4 - The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2004

BUDGET CUTS


Student Affairs copes
with financial woes

April 21, 2004
By Alison Go
Daily Staff Reporter
As the Division of Student Affairs copes
with a 4 percent budget cut this year, the
department's directors are looking for ways to
make cuts without alienating students.
"Each of the units in the division is trying
to keep students in the center of the service
they provide," Associate Vice President for
Student Affairs Frank Cianciola said.
Student Affairs is allocated only 1 percent
of the University's General Fund, which is the
pool of money collected from tuition, state
appropriations and other revenue that goes
toward almost all academic and administra-
tive units. The fund amounted to nearly $10
million in Fiscal Year 2004.
As the University faces a projected $20
million deficit, administrators in Student
Affairs worry about the effect of the cuts on
their relatively small department.
"The problem is where there are limited
resources, (the cuts) feel more severe and have
more of an impact," Cianciola said.
This impact includes dissatisfaction of adminis-
trative decisions throughout the student body.
For example, Student Voices in Action, a coali-
tion opposing many Student Affairs changes
including budget cuts, formed this term.
However, Cianciola partially attributes the
criticism of these students to a lack of
"understanding of who makes the decisions."
While some groups within the division

receive more cuts than others, the process of
deciding which gets cut is more "participato-
ry" than imposed, Cianciola said.
"We try not to have (groups) pitted against
each other," he added. "We all have a thor-
ough discussion to gather info and elicit the
best solution we can."
Within Student Affairs, the groups that receive
the most funding are Counseling and Psychological
Services and the Career Center. The Office of
Greek Life and the Student Theater Arts Complex
are allocated the least amount of money.
Some of the groups that experienced the biggest
budget cuts in FY 2004 are the International Cen-
ter, the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student affairs and
the Program on Intergroup Relations, a social jus-
tice education program. The Office of Greek Life
and a number of counseling services were allocated
more funds.
Cianciola said departments and their directors
have a large amount of discretion regarding budget
cuts. He added that individual directors evaluate
their own groups and attempt to redistribute funds
to save as much money as possible.
These figures are then brought to the vice
presidents and, in committees with a number
of decision makers, are weighed to determine
if the changes are sufficient to balance the
Student Affairs budget, Cianciola said.
If the budget is still not balanced, the vice
presidents determine the final cuts.
"Without compromising our mission (of provid-
ing for students), we have to figure out where we
can make these cuts," Vice President for Student
Affairs E. Royster Harper said.