UC Riverside Considering Layoffs, Bigger Classes To Battle Budget Shortfall

RIVERSIDE (CBS) — A projected $50 million budget shortfall will require UC Riverside officials to consider a range of cost-saving measures in coming months, including layoffs, service cuts and the elimination of programs.

UCR Chancellor Timothy White released a summary of the likely steps needed to bring the campus's expenditures in line with revenue as he and other UC system officials attend the March meeting of the UC Regents in San Francisco.

According to university officials, $37 million of the projected 2011-12 deficit is directly tied to cuts in state funding support. Another $12 million stems from anticipated cost-of-living adjustments for faculty and staff.

The shortfall follows a roughly $40 million deficit in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years.

There was no ballpark estimate of the number of potential cuts on the table in the coming year. Officials said some of the payroll reductions may be accomplished through attrition, such as not filling positions that come available through retirements.

The projected $50 million budget gap is the equivalent of 392 full-time faculty or 793 staff jobs, according to campus officials.

White said efforts to increase revenues will involve seeking more grants, increasing fees for the use of campus facilities, trying to add more international enrollees -- who pay higher tuition -- and asking for more alumni support.

Students will be paying eight percent more in tuition this fall under a revenue-boosting plan implemented by the Regents last year.

Reductions might also involve limiting library hours, reducing the number of available courses, instituting moratoriums on some graduate programs and increasing class, campus officials said.

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