage the university to stop paying to run these televisions.
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I understand things are tough right now at the university with budget cuts, but that does not constitute a tuition increase or a one-time surcharge. Everyone else and their families are suffering as well. It is a budget cut, not a tuition increase. The university needs to do everything in its power not to increase tuition. The student drop-out rates will most likely increase, because students are not going to be able to afford their eduction, particularly those of us who are paying for our education without financial assistance from our families. Financial aid will probably not increase, and that is something that needs to be considered when tuition increases are considered. Please just remember: This is a budget cut, not a tuition increase, and students should not be responsible for making up the money.
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I am a student here at Iowa State and have been proud to call myself a Cyclone for the last four-and-a-half years, now. It is my pride and respect for this institution, and its value to today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders, that have led me to take action and provide suggestions for how the Cyclone community can weather the storm of financial cuts we are currently experiencing. The university has been on a mission to become “Green” to reduce our carbon footprint and energy consumption for some time now. Ideas have been suggested, research has been done, and actions have been taken, but it is my belief that more can be done. On any given night you can enter any number of campus buildings and find nearly every light on. I understand the importance of keeping exits and hallways lit, but to my knowledge there are no classes taking place in the middle of the night, so why is it necessary to keep classrooms and lecture halls completely lit overnight? As early as elementary school we are all taught the three “R’s,” those being Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. I can’t begin to imagine how much money the university could save by simply shutting lights off at night, and, as a result, “Reduce” its electrical costs. Clearly this won’t make up for a $24.5 million cut in appropriations, but I can’t think of an easier way for the university to save money while simultaneously reducing its carbon footprint.
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I am currently sitting in a classroom before class starts and this breakthrough idea came to me. Lower the temperature in every room across campus a few degrees. This very room I am sitting in is at 77 degrees. Just about every person in this class sheds their layers of sweatshirts in order to get comfortable, but it’s still too hot. If every room on campus were kept to 70 degrees, people could just keep some of their layers on from outside and still be fine, and you will save tons of money.
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Thank you for sending the e-mail about the budget. I was lucky enough to go to an undergraduate university where there was plenty of public support, helping to limit the students’ extraordinary costs — tuition=$33,000 per year. Because of such funding activities, I truly believe that Iowa State’s students and their families would donate and/or pay extra to keep Iowa State running as it has been doing so.
I think Iowa State needs to provide a donation option on their access U-Bill page. An e-mail indicating the purpose of such donations would explain how such donations would help the school and limit future fees that the students will experience. This e-mail would also need a link to provide an efficient way to speed the donating process. As for the donation process, I would make it in $10 or more increments and allow for ongoing charges to debit and credit cards. I know most of my graduate program would commit to $10-20/month to ensure our school will stay super uber awesome!
I also liked the tuition surcharge idea, which you and President Geoffroy proposed. I think the tuition surcharge should be progressive in nature and reflect a certain percentage of the student’s typical college costs. I also think this should not include housing. Because there is a direct benefit for Iowa State’s students to live on campus through positive externalities, it seems unfair to apply harsh financial repercussions on students providing a direct non-monetary benefit to the school.
These are just thoughts, but thank you for allowing a voice.
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I’m sure this has been proposed, but I suggest cutting funding to student groups. I heard the sailing club is requesting $20,000 this year; if everyone’s tuition has to go up for that, then I say they can’t afford it.
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I first want to thank you for even considering students comments and suggestions. I am an active member of the ISU community; I received my B.S. here in 2008 and am now studying for my masters degree. I know many people here and have been in many conversations with staff and faculty here about this situation.
Below are my comments and suggestions:
President Geoffroy needs to show this university that he is a leader and understands this situation and how dire this situation can turn out to be if he does not pull the university through this. I think the most important thing is that President Geoffroy show that he is also going to tighten his belt. I believe during this time not only should President Geoffroy decline any bonus that the Regents may offer, but, also, President Geoffroy should accept a significant salary reduction.
- Temporary mandatory furloughs or temporary salary reduction: Many staff members would rather have a reduction of pay than to face the horror of losing a job. You have to consider the unemployment rate and how long it is taking people to find new jobs. If every staff and faculty member (INCLUDING PRESIDENT GEOFFROY) agreed to a 1-year 5 percent salary reduction, it would make a huge dent in this budget crisis.
- I believe that laying off staff members is a BAD idea — you will lose talent that could be hired by another university and then, once the budget is re-established, you have to go through the hiring process and the training process again, which will cost you more money again. So, in turn, you are spending more money by laying off a staff member.
- The great benefits available here at Iowa State is one of the great incentives to come and work here. If you revise the benefits available you will lose a great number of talented people.
- A tuition surcharge: Students are already under a lot of finical stress; the private loans companies are NOT giving out loans like they once did. The federal loans do not cover ISU tuition. Parents of students have either lost money in the stock market or lost a job. You need to consider how this will truly affect the students. You finally had an increase in the number of students attending this university; raising the tuition will only encourage students to attend a different university.
- Postponing non-essential deferred maintenance and repairs: I believe this should be done to help the budget crisis.
- Refocusing efforts, including potential program eliminations: If you do such a thing, you have to take many items into account, and take your time deciding what to do. You have to take into account how this will not only affect the students, but how the elimination of a program will affect the university profitability.
- Permanent lay-offs: I believe that laying off staff members is a BAD idea — you will lose talent that could be hired by another university, and then once the budget is re-established you have to go through the hiring process and the training process again, which will cost you more money again. So, in turn, you are spending more money by laying off a staff member.
- Selling non-essential assets to generate one-time funds: HOW WILL THIS HELP THE UNIVERSITY? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I NEED MORE INFORMATION BEFORE I MAKE A COMMENT OR SUGGESTION.
- Go Green program — GOING NOWHERE!
* Tell staff and faculty that when they leave their office or classroom to turn down the temperature. There is no need to heat a room or classroom when no one is in there.
*Many of the buildings here on campus have many windows that are nice during the spring, summer and fall, BUT during the winter these windows do nothing but increase the heating cost. We need to cover the windows with plastic film, which is done in most houses, to decrease our carbon footprint.
Graduate Students
Many departments have or are considering ending some or all the graduate teaching assistant funds. These funds are what graduate students live on, at approx $1,300 a month. If you want this university to continue to be one of the leading research institutions, you must ensure that graduate students focus solely on research and not on finding a job to support themselves while conducting research. If funding for graduate students was cut, students would be forced to find a paying job to support themselves. By doing that, the research accomplishments done by graduate students and professors will decrease. With fewer research hours being conducted here at Iowa State, fewer grant funds will be given to this university, which will make this budget situation worse.
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This university strives to be greener, but many students I have encountered from other universities comment on our lack of recycling receptacles in campus buildings. I feel that this is an area that could at least pay for itself, if not make the university a little money if more recycling bins were available on campus for students to dispose of pop bottles.
I would also suggest that we start reminding people about turning off the lights when you leave. I know many people who leave their office lights on all the time or computers and computer monitors. Just another thought on a way to reduce costs.
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I think that, in a time of economic crisis, the continuation of pouring millions of dollars into re-doing and updating buildings is a WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY! Instead of looking for ways to cut programs and increase tuition, WHICH IN-STATE AND OUT-OF-STATE ALREADY PAY A GREAT AMOUNT OF MONEY TOWARD, STOP the construction. Instead of shoveling out university money, put a hault on it and save that money to cover areas that are suffering. I know and understand that certain families have very graciously donated money to the university — guess what… if they are gracious enough to build a building, then they will be gracious enough to keep student programs and education afloat so that students don’t suffer. STUDENTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN BUILDINGS. WITHOUT STUDENTS, THIS WOULDN’T BE THE GREAT UNIVERSITY IT IS NOW AND WOULD NOT BE NEEDING ANY BUILDINGS OR PAYING ANYONE’S SALARIES.
Go ahead and raise tuition on a group of people who don’t even have money to pay the current tuition price — we’ll just take out bigger loans that we won’t pay back for years because we can’t find jobs and have to work for a much lower salary because they have faced cuts as well. Does that really sound reasonable?
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I have several recommmendations for the budget committee.
First, consider cutting back on janitorial services. This was done during the 90’s.
Then, consider cutting back on benefits to university employees. Things like reducing health benefits with employees paying larger deductibles could help. Also, consider cutting retirement benefits. I understand large, matching contributions are made to retirement plans every year. They are more generous than in the public sector and could be suspended or cut.
Also, put off or cancel big projects that would add to student fees. This would include the new recreation center additions and improvements. This is clearly a perk and doesn’t need to be undertaken. Given the change in the economic climate, the studnets would probably vote differently on the proposal if it were put to a vote now. Give the choice betwen even higher tuition and recreation center improvements; I think students would vote down the proposal.
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Temporary lay off, temporary salary reductions, temporary benefits revisions, etc. The Board of Regents has increased the tuition 10 percent several years — NOT TEMPORARY — and another one to come next year. A surcharge upon the tuition next semester is just a way to increase tuition with a different name. The students are going to make up the difference while the university continues to build new construction. I would think that with all of the brain power on the Board, you would come up with something different, rather than having the students carry such a load. I realize that it is a privilege to be able to go to college.
Students are why there is a college — without them, there is not a need for a college.
With people getting laid off, saleries being slashed, jobs up in the air, and medical costs out of reach for many people, this plan just isn’t reasonable. Four years of school is getting out of reach for many people.
The students have to find jobs that they can make a living on and pay back student loans. Let’s get back to the drawing table and get a plan that works without putting the burden on the students.
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I understand overcoming a $24.5 million deficit will take the help of everyone, but before a tuition surcharge for the spring, please look elsewhere. I have more than $5,000 in loans after just my first semester at Iowa State, and am already looking at $30,000 or more. I will probably have had to borrow by the time of my graduation. I would also like you to consider the funding for program elimination. I am an animal ecology major with a focus in the interpretation of natural resources. Cutting funding to a small program like that could be detrimental — many of my classes are only offered in one section and only in fall or spring semesters or, in the worst case, every other fall or spring semester. Many articles have now been published asking for the students to “reach deeper in their pockets.” Well, my pockets are empty, and, at this point, it seems as though I am no longer being asked to reach a little deeper, but I am being asked to give the shirt off my back and the food off my plate. So I will ask some of the administration to look themselves in the mirror, knowing the salaries they make should also be considered. I have seen the proposal for temporary salary reduction, and I can’t help but to laugh. At this point, some of these reductions should not be temporary. I also find it humorous that I find nothing about a temporary increase in tuition, because once you’ve decided that we will pay more, it never gets reduced again. I will end this message by reminding you that you are all in positions of power, and that is great, but it is we, the students, who are in the majority and have the ability to make radical change. The mild complaints about the budget have turned into a topic of real discussion, and there are students ready to make a difference, so please consider wisely.
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- Cut back on DPS employees and hours worked. We really only need them in the morning, as people with parking permits arrive at school.
- Give the coaches a pay cut… who needs to make over $1 million a year? Nobody! It’s absolutely ridiculous.
- Stop giving athletes “benefits,” like mopeds…
Keep in mind that the truly important part of education is creating productive members of society, not having a great football team.
Perhaps students will not have as many options for their “adventure” at Iowa State for one fiscal year.
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I know, as a student, getting across campus is important, and I know in the winter Iowa State does an extremely and timely job of clearing the snow in these walks, but it would save money if you designated certain walks on campus to be plowed and certain walks to be un-plowed or “closed” during the winter.
Also, the plowing of the walks does not need to be perfect — one strip down the center, etc., would be plenty, especially when you consider many students walk on the snow anyway to avoid the ice that is building up in the walks.
Or, in order to not affect education, you could just cut the football scholarships and raise the GPA of the school at the same time.
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I think an evaluation of your current teachers/employees might help you eliminate the weak ones. I have been through many classes where the majority of the class struggled to find ways to pass the classes. The areas these issues have occured in were ones like English, management and philosophy. I can provide names of instructors, if needed. I feel that the evals that we do at the end of each semester don’t get looked at or weighed in the proper manner.
I do have a question about this training facility put up for basketball teams: Why was this needed? Why not add to some of the facilities on campus? Or why not put the money into the academic buildings?
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I would suggest stopping construction on any gymnasiums and/or recreation centers. These constitute several million dollars of our budget. They are mostly extracurricular and have few educational benefits. There are plenty of workout centers in Ames as alternatives for us students.
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I know you’re getting many ideas, so I’ll keep this short. The tuition for out-of-state students is already very high, nearly 3 times the rate of in-state tuition. I think that raising tuition for out-of-state students any higher than it already is would be a great mistake and would send many students elsewhere for their education. It would isolate Iowa State even more from the rest of the country, and I think that diversity at a university is very important.
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In response to “the most recent budget news” you offered the following strategies:
- Temporary salary reductions.
- Temporary lay-offs/furloughs.
- Benefit revisions of a temporary or permanent nature.
- A tuition surcharge for the spring semester of 2010.
- Postponing non-essential deferred maintenance and repairs.
- Refocusing efforts, including potential program eliminations.
- Permanent lay-offs.
- Selling non-essential assets to generate one-time funds.
I understand and agree, but would prioritize slightly differently (keep in mind that I am not fully informed on the details), as such:
8. Selling non-essential assets to generate one-time funds.
1. Temporary salary reductions.
2. Temporary lay-offs/furloughs.
3. Benefit revisions of a temporary or permanent nature.
6. Refocusing efforts, including potential program eliminations.
4. A tuition surcharge for the spring semester of 2010.
5. Postponing non-essential deferred maintenance and repairs.
7. Permanent lay-offs.
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I’m not sure how legal or not this is, but perhaps one way we could raise funds would be through a lottery — powerball or any other one. I noticed that funds were raised for the Iowa Veterans in that way not too long ago.
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I live in Oak dormitory and have noticed that our bathroom looks only slightly cleaner after the custodial staff comes to clean it every morning. Perhaps it should only be cleaned every other day, which would save about half of the cost of cleaning supplies and paying custodial staff.
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I am an international student from Peru in the Ph.D. program. I have a suggestion, if I may. This current situation that the country is experiencing recalled some of the hardest time we had in Peru in the early ’90s.
Today, I read one article in the Iowa State Daily where Provost Hoffman mentioned that the university will be closed from the 28th to the 31st of December. In Peru, my university closes every year for approximately three weeks, right after final exams, in mid-December, until the first Monday following New Year’s day. It’s kind of a massive vacation time, since it’s both summer time and the holidays. No one is around — only security and a few maintenance people. This practice has been established annually and saves money to the university — even now, when the times are good in Peru.
I hope you would considerate a longer period, since many people could take either a break or bring some work at home for one or two weeks when the holidays last. At the end, maybe this could help reduce the ISU budget in some regard.
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I don’t know any specifics, including the institution’s name, but I heard about the following fundraiser at another college. For one day, if all the students in a class donated one dollar, the professor was “imprisoned” and class was canceled for the day. We wouldn’t have to take our poor faculty away, but the same idea would work here. If each ISU student did this in two classes — a realistic assumption, considering the obvious immediate benefit to the students — more than $50,000 could be raised for the university. If faculty got into the spirit, requesting matching funds by the professor could possibly double that number. It’s small peanuts, granted, but easily enough to keep a maintenance position or give a few top faculty members the raises they demand to keep them from going elsewhere. Plus, student organizations could be encouraged to hold their own events on Central Campus. It would be a celebration, of sorts, possibly in conjunction with VEISHEA.
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